This mug I’ve seen circulating the internet for quite some time the past few weeks. I’ve seen some great posts on it & some not-so-great ones.
I’ve had it forwarded from a few doctor friends/blogger buddies & seen it circulate in some of my forums as well on Facebook & Twitter & by now a million other sites. Admittedly at this point, I’m a bit sick of seeing it (to be honest).
It’s become like one of those viral memes that people hide from Facebook after 10-15 of their friends share the same thing in succession. It was interesting the first 5 times we saw it, but we’re sick to death of it by the 9th or more & the two weeks it circulates before it finally dies out.
It’s a lot like the Elf on a Shelf (or politics) for some too (a definite love/hate thing).
While the mug has generated some good discussions when it first started circulating, I think it’s time to put it back in the cupboard. (Which is probably where most of these will wind up after Christmas once the novelty wears off. Like it does with most shiny & new things.)
I get the points made on both ends of the discussion. Yet, I think the actual intent of the mug when it was created was tongue-in-cheek humor.
Granted, I could see how some people could see it as insulting & pretentious.
Like most things, it’s open to perception…
I know I’m told by quite a few of my doctors that they appreciate the research I do into my rare diseases. They appreciate the questions I ask & the time I take to prepare for my appointments. Yet that’s an investment I choose & I feel have to make. I’m selfish that way.
Some doctor’s disapproval over that is not going to stop me from studying up & then using my doctor’s office to vet the information I find & funnel a discussion through.
I’ve done that for years & don’t plan on discontinuing that practice any time soon. If I can’t have an open discussion with my doctors, they don’t usually end up treating me for long anyway.
For those of us with transplants, rare diseases, or a host of other health struggles, I think the last thing on our minds is some mug found on Etsy or elsewhere that our doctors could be (or may not even be) drinking from & what is actually printed on it.
All the salient points have already been made. Put it down. It’s empty.
As I live And Breathe 
What does the bottom say?
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I’m not sure what you mean? What the mug says it says.
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As both a physician and a breast cancer patient, I must say I LOVE the mug. LOVE the sentiment.
You see, I have been on both sides. Nothing annoys me more than a patient who thinks their 30 minute Google search gives them more knowledge than my 25 years of practice after 8 years of education and 6 years of residency plus fellowship trainings! Most lay people are not equipped to evaluate the reliability of their sources. As a breast cancer patient I have seen numerous blogs by non medical breast cancer patients quoting statistics and treatments without good sources and propagating that among blogs until everyone thinks it’s gospel. Well guess what, it’s not and it usually harms you. If your doctor doesn’t want to hear your google crap, you should keep them because they are probably a good doc. If you are my patient and you are unhappy that I don’t have time to waste on your stack of papers printed from questionable websites and blogs, by all means find another doctor and good luck to you. If someone thinks they are smarter than their doctor, why are you wasting their time seeing them. Go treat yourself.
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Ann – I see both sides too. Though I’m not a doctor, I’ve done a lot of working with them professionally in my career & volunteer pursuits over time in addition to time spent as a patient.
I tend to focus on using nonprofit sources, journal abstracts & articles, & clinical websites to talk to my docs about trials & potential treatments. Or other information I know has been vetted & verified but they might not know about because they can’t spend hours on tracking my diseases alone, esp. if I’m their only patient with it. Most docs are supportive of this approach. I do try and be respectful of everyone’s time. Perhaps some of this too goes back to my journalism school days & fact checking everything myself first :). Thanks for sharing your thoughts and perspective.
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