Sunday, October 18, 2015

My Wish for Doctors

If I had to give one sentence to a doctor about who I am it would be: "I'm going to work anyway so you may as well help me get paid for it." That is my purpose in searching for healthcare. I just don't understand people who say, "It must be nice to to have to work." You know, forget that chronic pain is awful, forget how frustrated I get with my body throwing wrenches into my plans. I am a writer, and this blog is proof I'm going to do what gives me the most fulfillment no matter how much I'm tortured. Since my contributions can still help others, then doesn't it make sense to give me the tools so I can?

The Internet is a godsend to someone like me. Not only can I get research from around the world, translated by others into my native language and vice versa is the greatest revolution of all time. It used to take centuries to send an idea around the world, now it takes as long as your download speed. In this kind of world, I want to use my powers for good. I don't want to dull my falculties or my ability to think, that's how I make my money! I can't be blotto and get things done. My job requires that I am able to learn complex complicated computer processes and then explain them to others so they can get their work done. It's called technical writing and I love it.

On my job, I get to work with really smart people, people far smarter than me. They're doing the cutting edge work, and I get to learn about it from them, in person. I get to ask them all sorts of stupid questions, while not lookind stupid doing it, because if I have questions, the reader will have questions. It's the equivalent of getting the exclusive first interview with the creator of the latest whiz-bang technology. I get to be the first fan, the alpha follower, the ultimate technology hipster.

Then I get to take their brilliance and translate it within English to audiences of all kinds. It's an amazing stage on which I get to perform. Yeah, the audience isn't vast, but that's not the point. I don't need to be famous. There are a whole lot of other, more brilliant minds who deserve it much more than me. I stand on the shoulders of giants. It gives me a great view.

This probably explains why I can write fiction very well. I'd much rather explain and inform than entertain. A story is a puff of smoke. Technical writing is explaining how the magic is made. The second is much more useful. You can build a house on truth. You can't walk on smoke. Fun is fun, but I can make my own fun easily, regardless of my pain level. In fact, sometimes the greater my pain, the more amazing my sense of humor. Sometimes things get so absurdly serious, they become seriously absurd. You laugh or else.

Cops make lousy doctors and doctors make lousy cops. Ask amy employee at the dispensaries in Colorado and they'll tell you it was easy to tell the real medical patients from the ones who just wanted to get high. For one thing, sick people go through tons more medication becuase they're fighting an uphill battle. One dispensary I used to frequent even changed their prices on a perticular strain, because they noticed only their medical patients bought it (back before recreational pot was legalized there). It went to top shelf prices to discounted below bottom shelf. I used to take concentrated pills of the strain, and it was amazing for body pain. It's high in CBDs and is recognized as such a good medicine, even Missouri has legalized it.

I wish doctors had the same freedom to say, "Okay, so your an addict... That's normal for 1.3% of the population. We know that it's a medical and psychological problem. There's no need to be ashamed, here's how we can help you recover." And then people with real pain problems can go, "Doc, I hurt!" And the doctor can know to take it as a serious medical clue, rather than a trait to be doubted

Wouldn't that make this a better world for everyone?

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