My wife was suffering from uncontrollable diarrhea, muscle spasms, dizziness, etc. These symptoms were making her life unmanageable. We wrote down a complete list of her current medications, her symptoms, and our best guess at what she and I thought might be possible causes of her condition.

Emilie agreed to see us at 4:15 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, about the time I presume most staff are looking forward to a nice weekend. First, Emilie read through the entire written list we had submitted. Then she questioned my wife at length, asking about her physical symptoms, as well as her emotional symptoms. She also examined her physically. It appeared to me that Emilie already had a list of possible causes and was working through that list as she talked to my wife. Almost immediately, Emilie decided to change my wife’s blood pressure med. Then she ordered a number of tests, including an EKG, blood tests, etc. She then discussed with us a number of possible causes and explained that the testing she was ordering was intended to eliminate some of those possible causes.

I am not a trained medical provider, but I am a retired Electronic Design Engineer. I know problem-solving when I see it. As I watched Emilie treat my wife, I got a strong feeling that my wife was in the hands of an intelligent, trained, experienced, and rational care provider. I felt a great sense of relief that my wife was being treated in a competent and caring manner. I felt we were on track to get to the bottom of my wife’s current health problems.