My Journey Navigating Chronic Kidney Disease
In October I walked into my current Primary Care Facility, with an appointment to see my third doctor at the practice. I was fully prepared that if I did not get a good vibe from this one to walk away and find a new doctor at a different practice. Why my third doctor at the practice? The other two that I was first seeing were residents, so when their residency was up they left and there was no notice, so each time I was forced to find a new one and once again explain why I was here.
When I walked into the practice almost two years ago, I didn’t think that it was going to drastically change the trajectory of my life. I also wished that I knew what I know now and that is that I deserve a medical team that is going to work with me and not against me.
Each time I walked in to see a new doctor, prior to this current experience, I was the one explaining why I was here. I am not a Medical Professional, that isn’t my job. There is a reason there are charts. They document all of my Medical History. It’s why I stick with using doctors that are all affiliated with the same hospital, because they will have access to my charts.
If I am the one explaining then why am I here? I might as well go home and google how to treat myself, right?
Fast forward to sitting in a room, waiting for the new doctor, full intentions of walking away. She walked in and she didn’t ask me why I was here. She had taken the time to read my charts, from the practice and my other specialists. She made me feel at ease and came up with a plan of moving forward. Do I have any more answers than I did when I walked in, no, but I wasn’t expecting them. I really just wanted to have a doctor that was going to be with me on this journey, that wasn’t going to work against me and understood my need for needing answers, to why I at 40 have Chronic Kidney Disease.
What I want you to know? Is that if you have a Medical Professional that you don’t feel 100% comfortable with, walk away. I wish I had the previous two times and maybe I would have found my new doctor sooner, but I am not going to dwell in the past. For me it was a learning experience that such as in life, when it comes to working with Medical Professionals, I deserve better, we all do.
