Thank you for referring this pleasant....

[TiredNan]

Just been looking over last years neurology letter copied to my G.P .

I've been having a sort out of the great brain injury box of medical letters etc. It struck me that a lot of them seem to start with this phrase. Has someone gone bonkers on the cut and paste or do other people here have letters that start like that?

I wouldn't say that I was particularly pleasant when I visit a medic... I'm more like Mrs. Overall from Acorn Antiques..... but perhaps I'm a bit passive and give a few weak smiles under question.

My neurologist always tells me how marvellous the medication is and never writes down what I actually said... such as these pills give me a red face and make me shouty...

Thank you for listening... the grand kids have just been picked up and my feet are killing me so looking in and hoping all are ok as can be x

Are you a pleasant referral? Is it relevant? x

[swedishblue11]

My letters begin "I reviewed this lovely lady......." Is this cryptic? Is there another meaning? Such as, this patient won't stop asking difficult questions!! Still at least you're pleasant and I'm lovely ;-\

[moo196]

I daren't ask to see mine now....they probably say " this cranky old woman" or "obstrepelous, challenging patient".....

From memory (not best at that point obviously) I saw " thank you for seeing this 49yr old patient".....neither good nor bad....

I'd be happy with"lovely" ☺😁

[TiredNan in reply to moo196]

Must try and see if I can get an upgrade to "lovely" but I doubt it!

I've been doing an engine search.. it seems to be a big thing in the USA.

I must admit I find it a bit annoying, why say it? Although I'm sure it is all well meant.

I prefer your letter Moo.. factual and polite

[Hidden in reply to TiredNan]

Our letters always say ' I saw this pleasant man today....'

[Blim]

I've had all sorts of letter openers and all the whole I haven't minded. I did get a bit annoyed at the doctor that started his letter with "I saw this over weight middle aged woman...". I agree I could do with losing a bit of weight but I really don't know what it had to do with my brain injury due to meningitis which is what I was seeing him about. I have to say the rest of the letter was also not very nice and I have since seen a wonderful neurologist who has restored my faith in doctors and who didn't agree with the recommendations of the unkind doctor either.

I did cry when I read the first letter and it made me realise how powerful doctors can be. i should think pleasant is a good thing. It's a shame if you don't feel listened too though.

Hope you are feeling a little more rested now.

Best wishes Blim

[TiredNan in reply to Blim]

Thanks Blim I had a long sleep in today! Well till 8 am ...

By heck that's really horrible to read. I agree it is really irrelevant being myself of the same description at the time myself. What if he wrote "slim and youthful.".. creepy I would say. I'm so sorry that he made you cry, it would have made me cry also . sending you a big hug if that's ok xxx

[Blim in reply to TiredNan]

Aww bless you. Thank you. It took me a while to get over it but thankfully my gp and headway support were fab. The wonderful lady even came to the next appointment with him. She got me to see a neurologist and made sure I never saw him again.

Hug much appreciated thank you 😊 x

[TiredNan in reply to Blim]

You know for some reason it's been playing on my mind a bit today and felt really cross about what happened there.

I'm really glad that you came back and let me know that you got support from GP and Headway. I feel happier now.. almost pleasant even ha ha

Have a restful weekend and take care xxx

[BaronC]

Yes, I've been a pleasant man for years now, every bloody time I'm referred to anyone at all, I'm a pleasant man. And funnily enough, one to 'Ear, nose and throat' I couldn't sodding talk and yet I was still, apparently, a pleasant man.

I suppose telling the truth and saying'this angry, annoyed and frustrated individual who came with his equally angry and rather frightening wife' along with questioning the existence of a father where I'm concerned wouldn't make for good reading

[TiredNan in reply to BaronC]

Clearly a gross misrepresentation of your true condition from what you say... have you considered suing for defamation?

