Perry

You know, in the olden days when we had paper medical records, some of us used to write little notes on the edges of the page. “Got new puppy.”  Things like that important stuff. We talked about stuff with our patient that made them feel a little better or may uncover an issue. “I hear that your mother-in-law moved in with you. How is that going?“ Things like that. We used to be able to do that when the pace was a little different. That’s now more difficult to come by.  We now fill the prescription, give you the new immunization, and shoot you out the door.  “If you feel you need to learn something about this [drug] then go to the drug store and they will give you brochures about all the dangerous things associated with medicine you are taking.” It is such a different environment.

Bill

We are just about at the end of our time.  This was a very rich conversation.  Mark. Thank you.  So, as we close, Mark, what should we all take from this conversation?

Mark

What I’m going to take from this conversation is the Hardiness Index.  I have a real appreciation for my father who, as a coach, said “when the going gets tough the tough get going. “  Basically, you can’t control what happens to you.  But you can control your response to what is happening.  That is how I shake off depression so that it doesn’t last more than 12 or 24 hours.  I have to just pick myself up. This dovetails with an attitude of gratitude. At the larger level, we have been talking about church attendance or for me meals-on-wheels.  A sense of community.  A longing. A sense of caring is very powerful.  These are important to keep in mind, as we try to sort out all of these metrics, which can be overwhelming.