Insensitive docs
Talk about insensitive docs My daughter went to a prompt care a couple weeks ago on a Sat. for abdominal pain. She has INS and colitis so abdominal pain is nothing new to her, but for her to go to an afterhours clinic for treatment most have told me she was really in pain. She has put on weight in her stomach area the last few months too and is nauseated a lot, but I just figuered it was nothing.
They told her she had an ovarian cyst. And told her to wait a couple months to see if it went away. Being the mom I am.......I told her to get her butt into her regular doc right away, actually I would have prefered an OB doc. but the ob doc could not see her for a couple of weeks. Well anyway her regular doc scheduled her for an ultrasound last Monday. Today they called her and left a message on her cell phone at 4:30 pm and said "we are calling about your ultrasound you need a cat scan call our offie" Of course when she got the message their office was closed and not open till Monday.
My mom and both grandmothers had cancer and a good friend of ours from church recently died of ovarian cancer she was in her early 40's. I am totally freaked out and for once I didn't turn to food.
What really gets me is how they can call and leave messages like , my husband is a RN and said they should have just said call our office about your ultrasound. He said he nevers leaves messages like that. A couple years ago the same doctor's office called me and left my a message that said your mammagram shows a mass you need to schedule an ultrasound. I guess I am going to write a letter voicing my concerns on the types of messages they leave on phones and answering machines.
I just needed to vent I am trying to keep an update attitude around Beth. I called my sister and just burst into tears when she answered the phone and totally freaked her out.
We are having a lot of company the next couple of days for the fourth so I am hoping that will help take our minds off of things. Thanks for letting me share.
Barb, I understand what you are saying about some of the messages that they leave. I totally agree with your husband. The mind goes into overdrive and can think of things that can make you go nuts. Especially over a long holiday week end. I am keeping your daughter and your family in my prayers.
It's not what you gather, but what you scatter
that tells what kind of life you have lived.
I am in total agreement about the insensitivity issue, but wanted to throw in another perspective from the doctor's office side. When I was leading a small health department a few years back, we would get calls from phsyicians' offices, and sometimes laboratories, fairly often. They would tell us how they had tried to communicate (delicately) with a patient, and the patient never returned their phone calls, and how people don't answer their phones. They said letters did not help people to return the calls, and they would ask us to send someone out to find the person, if we could, so that they could be notified. They usually sent the lab resut or concern so we coudl actually tell the person, if we did find them, so that the person would know they needed to follow up.
When the office did not get a response, sometimes the office workers get in trouble (from licensiing agencies), and the physician is sued because people are furious that they do not know they have an abornmal test until years later when they happen to go for care in a place that the lab result is available. The patients are furious with the first provider because they were not tracked down and made to respond to something, because it was important.
I am so sorry your daughter had to hear something that scared her on the phone. I hope she knows that not every test requested shows a bad thing, and it is not always cancer. But it could be. At least she did not feel like the doctors call was unimportant. and she will follow up and know everything really soon. She is blessed to have good health care, even if it is kinda rude care.
I have a Primary Care Doc who calls me to come in every little whip-stitch, for things I think could easily have been shared with me person to person on the phone, like "Your lipids are up" and I felt like they scheduled appointments just for their co-pay & reimbursements. I am NOT a good patient, sometimes!
Hey you did not celebrate your Non-Weight Loss new experience too much... You did NOT turn to food, when you were upset... How wonderful, it is like a curse has been lifted.
Blessings and hugs, hoping for the best, 
Donna H 
Barb....I am so sorry your daughter is having these issues. That doctors office nurse should be written up for leaving a message like that especially over the long weekend. I would be contacting someone about it. That is just terrible. I wonder if the doctor is aware this is going on....I would start with him. Sorry you are having to deal with this when this should be a fun weekend for you. I hope you did manage to enjoy some of your company. I will keep your daughter and you in my prayers.
Hugs....connie d
Barb, prayers for your daughter, you, and the family that this turns out to be nothing serious. About that message GRRR! My problem for a long time now is calling a doc's office and with a question, giving them my WORK # to call me back as that's where I am. They inevitably call me at home with a message to call them back. DUH, I'm at work and don't get the stupid message until after office hours. the next day I call, and of course they'll call me back at home - never ending cycle! Next step is to call every hour on the hour to bug the heck out of them until I get an answer.
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