Do you call any of your doctors by their first name?

A Parkinson’s Awareness Month story

I’ve been in the Parkinson’s world for about thirteen years. The first year was spent trying to figure out why I was walking diagonally and falling. It took that long because it isn’t easy to diagnose Parkinson’s. Plus, my first neurologist had a stroke and had to give up his practice.

My second neurologist was Dr. James Miller. We bonded over our love of music. He was into classical, while I’m a rocker. We would trade a piece of music and talk about it at each visit. He never could get me to like his music and vice versa.

One time we were talking about The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” I told him that the man called ‘Mr. Jimmy’ had the same name as him. He laughed when I told him that’s how I referred him to my friends and family. But, I never called him that to his face—NEVER!! It would have been disrespectful, especially since he was a decade older than I.

Dr. Miller retired a few years ago. He wanted to spend more time with his grandchildren—who doesn’t? I’m pretty sure he’s also listening to a lot of music, but probably not The Stones. His loss! But I needed a new neurologist.

If you think it’s difficult to get an appointment to see a specialist, try finding one who takes new patients. I was recommended to try Rush Hospital. That worked for me because their office was a simple bus ride from where I used to live. I went through their list of doctors and found two that I thought would work. Guess what—neither of them was accepting new patients. They recommended someone relatively new at their practice. When I checked out her bio, her photo made her look like she was twenty years old. Oh man, I’m going to be trusting my brain to Doogie Howser. But, I figured at least she’ll be around for a while, so why not take a chance?

It turned out to be a great choice.

When we met for the first time, I figured it would be a half-hour and done. That’s what I was used to. Nope—no way!! Two hours later, she knew everything about me and my experience with Parkinson’s, plus how I was being treated. When she suggested meeting every four months, I replied, “How about every six, twice a year?” No problem—whatever works for you.

I’ve now been with her for more than three years. I’ve never had a doctor who’s more caring and patient. When I moved to the northern suburbs, she asked if she could recommend someone closer to my new home. I said, “Why would I do that? I want to be with you as long as you’ll have me.” So twice a year, I take the trip to Rush, and it’s going to be that way until the end!!

Each fall, there is a Parkinson’s walk along the lakefront by Soldier Field. The goal is to raise needed funds for the Parkinson’s Foundation. It also brings together more than a thousand members of the Parkinson’s community. We bond and share stories as we walk for a couple of miles. It’s almost spiritual. It’s my favorite event of the year.

Two years ago, I noticed that Rush had a booth at the walk. It makes sense; the hospital has a huge department dedicated to Parkinson's and other movement disorders. My doctor was there with her son. We talked for a few minutes before heading off on the walk. Nothing too serious was discussed—we save that for our actual appointments—but it was nice to put an out-of-office face on someone I already liked. It made our relationship more personal.

At last year’s event, my first stop was at the Rush booth. When I asked about her, I was told she had a conflict and she wasn't going to be able to attend. I was disappointed because, as you can tell, I like seeing her quite a bit. But I moved on and prepared to go on the walk.

About a half-hour later, the person from the Rush booth came up to me. “Alana is going to be here. She’s running late today.” I looked at her funny and replied, “Alana?” I then realized she was talking about my neurologist. I said, “Sorry. I don't usually call her that. We’re not on a first-name basis.” And we both laughed.

I caught up with my doctor a few minutes later. When I told her the story, there was more laughter. Yeah, we agreed it was funny, but I told her I was never going to call her by her first name.

I had an appointment with her a few weeks later. We revisited the story and laughed again. But there was a follow-up that led to some written correspondence. I was addressed as Mr. Moore and she as Dr.—. That felt more comfortable.

But back to that appointment, as I was leaving, we shared a quick sidehug goodbye. It got me thinking…is it okay to hug your doctors? Sigh!! It’s always those little things.

April is Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month. The Parkinson’s Foundation can use your money. They fund programs that make the lives of PD patients better. Parkinson.org will get you to their website.