Actively Participate in Your Health

I know a story about a woman who walked into the hospital room to visit her friend. When she asked her friend how she was feeling, the patient replied, "I don't know, the doctor hasn't come in yet."         

In contrast, I have a different story. In 2004, I was sitting on a porch swing that collapsed, propelling me backward. My head violently made impact with the house. It was quite metaphorical at the time, as I felt the house "hit me on the head" while my husband and I were painfully discussing our upcoming divorce. I felt an excruciating pain in the back of my head and a sparking of electrical impulses shuddering from my spine through my limbs. My teeth momentarily clamped shut and I was understandably stunned.

After hours in the emergency room and many tests--all of which I insisted they show me the results of before I decided to approve the next test--the doctor came in to report the results of the CT Scan and MRI. He told me I did not have a brain bleed (which he had been concerned about), but I did have a pretty serious concussion. He then cleared his throat and looked at me quite seriously. "The tests also show you have cervical degenerative disease and this will only get worse at you get older." I returned his eye-to-eye contact and said firmly and simply, "No it won't."  As I kept his gaze with such determination, he slowly began to smile and contritely replied, "Well, okay."