How are you feeling?

When you go to the doctor, do you see the doctor or do you see a nurse practitioner? More often than not, especially in busy practices, we are telling our symptoms to a licensed nurse practitioner/physician assistant. If they have went back to school to get their "doctorate degree," then there is a Dr. in front of their names. Confusing isn't it? Not all states are allowing the use of Dr. for practitioners and most doctors fear that this may set a precedence for the power to diagnose or prescribe medicine. I read a fascinating article,

 "When the nurse wants to be called Doctor"

 online at The New York Times.

With Mom and my Father-in-law both in nursing care, I've learned that speaking with the right person at the facility is very important to their care. Mom can no longer tell me how she's feeling, her speech now is jumbled at this stage of Dementia. Her health holds strong, even though her mind is a tangle of memories. Her strongest ones at this point are the ones of her childhood and when I visit, we go there often. We travel back down that road to the farm at Lead Hill, where Mom's chores included going to get the cows in the afternoon for milking. She and her dog Fido went past the orchard, through the cedar glade and with nothing more than a stick was able to guide the cows up to the barn so Grandpa could milk. Later on in retirement, that farm was home to she and Daddy. She talks about her parents and how Grandma loved to make pies and coconut cake, her favorite as a child. Just like when I was little and couldn't find the words, I now fill in the blanks for Mom. And when I'm not there, the dedicated nurses at Jamestown go down that path to Lead Hill with Mom.