When I went the first time in August, with my first EMG in tow, the clinic director told me categorically I did not have ALS. She didn't say that I would need to be watched to make sure. Her office note was consistent with what she said.
When I got the dx in mid-November, she met with me a few days later over telemed, and said, "I was hoping you didn't have it."
When we met in August, every time I tried to ask a question, she would get irritated and tell me to let her finish. And yet she allowed my spouse to ask a question.
He is as supportive as his nature allows him to be, but I'm the one who makes all the phone calls and struggles to learn how I'll need to be cared for. The director never bothered to get to know the whole me in August, as the doctor who had done my EMG had. He listened to what I said, all the different strange things that were going on with me, and my comment, "In the last few months it seems like my body has been falling apart.." He documented my observations and his carefully in his note. She was only seeing my trapped ulnar nerve. She didn't let me say more than a couple words, so how could she possibly have observed my scratchy voice and speech slurring?
She's just not a good fit with me.
She never ends appointments by saying, "What questions do you have?"
When I saw the wonderful pulmonology NP on Friday, she told me honestly, "The DME supplier I'm recommending will be closed by the time I'm done seeing patients today, but Monday morning I'll have time to submit the orders to them."
This director has a totally different approach. I don't care for the games she plays, and I don't care for the way she tried to manipulate my primary.