[BaronC in reply to TiredNan]

Every time

[Gaia_rising]

I'm chuckling at this, a friend and I both have letters that start "Thank you for referring this 'x' year old, right-handed 'gender'." I don't think any of mine say I'm pleasant, though.

[TiredNan in reply to Gaia_rising]

Phew.... lucky though that you are right handed! Clearly this doc is concerned that everyone can use their knife and fork correctly

[Hidden]

Yes, now someone mentions it this patronising habit has appeared frequently on my myriad Consultant letters! I will do a search on medical websites to see why they do this and whether there is any debate...

[TiredNan in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Caroline, it would be very interesting if you turn anything up.

[Hidden in reply to TiredNan]

Well it is much commented upon on Fora such as Mumsnet, Gransnet and HealthUnlocked Thyroid! This letter from the BMJ spells it out well ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Essentially it is very old fashioned and probably on the decline.

This did make me laugh though:

gransnet.com/forums/chat/a1...

BW

[TiredNan in reply to Hidden]

I see that there is a 44 year old right handed ceramic tiler referred to in the BMJ article! I'm wondering what on earth his condition was to make this relevant?

Love the Gransnet suggested truthful letter:

"Dear Dr --

I saw your old harridan of a patient in my clinic today! She presented as a miserable old bitch with a lamentable attitude to her very minor problems. Etc, etc, etc!"

My goodness though... there's so many lovely pleasant right handed folks about you wonder how we the brain injured got such a reputation for being a bit snarky ....Fake News eh?

[angelite in reply to Hidden]

Oh Caroline, I just totally lost it at 'Galen's' entry ! LOL ! x

[barny1]

I've had this opener a lot too, sometimes something is added to it like "this pleasant [age] year old young gentleman". I've also had "this delightful young gentleman, "27 year old right handed gentleman", "very pleasant...", "pleasant young man", etc. Seems a common theme, buy must admit when I first saw it in writing I believed it was something about me and not a formality as I now see it.

[Gaia_rising in reply to barny1]

It was the 'right-handed' line that made my friend and I laugh. Now I come to think of it, I don't remember being asked which was my dominant hand, so it must have been observation-based? Strange.

[barny1 in reply to Gaia_rising]

I know for sure I was asked, but its inclusion into the opener is odd and I can only assume it was because I lost my temper with that neuro as I felt I was just being churned out of the room...pleasant wouldn't have been an option!

[Gaia_rising in reply to barny1]

I'm certain I didn't get 'pleasant' because I'm generally not... the sort-of-flat responses I tend to give irritate the smiley-happy crew, but I don't want to be in their gang, it looks rubbish.

[barny1 in reply to Gaia_rising]

So you've never had pleasant before? Interesting.

I like to think I'm in good hands and that they'd surely cover all bases and then I'm angry and depressed when the consultation ends and I've been dealt with.

[Gaia_rising in reply to barny1]

It's a quagmire. I know I didn't do myself any favours early-on, when I was bolshy, and determined I was going to 'get better'. When I know I'm 'on one', I tell them at the outset, that if I start getting ranty, to use my name, and I'll remember that it's me that's the 'problem'. Until recently, I've always been able to articulate clearly enough, but I've had a setback, so I'm not always coherent.

I think that a lot of us are shuffled between different departments and providers, and it can be really disheartening having to tell the whole story all over again, just to get another "Well, you survived, it could have been worse!" response. That one really winds me up, 'before', I was fantastic, now, I'm another word starting with 'f', that I won't type, in case it offends anyone.

We keep on surviving, it's what we do.

[barny1 in reply to Gaia_rising]

Honestly, being a nuisance seems to get you farther. Unfortunately, communication can be such an effort and memory unreliable that I'm routinely steamrollered. Still, I know there's not much they can do given the cuts to services and provided I turn up to an appointment and say nothing they'll consider me to be getting by alright.

Anyway, we can laugh about how 'pleasant' we are, but the jokes on them given how overused it appears to be.