Next week, I’ll have to present myself before a “medical” board. This is a standard procedure from Social Security in Portugal to assess if the person has a sickness that prevents them from working. They do this every three months or so while the person is on sick leave.
I won’t go into details about the surreal situations I’ve experienced with these “medical” boards, like being shouted at by one of the supposed doctors after another one had made me a question, and I began answering it. True story!
But I can explain why I’m using quotation marks in the word medical. The thing is, after experiencing crazy situations with them, I doubt they are doctors or have any medical degree. One example that illustrates my doubtfulness is one of the supposed doctors not knowing what IBS, another syndrome I suffer from, is.
I swear I’m not making stuff up. This actually happened! How crazy is that?!
To attend these “medical” boards, I have to take with me medical reports. One such report was written two days ago by my rheumatologist. In it, he describes my pain as violent.
A screenshot of an excerpt from the medical report mentioned above is available on my personal blog. Be advised the text from both the quote and the blog are in European Portuguese.
I’m a bit anxious about seeing this “medical” board, given the prior crazy experiences. Luckily, I have an appointment with my rheumatologist the day before.
After presenting myself to this “medical” board, I’ll write about how it went. It probably won’t be on the same day, depending on the level of pain and exhaustion or a failure in my memory, but I intend to write it.
image from Unsplash
