Another insensitive doctor

[Guest guest]

Dear Darlene,

I was just thinking about you when your letter came through! I am glad

you resent it. I was responding to the part Carla had reacted to.

I just got rid of my fibroid on Monday. I feel wonderful. Really

wonderful. Today was the first day in a long time I did not wake up in pain.

I so wish there was a way you could change doctors again.

The doctor I ended up using was not covered by my insurance. I had to fight

with the company to get them to even say how much they would cover if I used

him. After many phone calls, e-mail's, and a bit of snail mail, they finally

sent him a letter saying how much they would be willing to cover for the

procedure I wanted. It was almost funny, in the end they said they would

cover more than he was asking!

I got five opinions before I settled on whose hands I felt comfortable in.

The doctor I choose was the only one who assured me he would under no

circumstances be performing a hysterectomy on me. I paid out of pocket for

some opinions, but not all.

Sorry in advance for rambling.

The reason I am telling you all this is that I just came out of the

nightmare, and I would very much like to tell you that I believe you can have

what you want, you can avoid hysterectomy, you can fight your insurance

company, and you might win.

I almost gave in at the onset of the whole mess and scheduled a hyster with

the first doctor I saw.

I too was under great strain at the time due to a loved one's illness

and just wanted to get the pain I was in stopped as soon as I could.

I am so very glad I waited.

On a day when the pain and bleeding were very bad, I could not function at

work, nor was I much use to my children, I was on the brink of begging for a

hysterectomy, I asked myself an interesting question.

" How you would handle the matter if it was one of your daughters that was

suffering? "

That changed everything. Of course I would never allow the first person

who suggested surgery for one of my children to just go ahead and do it! I

would read like mad about it. I would see as many doctors as I needed to see.

I would go into debt if I had to. I would, in short, be as close to certain

as I possibly could that I was doing the best for her that could be done.

So I pretended I was my own child and took care of myself.

The argument I used on the insurance company that suddenly parted the waters

was this:

What their doctor wanted to do would require a much longer hospital stay. At

least a week.

What my doctor wanted to do would be at most an overnight stay, maybe even

not that. They liked that idea.

Audrey

I will be thinking of you