Results Not Typical

Does the difference between big promises and reality lie in the messenger or the recipient?

I recently attended a very important medical appointment for Austin with my mother.  We came away with very different perceptions of what occurred. It is proof enough to me that indeed, you hear what you want to hear. It would seem that one, or both, of us had selective hearing that day.

In my opinion, the doctor was a bit overzealous and made some pretty big promises about certain medical advancements and how it could benefit me, Austin and others in my family. The things he mentioned were staggering. While it sounded fan-freakin-tastic I was still skeptical because I had done enough research on the subject to know he was giving us the best case scenario pep talk. I listened, but in the back of my head I was making mental calculations. I understood the reality of how much work was to be done in order for ME to benefit from what he mentioned, it sounded promising. Too promising.

On the other hand, my mother was ecstatic about the news. She took his word at face value and started spreading the word about this wonderful new medical discovery. And it is a wonderful thing don't get me wrong, any medical advancement that could help us is GREAT! But I almost felt like she did not hear the disclaimer. There was a pretty big IF in there. In fact it sounded to me like the whole thing was based on an IF.

What sealed the deal for me was when the doctor finished his whole "medical advancement rah-rah-rah" speech, the research coordinator came in and said something to the effect of, 'Dr.So&So sometimes tends to over promise results. Please understand that you may not get those results.'

There it was, the medical fine print.

Whether or not the outcome is as big as promised, the funny thing to me was how differently we chose to view the information. Here we are, both mothers of children with a very rare medical diagnosis, the SAME diagnosis; yet on hearing the same news we view the outcome so differently. If nothing else it certainly highlights our differences.

My mother is an eternal optimist, she has 25 years on me in terms of dealing with Doctors and treatment plans, yet she still believes them. I find that staggering! I, as you may have guessed by now, am more of a pessimist realist.

In the past two years, I have heard more than my share of bad news. One thing I know for sure is that I prefer the direct, honest I "just-don't-know-how-long-this-will-take" approach. I will accept a guesstimate, because let's face it that is mostly what I get. But I don't want to hear the "in-a-perfect-world" answer.

That answer does not apply here, it is reserved for the miracle babies who get "cured". In all honesty, if we lived in a perfect world I would not be sitting in this office for a 3-hour consultation I would be out among the rest of you living my fine, splendid life far, far away from doctors and hospitals, thankyouverymuch. So no I don't want the prettied-up version.

No matter the outcome of these latest tests, I have already received my miracle.

When it comes to getting medical news are you more of a "realist" or an "optimist"?


Thanks for peeking,