How to bird-dog your doctor

Bird dogging is a communication technique people
are using with weasel-y politicians. It could help
you communicate better with your doctor!

This week, I heard a radio bit about people learning to "bird dog" politicians in order to flush out their true opinions about issues instead of just letting them ramble on with a lot of canned and meaningless statements. I instantly realized that this was a technique we might use with our hematologists, who are often stymied by ET and give us frustrating non-answers.

Anyhow, good bird-dogging requires four things:

1. Be non-confrontational. You may think your doctor isn't doing a great job or ignoring your questions because he or she is not very well informed about ET. If that's so, getting a second opinion should be on your to-do list. The MPN Research Foundation has a good resource page to get you started if you're looking for a new doc. You won't get anywhere with your current doctor if you have a chip on your shoulder.