Audio Recordings: Sunday, September 27, 2009
Since I started this blog, many folks have mentioned that they thought the idea of recording my initial conversations with the doctors was a great idea. Well, if I may say so … I thought it was a great idea too. I can’t tell you why I even thought about at the time (maybe because I’ve done a lot of radio work and am accustomed to recording everything), but I’m really glad I did it.
I thought I’d run into resistance from the doctors and nurses etc, but it was really quite the opposite actually. They all seemed to appreciate the idea, which of surprised me until I thought a bit deeper about it. One doctor even told me it was common practice at another hospital where he had worked. Although I don’t know that they gave patients a copy of the conversation, it may have been for the sake of assurance in case something came back on them later on. Others thought it was a good idea in general, and yet others thought “wow!, I ought to be doing that”. So it was universally excepted as a good idea.
I didn’t hide it (like in my shirt pocket) or sneak it in to the doc’s office. I was very straight forward and asked each doctor if he minded before turning it on. I explained that I was having trouble absorbing all the info that I was getting in 2, sometimes 3 appointments per day. Even on days I had just one appointment. I mean, damn, it’s important stuff to remember, especially with a life threatening illness. Don’t let them tell you no either. If they don’t want to be held to their word, then the conversation probably shouldn’t take place. But be nice about it … they like the idea.
Besides putting those conversations online for anyone to listen to, I myself have gone back to every recording several times to listen again and make sure I heard what I heard. During discussions with Sher, we have referred back to different recordings, because both of us thought we heard him/her say something that was or wasn’t as we remembered.
So they have come in handy. Also very important, is the fact that the idea of my getting proton treatments even in the most remote sense, was due to these recordings. Remember, when I had the recording on line for only a day or two. Bill N. (Florida) and his wife listened to them and contacted me about how the doctor basically “blew off” Sher asking about proton. Something neither Sher or I caught at the moment. So I have a lot of thankfulness for these recordings and the purpose they have served has been multi-faceted.
So I thought I’d explain in simple terms how I did this, and that the cost of doing it, far outweighs the importance.
I didn’t originally buy the recorder for this purpose, but I would have easily spent the $49.00 – $69.00 to do it. I originally bought it to record conversations with musicians, artists etc etc. for our radio shows. I bring home the recordings, do a little editing and broadcast them. In the case with the doctors I didn’t edit or clean up the white noise that all recording has because I wanted them to be totally authentic.
The recorder I used was the Olympus, Digital Voice Recorder – WS 100. There are plenty of them on the market, and this is far from the best one available … but for the price, you just can’t beat it. It records things in .wma format. I going to stay out of the technical stuff here for the sake of making this post a reasonably length. WMA format is Windows Media Player, which most computers have. I did convert them to .mp3 format before putting them on line, and you can do that with a simple piece of free conversion software found anywhere on the web. Just Google, “wma to mp3 conversion” and you’ll find tons of free options.
The recorder itself is small, extremely lightweight and can record up to 37 hours of conversation, music or whatever you’re recording. When you first listen to it from the recorder itself, you’ll think “what crappy quailty” … but, if listen with the little headphones that come with it, or play it through your computer, you’ll soon realize that the quaility is quite fine. OK, its not a recording studio quaility, but its just about good enough to do anything you want with it.
It connects to a USB port on your pc and works basically in the same way most cameras do. It’s simple. I don’t work for Olympus, I don’t sell these recorders, I’m simply saying this is what I used and damn if it didn’t nearly save my life, or at least supply me with an option to “buy” a few more years.
If you have a medical situation similar to mine … please consider it. Don’t depend on your memory.
