A great start

My father-in-law had not seen a doctor for many years.

For a good number of years he has appeared to be depressed and anxious (these two diagnoses often go hand in hand).

He finally consented to go in for a check-up last week.

He saw an acquaintance of mine who has been in practice for many years.

It appears that all the right things were said behind closed doors.

He left the appointment in great spirits and has agreed to start on medication therapy, in addition to continued follow-up and counseling.

We've (my wife and I) been relayed small amounts of the details by my father-in-law.

"The doctor told me:"

"It's not your fault you've been depressed and anxious-you inherited the potential for both from your parents."

"You need to stop worrying so much; You need to remember what it was like to be a boy again and have fun."

"If you like sex and your wife likes sex, you should have sex (we did let him know this was TMI (too much information)-but at least he laughed, which he hadn't been doing for awhile, when he said it)."

I've got to give the doctor a lot of credit.

He was able to get a good read on my father-in-law and high-lite things in an easy to understand way for an individual who has had a real aversion to utilizing the health-care system for many decades.

It was an impressive start to a physician-patient relationship.