As a nurse and the IT at the hospital told us they're blocking some sites on the free access patient wifi.

Headache, kind of feverish, stiff neck and back.

Immediately, I thought.. sounds like a spinal meningitis story. Yes, it's rare, but the consequences are severe enough to consider it.

Here's an example of why you can't depend on doctors: read the comments where 2? doctors claim neck pain is not a common symptom of meningitis.. then right below people who actually HAD the disease say "my first symptom was headache/sore neck"

I could recount endless stories of my mom's suffering at the hands of incompetent and indifferent doctors. One endocrinologist who over prescribed prednisone failed to notice she gained 90 lbs in one year (he saw her twice a month). When we asked about it, he kept flipping through a year of charts in an obvious display of cognitive dissonance. Since he was convinced he was an excellent doctor, he was desperate for any other explanation to explain his cluelessness.

Her thirst had been increasing over weeks until she was drinking almost 3 gallons of liquids a day but her primary, oncologist, endocrinologist, other oncologist all dismissed it. Finally, after 2 days of continuous dry heaving she was too weak to walk, got admitted and when they catheterized her.. and her output was almost 500ml/hr.

Her pituitary tumor was diagnosed immediately but when we asked about why they ignored the most obvious symptom, they actually admitted "No one pees that much. We didn't believe her."

So I went home and googled "excessive thirst urination" and diabetes insipidus was one of the first results. I learned right then no doctor is ever going to care as much as the patient - you are just 15 minutes of their busy workday. If you want good care you have to fight for it.

One more, even tho it gets me mad thinking about it: A radiologist misread a scan and noted "lumpectomy/mastectomy scar" in her chart. FOR YEARS we had nurses and doctors questioning her about this imaginary surgery. When she or her family ever tried to get this corrected, medical "professionals" would insist "Yes, she did, see, it's in her chart right here. You must be confused."

To counter my negativity, here's an uplifting story: https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_purdy_living_beyond_limits?language=en#t-223561

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