Ask About Risks and Benefits
Doctors are trained to treat illness. It is your job to find out what benefit the treatment or procedure will bring you. That means asking how likely it is to succeed and what changes and improvements you can expect. Ask what you will feel like and what your quality of life will be like following treatment. What will your recovery time be? You can also ask how much energy you will have, what medicines may help relieve side effects and what alternatives exist. Make the doctor stay as long as you need to explain as much as you need. Receiving treatment is always a choice. You must decide what is best for you.
Everything is Negotiable
Learn to set expectations ahead of time to let people now that you will need time to recover following your surgery or procedure. Even a minor surgery may leave you feeling a little tired or foggy for a day or two. Allowing proper recovery time is important to the success of your treatment.
Rally the Troops
People often rely on one or two family members and friends for almost everything during recovery from a surgery. This can lead to burnout for those people. It is a better idea to keep track of everyone who offers to help. They offer because they care and want to help. Keep a list of those people. Take a minute to think about how those people might realistically assist you before, during and after your surgery. Some of them may be great cooks. Others may have endless patience for your children. One may be totally unreliable but always make you laugh and maybe one of those people is good at doing hair and can help you stay presentable if you are hospitalized. Often someone from church can organize a prayer group and another friend can bring you good books and magazines.
Be specific. Don’t hesitate to ask. Be realistic about who can do what. Spread the responsibility across many epode and no one will feel overly burdened. They will be glad you asked.