This Morning At The Clinic
I had planned to write about an experience doing a self suspension with rope that I had a few weeks ago but something happened this morning that left me feeling angry but also feeling glad about community care. This morning I went to the local health clinic to get STI/HIV testing done (I’ve got so much to say about know your status and get yourself tested but that’s not what this post is about). While I was there I mentioned to the phlebotomist that I had MS. She started off kind of slow, “can I ask you about…?”
Turns out that her Mom, a veteran, had just recently been diagnosed with MS. She told me that her Mom’s doctors aren’t really doing anything about it though. Apparently they were like “well you can still walk” and I’m sitting there starting to fume with anger as she is telling me more about her Mom’s story. The response her doctors gave is the kind of response you would’ve expected 10-15 years ago. They didn’t know a whole lot about MS then but so much research has been done since then. I’m also not even going to get started on how we, as a country, do a terrible job of taking care of our veterans in general.
So I tell this woman about the research they are doing at the University of MD and at Johns Hopkins. I let her know she might be able to get into a study a bit quicker than getting an appointment at the neurology clinic, but once she’s in it might be easier to get an appointment. I gave her the email of my superhero over at Hopkins (shoutout to all of the medical schedulers that go above and beyond to help out patients). I also gave her my card with my phone number and email in case her Mom wanted to talk to someone that had been through all this because she was telling me that her Mom was describing all these things/sensations happening in her body that she couldn’t relate to at all. This woman took notes on the medication that I had tried first and the one I’m currently on.
I’m so glad that I ended up at this clinic, on this day, and at this time to be able to meet this human. I’m glad that I could share some resources and give her some ideas about some next steps. I remember the “what the fuck do I do now” point of my journey but I at least felt like I had a doctor willing to listen and support me. I can’t even imagine going through a diagnosis with a doctor that doesn’t really care about getting their patient the help and support they need. Fuck this healthcare system. Take care of each other. Share knowledge. Be fucking kind.
