Fantastical Optimism
What are the keys to being a successful patient? Here are a few.
Pictured: Dr. Stone with BioKnee and clavicle repair patient Andie H.
Happy patients have happy results. They infect the doctors and nurses with their happiness, their optimism, and their capacity to roll with whatever comes along to finally (if not on the first try) get the outcomes they desire and deserve.
Unhappy patients make everyone nervous. They often have not let go of the trauma that hurt them, a poor outcome from a previous medical intervention, or some bad luck that came their way. Fixed upon the past, they fail to embrace the possibilities of the advanced medical and surgical care available to them and can collapse into depression if anything goes awry.
“Fantastical optimism” is the key to healing and to getting better than you have ever been before. An infectious smile, positive language, upright body posture, and total confidence in the team caring for you turn injury into opportunity. Taking the time to work with physical therapy and fitness teams sets you on the same path that pro athletes use to return to their sport even better than they were before they were injured.
It is normal to be anxious about an injury and its treatment. Surgery is scary. Swelling and pain are not part of anyone’s daily desire. Pain medication, braces, dressings, and stitches often are all necessary evils to get complete healing.
But they are temporary. Time heals many injuries. Our goal in medical and surgical care in this 21st century is to harness the body’s natural resources and regenerative abilities to heal injuries either without surgery or to improve upon what surgical repair alone can do. We do this by adding growth factors and chemoattracts to bring a portion of the body’s billions of native stem cells to the site of injury. Exploring all the biologic options and utilizing them in conjunction with the latest surgical advances can reassure most people that their path to healing is likely to reach its goal.
Optimizing the interaction between natural and augmented healing is what our research is all about, what excites us and what hopefully tickles the fancy of the injured patient, making fantastical optimism the norm.
