An illustration · invented records
What matters to Mom
Record type: Mom’s own words, at her kitchen table on September 8, written down by me and read back to her. She changed two sentences. This is the page her son should read before the September 15 visit.
“Please explain what happens next and why. Let me finish my questions. I want my children to help me keep track, but I want to hear the answers myself.”
What I want from the second opinion
- To hear from a second doctor whether surgery first is the right order, and why.
- To understand what the tumor test would tell them, and whether I would even be a candidate for it. I don’t need the score explained yet. I need to know what it is for.
- To know what we are waiting on and who calls whom. I do not want to be the one chasing.
What I do not want
- I don’t want to be talked past. If the doctor addresses my son instead of me, he should say “Mom can answer that.”
- I don’t want to decide anything at this visit. I want to go home and think.
- I don’t want the whole folder read to me. One page is enough.
Things I keep thinking about
- The exercise class. I want to keep going as long as I can.
- Whether the addendum got there. My daughter says it is being handled; I believe her but I want it settled.
What I have told my son
- Read the brief and this page. That’s it.
- Bring the folder, but don’t open it unless someone asks for a document.
- Write down the answers in my words, not the doctor’s summary.