A Visit With Dr. Google

One reason I'm glad my mother doesn't love technology is that I've had access to her medical portals for years. They are set up through her email with her permission. I'm not glad because I don't want her to have access. It's more that I don't want her to do what I do, see the results and play the game of what does it all mean??

As part of my past work and current investing, I like data, especially visual representations of data that comfort me. I've studied data and statistics, and I know about overreliance on data the ways it can be misinterpreted, and how it doesn't tell the full story. Also, I'm not a doctor. My only medical training was courses I took in my early 20s when I was a worker's compensation insurance adjuster. I can tell you a bit about the spine and repetitive trauma; that's it.?

But now we are all data interpreters. If you are like me, dealing with a battery of tests in a parent's chart you probably do what I do, punch terms into Google and see what comes up. The types of suggested queries indicate there's a lot of angst out there. The new AI-generated responses only add to the confusion. What do we trust??

Most of us don’t know what these numbers mean and yet, because they are often posted in medical portals before a doctor calls you or makes an appointment you see them first and, if you are anything like me, vacillate between curiosity and dread. Should I wait? Should I look??

This is even more complicated with the elderly. Levels change so quickly, and what can be alarming in a young person may simply be expected in an older body. How do we know what to respond to? For me, I tend to think about it systemically. I'm focused on my mother's core numbers: weight, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, A1C, diet, and anything related to elimination. The other numbers are usually specific inputs for systems, mostly metabolic and function data.

I like to look at the numbers, and assess any improvements or shifts, and then I'm usually headed to the Mayo Clinic website for answers. There are a lot of SEO-focused websites that deliver information that is hastily written or inaccurate. I stick to Mayo, organization websites, and sometimes medical studies. Medical studies often come up in search results but they can be hard to understand and sometimes alarming. They can be great if there's a specific problem I'm trying to figure out because they are often studies and they can give me insight into other cases but mostly I ignore them.?

I keep notes of anything I'm curious about, stored in a document I can access on my phone for when we talk to her doctors and nurses. And then, and this is most important, I let it drop. This is a bit like investing where too much information can be dangerous to your mental health. I'm a researcher by nature but if I feel myself getting anxious, I stop looking. I can't change the numbers. We can only move forward from here.

Side note:? I really wish Epic Health Systems was publicly traded. This company has the lock one of the most important businesses in the country.