Thursday, January 12, 2017

Scared to Ask Your Doctor about Getting a Service Dog?

I see a lot of people say that. Or kind of a lot, anyway. They want to know how to bring it up to their doctors and are scared or nervous about doing so.  I don't quite understand why.

Someone told me that she worried her doctor would brush her off.  I asked, "Does your doctor often brush off things you bring up to her? And if so, why do you keep seeing her? And if not, why do you think she will brush this off?" 

I mostly only see doctors that listen to me and don't brush me off. That doesn't mean they always agree with me, but if my doctor thought a service dog would be a bad idea or thought I didn't qualify, he would tell me that, not brush me off. 

I am looking for a new rheumatologist now because mine has twice brushed off something that turned out to be an illness or injury that needed treatment. I won't keep seeing a doctor that does that.

Clearly people have different types of relationships with their doctors. It just seems unhealthy or somehow a bad thing to be afraid to bring up something you think would help you to your doctor.

Monday, January 2, 2017

Leaving It

A while back, Isaac slurped up some shredded cheese on the floor at Chipotle, which earned him a remedial course in Leave It. Since then he's done just fine with leaving things, but today was like the ultimate test. We were at Chipotle and someone had dropped their burrito bowl on the floor and no one had cleaned it up. We had to walk right by the pile of rice, cheese and meat. It was in the aisle between tables and walking right by it meant almost stepping over it, there was so little space. Isaac barely even glanced at it. I feel like he nailed the final exam in the Leave It class.