My husband has changed Primary Care Physicians twice in the past 6 months. The first time was our choice and we were happy with the new doctor. Then he decided to move and we were given over to a different doctor within the same clinic. We are also in the process of setting up some in-home physical therapy for my husband to see if it will help rebuild his leg strength. So far we’ve met with a Nurse Practitioner and are looking forward to meeting his PT.  As these changes take place, we are encountering lots of new people who will be helping care for him. All of this has imvolved several “get to know you” conversations.

One thing that my husband always says when meeting a new provider is “I want to be treated like any other patient. I want you to set aside my Parkinson’s diagnosis and look at me instead.” While some  of the practitioners are only connected to us because of his PD, it doesn’t mean they should close their eyes to other things that might be happening. It is too easy to blame everything on his Parkinson’s and not look deeper to see what else might be going on.

We prepare for these conversations in advance by printing a current list of all his medications and making sure it’s accurate. We talk about what we each want to see from the upcoming visit and what we might need from the new practitioner. We create a list of questions or concerns to have ready for the discussion so nothing is missed. By doing just a little bit of prep work ahead of time the visits go much better and my husband gets the care he needs and deserves.

There are several great checklists online, we particularly like the worksheets found in the Davis Phinney Every Victory Counts Manual  or on the Michael J Fox Foundation website.