This is when it really counts
Posted by: vickywearsorange on: March 24, 2010
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So usually I’m the one in the hospital, but now my normally healthy daughter started getting sick the next morning I was awaken by my daughter screaming, then throwing up then screaming, needless to say I rushed her to the hospital they took her right in, I met the Dr. who said her fever was 105 and he needed to do a spinal tap to check for spinal miningitus he promised it wouldn’t hurt, I was right outside the door then I heard her scream a scream she had never screamed before. I started to go in but was stopped by the nurse, then the Dr. came out I asked him what happened to the no pain promise, he shrugged it off and told me he would be back with the results and he had sedated her for now. I went in the room and saw blood on the bed and her whimpering in her sleep still feeling the pain. When the Dr. came back he told me the test was inconclusive and he would have to do it again, I said no way, in my experience that is translated as “I did it wrong and need to do it again”. He left to let me think about it I immediately found a sympathetic nurse that looked as thou she had children, and I explained to her that I wa new to town and I needed a real pediatrition, she quietly told me the name of the best one she knew. I went and called him right away told him what was happening and he came to the hospital right away, he then told me that my daughter did need another spinal tap but he would do it and do it right without pain. I reluctantly said ok , I was again outside the room and there were no screams, the Dr. came out and told me he was finished and he would be back with the results, as I feared it was spinal meningitis he admitted her right away. She was there for a week on morphine but it the pain briefly so one morning the Dr. came to me in tears saying he needed to send her to a children’s hospital because he can’t keep seeing her in pain but doesn’t want her to get addicted. So to another hospital in a ambulance we went.
Oh Boy! Now We Get To Start All Over Again!
Posted by: vickywearsorange on: March 22, 2010
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- SO I MEET WITH THE FIRST DR IN THE GROUP WHO SAYS THE LAST DR DIAGNOSED YOU WITH AUTO IMMUNE HEPETITUS, HUM HE NEVER TOLD ME THAT,TO WHICH SHE RESPONDS WELL ALL THAT MEANS IS THAT YOUR LIVER COUNT IS HIGH…THAT I KNEW, BUT THEN SHE SAYS THATS A RARE DISEASE SO IT’S NOT AUTO IMMUNE HEPETITUS UNTIL WE SAY IT IS. SO I GET TO START ALL OVER AGAIN WITH THE TEST, JUST SO IN A FEW MONTHS I CAN HEAR THEM SAY “YEP THATS WHAT YOU HAVE
UP THE PREGNAZONE ADD TO IT 2 MORE PERSCRIPTIONS BECAUSE NOW MY LIVER COUNT IS UP TO 450 (NORMAL IS 30-70) AND TO LET ME KNOW THAT TAKING 80 MGS OF PREGNAZONE WILL DISTROY MY BONES AND STOMACH AMOUNGST OTHER THINGS. BUT THERES SOMETHING NEW, THEY THINK I NEED A LIVER TRANSPLANT AND I NEED TO GET ON SOCIAL SECURITY RIGHT AWAY BECAUSE MY HUSBANDS MILITARY INS. IS NOT ENOUGH TO PAY FOR THE LONG TERM CARE OF A TRANSFUSED LIVER, I HAD ALREADY LOST MY JOB BECAUSE OF ILLNESS SO NOW I GET TO TAKE A SLIPPERY SLOPE DOWN THE S.S ROAD, AND WHAT A FUN TIME THAT WAS, IN THE MEANTIME MY HUSBAND GETS TRANSFURED TO A NEW BASE. NOW I NO LONGER HAVE MY WONDERFUL OBGYN AND SO I WENT DR SHOPPING. I FOUND OUT TWO THINGS FIRST, WHEN DRS THE ASK HOW I CONTACTED THE “AUTO IMMUNE” DISEASE I KNOW THAT HE DOESN’T ANYTHING ABOUT “AUTO IMMUNE” WHICH MEANS MY BODYS IMMUNE IS TURNING ON ITSELF. SO NEXT DR THE ONE THING THESE DRS ALL INSIST IS THAT I MUST HAVE HAD A BLOOD TRANSFUSION BECAUSE NO ONE GETS THIS SICK SO FAST OR THIS DISEASE WITHOUT ONE,SO WHY DO THEY PASS THEM OUT LIKE CANDY AT A 5YEAR OLDS BIRTHDAY PARTY. SO TO PROVE THAT I NEVER HAD ONE I HAD TO GET ALL MY PREVIOUS HOSPITAL RECORDS AND NOT JUST THE LABS BUT THE BILLS BECAUSE IF YOU TELL THEM YOU DON’T WANT BLOOD THEY MIGHT STILL GIVE IT TO YOU BECAUSE IT’S A SHORT CUT ALSO THERE IS MORE MONEY TO BE MADE IN THE BLOOD BUSINESS, SO I HAD TO LOOK AT ALL THE INSURANCE BILLS TO FIND THE BLOOD CODES WHICH AT THAT TIME WAS 087-094 FORTUNETLY I HAD NOT GOTTEN ANY, SO WHAT HAPPENED. I DON’T KNOW BUT THERES ABOUT TO BE A NEW SYMPTOM DON’T WORRY IT WOULD BE WRONGLY DIAGNOSED FOR 6 YEARS ….
