I thought I’d start out with a joke this morning. It’s not a Christmas joke, but still one of my favorites and quite appropriate for the topic I wanted to cover today.
A young executive was leaving the office late one evening when he saw the CEO of the company standing in front of a shredder. He was holding a piece of paper in his hand, but looked a little dumbfounded.
“May I help you with anything?” the young executive asked the CEO.
“Yes, thank you,” the CEO replied, “this is a very sensitive and important document. My assistant has gone for the evening. Can you make this thing work for me?”
“Certainly,” the young executive replied. He turned the machine on, inserted the document and pressed the start button.
“Excellent, excellent,” the CEO said as his important document disappeared inside the machine. “I just need one copy.”
I’ve had a few “Oops” moments like that in my life. I thought I was doing something to help someone, but I didn’t have enough information or ask enough questions to understand what it was they really wanted. I assumed and you know what happens when you assume.
I recently heard from a reader of my blogs who had gotten into trouble with his medications. This gentleman also has Myasthenia Gravis. He had been on one medication, but his doctor recently prescribed him a new one. The gentleman assumed his doctor meant for him to stop taking the original medication and replace it with the new one, but his doctor had actually intended for him to take both of the medications. As a result of this misunderstanding, his symptoms quickly worsened. He had gotten pretty bad before he decided to call his doctor. Luckily, a phone call was all it took. Once he got back on his original medication and added the new one, his symptoms immediately began to improve.
The lesson from this story, and also from the joke, is we should never assume we understand. If the instructions we receive from our doctor aren’t crystal clear, make sure you ask questions. Or, if you’re like me and sometimes have trouble remembering what my doctor has told me, ask them to write the instructions down for you. That way you’ll have them when you get home and not have to rely on what you think they might have said.
With Myasthenia Gravis, our medicines make a world of difference. When my doctor first put me on Mestinon, my wife called it “the miracle drug” because my symptoms improved so much. If your medicine is working well for you, make sure you let your doctor know at your next appointment. If they’re not working so well, you may want to give your doctor a call just to make sure you have followed the correct instructions. Most importantly, if you begin to have a reaction to a medication (old or new), your doctor needs to know immediately.
Don’t take chances with your medications. Assuming can get you in a world of trouble.
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