I don’t see myself, in my mind’s eye, as an old person. Yet, here I am, at an age where things begin to drastically change. Past 50, your health care team’s relationship with you changes. There are a lot more tests and intrusion into your life and routines.
At my latest physical, there were some adverse results to some tests. The system is automated. When a specific result is received, it triggers a series of events that are largely out of the doctor’s control. The system prescribes the next steps, not the doctor.
So, when a particular test came back positive, one that I knew would come back positive, and one that the system has known was positive for more than 30 years, it reacted as though it had no idea why, then set in motion a prescribed series of events.
You can’t reason with the system. Nobody is in charge. Nobody is there to take a complaint. Nobody is listening. Nobody reads your chart.
But what about your doctor, you might ask? The lab results trigger actions in the system. It alerts him to the next recommended steps. He can’t over ride these. He has to see that he advises me to follow the recommendation. He checks the box that alerts the system that he has performed his task. The system sees that I have made the necessary appointments.
My only effective rebellion is to schedule the appointments far into the future, then reschedule them even farther.
I know what’s happening. I’ve known since 1989. I’ve every test under the sun. I know what, but I don’t know why. I also know that the what isn’t life threatening. It’s been happening for more than thirty years.
The system also does not care about the anxiety and stress that this all causes my already fatigued autistic system.
Getting old as an autistic person
Getting old as an autistic person
Getting old as an autistic person
I don’t see myself, in my mind’s eye, as an old person. Yet, here I am, at an age where things begin to drastically change. Past 50, your health care team’s relationship with you changes. There are a lot more tests and intrusion into your life and routines.
At my latest physical, there were some adverse results to some tests. The system is automated. When a specific result is received, it triggers a series of events that are largely out of the doctor’s control. The system prescribes the next steps, not the doctor.
So, when a particular test came back positive, one that I knew would come back positive, and one that the system has known was positive for more than 30 years, it reacted as though it had no idea why, then set in motion a prescribed series of events.
You can’t reason with the system. Nobody is in charge. Nobody is there to take a complaint. Nobody is listening. Nobody reads your chart.
But what about your doctor, you might ask? The lab results trigger actions in the system. It alerts him to the next recommended steps. He can’t over ride these. He has to see that he advises me to follow the recommendation. He checks the box that alerts the system that he has performed his task. The system sees that I have made the necessary appointments.
My only effective rebellion is to schedule the appointments far into the future, then reschedule them even farther.
I know what’s happening. I’ve known since 1989. I’ve every test under the sun. I know what, but I don’t know why. I also know that the what isn’t life threatening. It’s been happening for more than thirty years.
The system also does not care about the anxiety and stress that this all causes my already fatigued autistic system.
It’s not fun getting old as an autistic person.