Putting the ‘SPECIAL’ in Specialist
Posted by: vickywearsorange on: March 9, 2010
So I went to a SPECIALIST to get a prognosis. One test turned into a series of tests, resulting in my receiving a sort of ’V.I.P’ card to the local hospital lab. This is not to be compared with the V.I.P. card I had when I was younger to a number of night clubs where I never had to wait in line to dance, this V.I.P. card meant that I never had to wait in line to be poked and prodded.
This went on for approximately 4 months with a number of Dr. appointments in between. My liver count kept going up, which led to diagnosis number one of many, gallbladder disease. He said taking it out will fix everything. so I thought, you’re the Doctor! lets fix it!
So out came the gallbladder. After the surgery, the surgeon came in to notify me that everything went well and that I had (HAD had) a perfectly healthy gallbladder. I don’t know why they couldn’t just say “Oops! Lets just sew this back up” but, eh. They did a biopsy of my liver as well. I then went on to be tested for everything from AIDS to Wilkinson’s disease all over again. It was about 6 months of testing that I got fed up with not having an answer. I made an appointment with the Dr. and told him I wanted to know what was going on. He took me and my mother who tagged along into his private office, where I found his “Order of the Camel’ diploma. He started to tell me some story that he had told me already when I stopped him and I said “I don’t want another story, I want a prognosis.”
He got serious, looked me straight in the eyes and said
“I didn’t want to have to tell you this but I think you have AIDS.”
AIDS!? The disease that a) I had already been tested for TWICE and b) is the exact OPPOSITE of my problem, which is having an over-active immune system!
My mother started to cry and get hysterical. I looked at him with one of those ‘you are gonna die’ looks, and jumped up. “Mom I do not have aids. This idiot didn’t even read my file! I’ve tested negative twice for that.” Then I turn my gaze to him and told him he was FIRED. So, so fired. That he shouldn’t even be allowed to be a MORTICIAN I was so angry. My mom thought I was going to attack him, and with all the meds he had me on I probably could have done it legally! She somehow managed to calm the situation (and keep me out of jail!) bless her heart.
I requested my file and told him that I had better not get a bill, or I would be bringing it back to him and filing it where the sun doesn’t shine. I was told that I would have to pay for my file. I said we’ll see about that. I went back to my OBGYN, who got my file for at no cost, and we decided on a university of Doctors as the next step.
Lets see how that went….
Fast Forward!
Posted by: vickywearsorange on: March 8, 2010
1991.
I was working full-time and I had 3 young daughters. I was staying very active.
Then one day I fall out of a tree from over two stories up. An avocado tree. NOT a small one. I reached for a few nice sized avocados when the branch gave out, and down I went.
I remember thinking on the way down that I had to fall just right, because if I fell on my back it would probably break, and if I fell on my stomach I would most likely bust an organ(or something worse), so I decidedly to fall on my side, the way a chiropractor would have you lay.
Note: To someone who has never fallen from a high distance, it may seem improbable that one could think all of this, but let me assure you, on a long fall, it goes in slow motion. It might be because I have sky dived before and am used to falling, but more likely it’s because, in a short fall, you hit the ground tense. In a long fall, by the time land your more relaxed. But don’t test that at home.
Anyway, I was dazed for a minute until I saw my brother looking over at me in sheer horror, mumbling “You can’t be hurt! Your husband will kill me!”. I somehow managed to get up and act like it was nothing. On the trip home, my brother, the chicken, just dropped me off at my house and bolted, I think to get ready to leave town in case I died and my husband came after him! I decided it best to go to the hospital and get checked out. To my surprise, the only thing I was told was that I had slightly fractured both of my feet when they hit together. Or so I thought.
