After waiting five weeks, the appointment with Dr B, the pain medicine doctor, was going well. She’s a good doctor and was helpful with my lumbar injections earlier this year. She listened and took my MCAS precautions seriously. 

I wasn’t thrilled that I had to schedule an extra appointment before getting the cervical injections recommended by my orthosurgeon, but we are used to jumping through hoops, aren’t we?

Out of the blue, she sheepishly says, “Oh, by the way, I don’t do cervical injections.”

What????  Why am I here?  And why did I wait five weeks to see a doctor who couldn’t help me?

She says she can refer me to her colleague, Dr. C, but he is very picky about doing cervical injections, so I'll need an initial consult with him before I can schedule the injections. 

Are you kidding me? I need to start over with a new doctor? Steam was coming out of my ears.  Okay, maybe not real steam but it sure felt like...

You’ve probably heard the advice that you should write down questions for your doctor before an appointment but that is usually not enough when you are dealing with a rare or complex disease.  Did you know that doctors are taught a ‘medical interview’ that they use as the framework of your appointment?  By approaching your appointment like you would a job interview, you can learn how to better communicate and collaborate with your doctor, resulting in a stronger relationship and better care for you. 

Let’s look at the way an appointment or ‘medical interview’ is similar to a job interview.

1. You need to be prepared and ready to answer the questions that are being asked.

   You have probably been asked the typical interview questions like  ‘What are your strengths?’ or ‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’  The first time you heard them, you may have stumbled and stammered a semi-intelligible...