Stick a Needle in My Eye
I referred a patient with epiphoria to an opthalmologist about 2 weeks ago. I wasn't sure what was causing it, and I hoped that he could figure it out. It wasn't disabling .. but it was annoying.
Last week, I got a cordial letter from him that mentioned that she had a vasovagal episode during his exam, and that she declined nasolacrimal duct irrigation.
and .. as Paul Harvey says ... now for the rest of the story ...
Here's an excerpt from her version.
... Out of nowhere, slowly but with ever-increasing speed, I become Juliet after drinking her poison. I begin shaking. My vision is clouded with angry, furry, marching black clouds. My hands join my eyes in the heavy slump of the numb.
"I don't feel so well," I manage to whisper, whimpering like a 4 year old. "I'm very dizzy."
Instantly I am in a sweat and begin to swoon. I ask for the garbage can and lean over it quickly, ropes of my instantly saturated hair hanging limp against its blessed coolness.....
When the doc returns, he smiles vaguely as though nothing has happened. I survive the eye dilation drops easily enough because this time I suggest that he kindly explain to me what he is going to do before he does it.
After this he flatly states that next on the agenda of fun-things-to-do-in-the-doctor's-office is a procedure they like to call STICKING A NEEDLE IN YOUR EYE. "I'll inject saline into your tear duct opening,” he explains, “and if you can't taste the saline, I'll know the duct is blocked."
One of these things is not like the other ...
We make judgments about the skills of our specialist colleagues based on the letters they write to us .. and the reports we get from our patients. Recall that our patients don't care how much we know until they know how much we care. It's not enough to just care. Patients needs to KNOW we care. Can't convey that by speaking in tongue and treating the patients like cattle.