About a month later I started to get really tired. Not the tired where you take a nap will solve the problem, but the kind of tired that makes getting dressed feel equal to a 500 yard marathon. Not that I have ever tried that, but I have seen people right after, and they don’t look so good. But that’s the way I looked AND felt. I went to my OBGYN who was a fantastic Doctor, so I didn’t expect what was about to happen. He ran my blood and his nurse called me right away to tell me my liver count was over 3 times what it should be! She informed me I needed to go to a specialist.
This is where my journey really begins.
An Early Experience
Posted by: vickywearsorange on: March 6, 2010
“I had always been one of those healthy people.”
The year is 1985. At age 22, I was pregnant. I got my insurance company’s list of Drs. and had my first apt. 2 weeks later. The appointment was set for 9am, but I was instructed to arrive 30 minutes early to fill out all the forms, which I dutifully did. I recieved the papers and filled them out in about 10 minutes.
8:40 – Right on schedule. I’ll just wait nervously for my first ‘baby’ appointment.
9:45 – Check in with the charming little witch at the counter. Just to make sure I haven’t been forgotten. I’m sure there is a logical reason why so many others have come and gone before me. She assures me I am next.
10:30 - Impatience outweighing nervousness, I inquired again about the delay. I was told that my insurance company was currently being contacted for approval. That should have been done weeks ago!
The clock kept ticking. I noticed the people coming and going all had something in common: Welfare. Nice. I have to be at work by 1:30.
11:15 – I ask the receptionist if I can help out by quitting my job and going on Welfare. She informs me that in the two weeks since we first spoke, she hasn’t had the time to sit down and and verify my insurance. No, not even while I wait for my appointment. She inform me that because of this, I will have to reschedule my appointment for two weeks later.
I don’t think so.
If it didn’t get done in the first two weeks, it isn’t getting done here. I implied that under my employment, she would be ‘let-go’. She implied, that since this was not the case, she wasn’t worried. After leaving her to ponder just who it might be that they got the money to over-pay her, (since rudeness and stupidity are not ‘valid’ reasons to strangle a person) I went to work.
I called my insurance and explained what happened and got referred to another Dr.. I called and made an appointment right away.
Then I got to thinking, my anger at this issue was valid, and that receptionist SHOULD be worried!
Soooooo I called my insurance company and spoke with a supervisor. I may have said she needed the be reassigned to the unemployment line, insisting they fix the problem or I would look for a different insurance company to support my employer.
The next day I get a call from the Doctor’s wife, apologizing for the behavior of their employee. She informed me that she was ‘no longer with them’ and that she would be glad to see me as soon as possible. I explained that I had already made another appointment, (with a Dr. that turned out to be fantastic) but at least her patients would have happier visits. I felt better knowing that she wouldn’t be around patients anymore. Maybe she would find a nice spot at the DMV.
So yes! you can make a stand to Doctors, as well as other medical staff. They aren’t scary. You are!
-Vicky
A little introduction. Bear with me, Universe.
Posted by: vickywearsorange on: March 6, 2010
Ok, so here it is, I’m going to take you on a journey- scratch that – a nightmare through the American healthcare system and their pals, the insurance companies.
Yeah yeah, I know they claim that they are bitter enemies, but the proof is in the bills. It’s a game and we’re all the pawns. They move us around at their leisure - or sometimes I think for their entertainment!
Don’t get me wrong, there are some wonderful Dr.’s out there, the question is how do you find them?
The physicians referral service?
Eh, this is usually paid for by Dr.’s, or hospitals, and will only refer you around in its circle. Less of a referral service, more of a club. 
Friends? Family?
They may or may not have the same health issues you deal with. They may also want different things from a Dr. than you. Although well-meaning, it doesn’t always work. Not to mention that the second anyone finds out you’re sick, you get advice and “magical herbal cures” up the wazoo until you develop a new illness called ” take your advice and stick it-itis”. (clinical term..?) Thats where I learned how to make like I’m listening while trying to decipher the best way to say that my ears are bleeding. This can be hard for me sometimes, because I know that there are people around me genuinely care. It’s just those ones who want to sell you something, or prove how smart they are by solving the puzzle of your health. For them I have prepared this failsafe phrase:
“Wow! If I had only known you were so smart! I would have come for to you for advice sooner. I know longer have to pray!! Thank YOU!”
A hint of sarcasm, yes, but anyone who has been sick for awhile feels this way now and then, whether or not they admit it, they have. This blog is to help those of you who are sick to be able to communicate to those around you your pains, struggles, and victories. This blog is to let you know your not alone, and that the terrain is not completely unmapped. Here, I will continue to remind you that YES! you can FIRE YOUR DOCTOR!!
