Day 142 - Unexpected Reaction.

Sometimes we react to people based on what we see and hear. How they present themselves to us is a driving force in our own perception of them, what they are, and what they do. Today was very much a case in point. We have to connect with people to understand them.

Firstly we had our appointment with the consultant, but more of that later, and immediately following the appointment we saw James for physio.

I watched cleo with James today during her physio and one of the things that I noticed the most is that he puts her at ease. He makes her laugh, and he gets the best out of her. Not for one moment does that get in the way of the work he is doing, in fact it probably enhances it. He has a knack of connecting with her which makes her receptive to what he is doing, and saying. I have noticed this before, and I honestly believe that James is one of the few healthcare professionals we have come across since the stroke who has this ability. Maybe it comes from the fact that he genuinely enjoys what he is doing? Whatever it is, it works, and would that there were more like him around, because there would be many more patients in a better, more receptive frame of mind, and recovery and rehabilitation, I am convinced, would take far less time, and be far more effective.

So, on to our appointment with the consultant. Frankly he didn't tell us anything we didn't know, although he has prescribed a mild blood pressure tablet for cleo to try to reduce her blood pressure a little, even though it is within normal limits. He suggested that a 10% reduction in blood pressure has been shown to give a 25% reduction in the incidence of stroke. He is a dour man, and seems to have little to say.

When we got home cleo remarked that she felt that after the appointment her positive thoughts from the last few weeks seemed to have been rather lost. She was not sure why, but she felt like she had gone backward. I too, am not sure quite why either, but it concerns me that an appointment with the person ultimately in charge of her care has this effect on her. Why should this happen? Maybe he is excellent at clinical stuff, but I am not so sure about his people skills. He just doesn't engender any belief, or confidence. I understand that he cannot give a patient wrong information, and we wouldn't expect that, but I am sure that in every situation there are positives to be found, you just need to look for them. What has only just occurred to me as I write this entry is that he didn't even examine her to see the extent of the recovery she has made. I now have to try and bring cleo out of the "dark thought" region again. We have worked so hard in the last few weeks to improve her outlook, and 30 minutes with a consultant creates an adverse reaction in her which seems to have spoilt that.

Does he care, and is he really interested? Frankly I doubt it.