letter from ENT 🤭

[Regenallotment]

I got a copy of the ENT letter to my GP via the data service at the hospital, the GP hasn’t acted on it yet.

His letter opens with, “I met this pleasant lady …… “

Really? It’s 2023 what is this nonsense. What has my pleasantness got to do with anything medical? Argh …

I shouldn’t be surprised….in 2004 I was delightful according to an Endo old enough to be my Grandad.

Surely this ancient practice needs an overhaul?

Only silver lining, he mentions I’m successfully taking 125mcg and that should left alone. That, I could be pleasant about 😬

[RedApple]

Patronising and condescending are two words that spring to my mind. I wonder if they same the same abut their male patients.

[bantam12 in reply to RedApple]

Yes they do, my husband was always, very pleasant gentleman, and I honestly don’t see any problem with it.

[RedApple in reply to bantam12]

If it's not meant to be patronising and condescending, then it's just plain old fashioned, out dated and pointless. I first experienced that in referral letters twenty years ago. The world has changed so much even since then, and medics need to move with the times too! 😊 Just my opinion 😊

[bantam12 in reply to RedApple]

I have a friend who is a hospital medical secretary and they have standard letter templates they use so it’s not actually the consultant who has dictated the pleasant lady bit it’s just how the template comes out.

Anyway doesn’t bother me in the least 🤷‍♀️

[Eazybiker in reply to bantam12]

It doesn't bother me, either!

[tattybogle]

lol .... i once had a conversation with Scrumbler on here about whether 'pleasant' was actually code for 'pain in the ass'... i got a 'delightful' once.. which we surmised meant 'a proper bloody nuisance'

it gets up my nose too. even though i don't really believe it means anything other than what it says . its just standard Consultant speak for how to start a letter.

yes they do it to blokes too.

[Hidden]

I should like to know if they ever use negative adjectives! Or whether, if they just don't describe the person at all, if its a bit like dropping the 'kind' from 'kind regards' to let the recipient you're well naffed off. 🤣

[tattybogle in reply to Hidden]

no they have known for years that some patients will get hold of their letters to GP's even if they are not CC' 'd in .. so you wont find anything 'openly' rude or negative written down nowadays .

[tattybogle]

The last consultant i saw , it was patently obvious at the consultation that she definitely did NOT find me 'pleasant' at the time ... but it still said 'i saw this pleasant lady' in her letter to my GP.

[Lalatoot in reply to tattybogle]

I think that was a spellcheck problem, Tatty. On that occasion she wanted to put...I saw this peasant lady!

[tattybogle in reply to Lalatoot]

that must have been it lol .

[Delgor in reply to Lalatoot]

🤣🤣🤣

[Otto11]

I think it’s standard practice from an older generation of consultants. My endocrinologist always opens letters that way. A little outdated maybe but harmless really. It made me smile though when he told me I was perfect 😍 he meant my TSH of course. Just call me Mary Poppins! Practically perfect in every way 🤣

[TaraJR]

A consultant once wrote to my GP "This girl is a disappointment". I was 37 at the time.

I had said I still felt symptomatic, and obviously he didn't like it. Wish I'd seen that letter back then, but I only found t when I requested all my medical records.

[buddy99]

I have often wondered whether physicians actually use some sort of code. In reference letters there are often terms that look nice but are putting the next employer on alert, like "she does as instructed" meaning you have to tell her everything otherwise she does nothing (lazy employee). So depending on certain terms being put in or left out the next physician is informed as to what kind of patient to expect. I might be totally out to lunch with this but would not put it passed physicians to learn the meaning of these terms in med school since they seem to be so universal. Haven't figured it out though yet. Maybe it is just my suspicion of all things medical speaking.

[Regenallotment Ambassador in reply to buddy99]

I'm with you on that one, love a conspiracy me 😂

[TiggerMe Ambassador]

Just realised, you did well to see an NHS Endo so soon, even if one that has obviously been around a while 😏 great he didn't tamper with your T4 dose...did he not suggest T3?

[Regenallotment Ambassador in reply to TiggerMe]

not an Endo, Ear Nose and Throat, but apparently they do thyroid here in the sticks 🤷🏽‍♀️ according to the hospital staff listings they are all ear experts. I think that was in my favour 🤣

[Charlie-Farley]

you’re ace! 😂👍

[humanbean]

Those of you who get called pleasant are the lucky ones.

I have a letter in my GP records from the 1970s that describes me as "She is a rather dumpy, old-fashioned looking girl who seems older than her age."

I've looked older than my age since I reached puberty. Nothing has changed in the decades since then. But then my mother did try to dress me in cast-off clothes from a cousin who was at least 10 years older than me. I put my foot down and refused to wear one particular outfit when I was in my mid-teens. My mother loved it and couldn't understand why I hated it so much. I would have looked fine as an extra in any film set between the first and second world wars. The second world war had already been over for nearly 35 years at the time.

My mother had absolutely no taste when it came to dressing me. And didn't have much when it came to dressing herself.

[Regenallotment Ambassador in reply to humanbean]

oh blimey how RUDE and yes I empathise on the dressing, my challenge was different, Mum is very creative and artistic and wanted me to be ‘an individual’ and dress differently to everyone else. I get the concept and admire her commitment but in a small Town school this led to bullying and ridicule. I’m a different personality to her and while I enjoy my quiet individuality I don’t need to dress to draw attention 😬

[tattybogle in reply to Regenallotment]

i hadn't realised i suffer from PTSD.. until now ,

but i'm having a flashback

~ wearing a Purple and Orange (Paisly ) Knitted Trouser Suit, (with flared legs ~1976) ......while playing Trisch-Trasch-Polka in front of an audience .. and judges.

[Regenallotment Ambassador in reply to tattybogle]

😱😱😱 (three screaming faces) the trauma