Candy coating is good on m&ms. Not when talking about surgery.
My patients will tell you I tell it all. I think I may talk some out of surgery when I give the recovery, drains, garments, pain, and potential complications in detail. So why? Why don’t I brush over all that stuff?
When I was a medical student, there was a study looking postoperative pain. One group was told exactly what their surgery would be like. Recovery, pain levels, activity, etc. The other group was not.
After their surgeries, the informed group took much less pain medication. Why? It is simple: they knew what to expect, they knew what they were feeling was normal, and they could trust their doctor. I have never forgotten that study.
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I had a patient with breast cancer who interviewed a lot of surgeons. I asked her why she chose me. It boiled down to trust. She heard things from doctors like “It is nothing.” ” My breast augmentation patients are bounding back in here at a week like nothing happened.” “Don’t worry.” Etc Etc. She is not a 20 year old breast augmentation patient. She knew she was a big surgery with potential risks. She didn’t want someone to gloss over things. She wanted to know in detail exactly what her risks were and recovery would be, from the ideal to the worst case scenarios.
Do you smoke? Diabetes? High blood pressure? How thin are you? How old are you? What meds are you on? What is your job? Do you have kids? How old are they (ie What do you need to do to keep your home running?) Every person is different and has different challenges.
So no candy coating with me. Truthfully, a little candy coating might do me some good. Telling all the nitty gritty can get your hands a little chocolatey. I just can’t get myself to do it. I love candy coating on M&Ms…just not when talking about something as serious as surgery.
My Palo Alto women are educated. I think most like knowing the potential good and bad of it all. And I bet they take do better after surgery because they know what to expect.