One advantage of living in a small rural community is that you are likely to be known in a variety of situations. The head of our GP practice often sits in front of us in Church and we have talked over the years. When J. was diagnosed I talked to him about the best way of J. being supported by the practice, especially since the Dr. she normally saw and who ran the bereavement support group in which J. was a volunteer visitor, had recently retired. We agreed J. would normally see one of 2, young, female GPs in the practice. She travels into the community each day; however the head has acquainted her with our backgrounds.
J. needed to visit today for a routine check up including blood pressure. The GP remarked, "If only all my patients had such good readings as you have". I could not resist turning to J. and remarking that I thought we would trade a bit of a problem with blood pressure if we could get rid of "that dreadful Dr. Alzheimer" (we often personalise the disease in that way). The look of horror on the GP's face as she realised what she had said was worth a fortune. "Don't worry", I said, "You have to find things to laugh about with this disease or you would go crazy". Hopefully nobody else in the surgery could hear the laughter coming from her consultation room.
J. needed to visit today for a routine check up including blood pressure. The GP remarked, "If only all my patients had such good readings as you have". I could not resist turning to J. and remarking that I thought we would trade a bit of a problem with blood pressure if we could get rid of "that dreadful Dr. Alzheimer" (we often personalise the disease in that way). The look of horror on the GP's face as she realised what she had said was worth a fortune. "Don't worry", I said, "You have to find things to laugh about with this disease or you would go crazy". Hopefully nobody else in the surgery could hear the laughter coming from her consultation room.