The surgery lasted an hour and a half longer than we expected, but they called and warned us from the operating room.\u00a0 When Dr. Conter came out to explain what happened (during what was supposed to be a routine hernia repair surgery), we got answers to a question I asked several doctors last fall, following the removal of my husband\u2019s cancerous kidney: \u201cthere seem to be some digestive issues; what might those be?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Our surgeon\u00a0found the bowel intertwined with a larger than anticipated four-pocketed hernia.\u00a0 After unraveling the mess, he removed six inches of the upper bowel that couldn\u2019t be saved, put things back where they belonged, and closed him up.\u00a0 Dr. Conter\u00a0remarked how\u00a0amazed he was that Cliff hadn\u2019t had a bowel obstruction, hadn\u2019t had significant pain, and could process food at all.\u00a0 We\u2019re most grateful for the skill of this surgeon, his staff, and the fifth floor nurses at Lancaster Regional Hospital.<\/p>\n
So, I\u2019ve been (over)thinking, what questions might\u00a0have the caught the attention of those two doctors so that this situation\u00a0could have been better diagnosed?\u00a0 This story could easily have had a much more unpleasant result.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a business counselor and marketing professional, I often meet with folks who have an idea of where they want to go, but aren\u2019t sure how they get there \u2013 so I ask lots of questions.\u00a0 One particular client came to me, looking for freelance writing opportunities, as he had just be laid off from a local newspaper.\u00a0 Before leaving my office that day, we discovered that he might want to own and write for his own publication, talking about what\u2019s happening in the city and describing local travel options.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t hear from him directly again, but ran into his wife, who now works for him on their publication, focusing on downtown happenings.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/lightkeeper.net\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/100_0656.jpg\" "\\"kids\\"")
My brother, Joe\u00a0(nine years my junior\u00a0), has found my insatiable proclivity for more information somewhat annoying on occasion; he often remarked to me, \u201cyou ask too many questions.\u201d As he has matured (and is raising three children [yes, that is Joe, looking at his three “knuckleheads” in the photo on the left]), I believe his vantage point has likely changed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Entrepreneurs frequently need to be asking themselves questions, and searching for good answers or options, on a regular basis.\u00a0 Examples of those questions might be:<\/p>\n
– Before I commit to renewing that annual advertisement, shouldn\u2019t I check what the\u00a0return on investment\u00a0was\u00a0this\u00a0year?<\/p>\n
– You want me to pay a flat fee of $75 a month for phone service \u2013 when I make, perhaps,\u00a0three calls monthly?<\/p>\n
– This is the third time the client has returned this copy for changes; what do they really\u00a0<\/em>want?<\/p>\n – How could I better explain that the leak in their ceiling is coming from the neighbor\u2019s\u00a0property, not their own roof, as they don\u2019t seem to\u00a0understand the situation?<\/p>\n – Should I shelve this idea or not?\u00a0 What might the ramifications be if I move forward?<\/p>\n – What new initiative is the best fit for my skill and provides the best financial return?<\/p>\n – How can I tell the difference between what I want and what I really need?\u00a0 (Or convince\u00a0myself that what I really want isn\u2019t what I really need?\u00a0 What DO I really need?)<\/p>\n Please don\u2019t waste another second making the same moves you\u2019ve made before and expecting a different result.\u00a0 Commit yourself to making the most of what you, and your clients, are and aspire to be by asking the right questions.<\/p>\n Kathy Snavely<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The surgery lasted an hour and a half longer than we expected, but they called and warned us from the operating room.\u00a0 When Dr. Conter came out to explain what happened (during what was supposed to be a routine hernia repair surgery), we got answers to a question I asked several doctors last fall, following … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,745],"tags":[296,944,496,946,945],"class_list":["post-2283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-kathysnavely","tag-approach","tag-asking","tag-different","tag-inquisitive","tag-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2283"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2287,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283\/revisions\/2287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}