My recent doctor's visit

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/27/03 7:43:17 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

hhessgriffeth@... writes:

> Thanks for listening to my complaints and confusion, if I can ever

>

Hi Heidi,

My goodness, what a hose job you are having. I can only suggest sorting it

all out and just trying to deal with one thing at a time. What you have been

and are going through would be totally overwhelming. Please try to take it

easy and make it easy and don't let the mountain you are climbing get the

best of you. Pull out all you old tricks to deal with this situation and

situations that are forced upon you.

I wish I could offer more.

Best Wishes, Poncho - GA

[Guest guest]

Hi y'all,

I had promised to get back with the news about my recent GI

visit, I'll try to explain it without getting everyone too confused. It

was my understanding that the purpose of this visit was to

review the check-up ultrasound I had done two weeks ago to see

if my psueodocysts had grown or stablized. Once that was

established, a plan of action of what to do about them was

supposed to be proposed.

Two weeks ago I had given all my GI records, lab work, and

radiology reports to date to this doctor to review. The ultrasound,

which was done at his hospital, which is a different one than I've

been using, was done, but the report failed to detail precise

measurements, just that one pseudocyst was approximately 6

cm. and the other 3 cm. I saw the technician measuring the full

diameter (several different measurements) of each cyst, so I

don't know why the report wasn't more detailed. My previous

CT-scan 4 weeks earlier showed them as 6 x 5 and 3x 5 cm.,

and was a much more detailed report. So this was not

conclusive of any changes.

When I went to this second appointment, I also took all 200+

pages of my hospital records. While I was in the hospital they

did every blood, urine and stool test imagineable, plus drug

tests, chemical tests, bacterial tests, multiple chest x-rays, heart

ryhym monitoring tests, cardiology reports, etc. You name it, it

was done. Upon release, my internist did a full CBC workup and

diabetes Ac1 test, and those records were given to the doctor the

day of my appointment. The hospital records were a month old,

and the internist's about two weeks old. I got irritated with the

new doctor when he kept saying, " I don't see such and such a

test, I'll order one " , and I had to keep pointing out that this one, or

that one, or this one, had just been done.....just read the records!

He seemed more inclined to order all new tests, taking days to

weeks to accomplish, plus considerable expense

insurance-wise, when all the information was there in front of

him. My internist had just done a complete physical, yet he

insisted on doing his own. When I questioned why he wanted to

do another one, he said it was because he wanted to do it

himself. Okay, I can see that, but I can't see spending hundreds

or perhaps more dollars for all new tests on everything.

He ordered a chest CT-scan and an MRI to be done this week,

and wouldn't let me schedule them myself, as the other GI used

to let me do. Insisted that his assistant schedule them. She

called me back the next day with the times and days, and I had

conflicts with other doctor's tests or appointments which had

been made weeks ago. So she didn't like it when I told her that

those dates were unsuitable for me. She said I've got your

MRCP scheduled for Wednesday, and your Chest CT-scan

scheduled Tuesday. I said " MRCP.....? I thought he wanted an

MRI? " She said he'd changed his mind and changed the order

to an MRCP. She said I had to do NPO for twelve hours prior to

the MRCP, but the literature I've read after talking with her about

the MRCP says you CAN have light foods and beverages before

the exam. Who's right? It's scheduled for 1:30 p.m., and that's a

long haul for me with my diabetes to go without food or drink! I'm

prone to hypo and those are perfect conditions for a hypo to

happen. Especially with being that time of day, theoretically I

wouldn't be eating or drinking anything for 16 hours, unless I

wake myself at 1:00 a.m. and eat something then. I didn't know

this when she called, so I told her okay, I could do that, but I

wasn't able to do the chest ct-scan on Tuesday, and that I

WASN'T going to do it anyway. It wasn't necessary since I had

three chest x-rays just done and all were perfectly fine, all the

doctor needed to do was look at them in the records. My

insurance won't pay for any more. Besides, they have no

relevance with the pseudocyst problem. She didn't seem to like

that remark.

So then, at 6:00 pm on Friday, when I'm out, hospital registration

calls and leaves a message to tell me that my MRI is scheduled

for tomorrow (Monday). Can't do that one, I've got a conflicting

mammogram and bone density test during that time scheduled

by my internist four weeks ago. But wait a minute, an MRI? I

thought he'd changed it to an MRCP on Wednesday...there's no

reason to have both.....and of course it's after hours on Friday

and no way to find what in the world is going on!

So consequently I'm still confused as to what's going on, and I

have doctor's appointments or procedures sheduled for four of

the five weekdays this week. And as you know, just one

procedure or appointment manages to take up practically the

whole day....time to get there, time spent sitting in a waiting

room, etc. So that means another week spent feeling like a

guinea pig, totally involved in medical business....yuck! No

chance to get any time enjoying our lovely weather! But it did

seem like the GI was leaning toward trying a fine needle

aspiration again, which is really what I'd like to try again, other

than get under the knife. He made some notes in his

dictaphone that sounded like he considered surgery as a last

resort. So I'm hoping that the MRCP gives him a really clear

picture of the ducts and pseudocysts and they look good enough

for the aspiration to be the chosen procedure.

Otherwise, I'm doing about the same. Still a lot of pseudocyst

pain, no noticeable weight gain (109) even though I'm on a 1,800

calorie a day diet and probably sneaking another 500 in each

day, and still having crazy up and down BG's, usually favoring the

lows at nights and now during the days, too. I meet with the

endocrinologist's CDE on Tuesday, maybe we'll get some of that

straightened out.

Thanks for listening to my complaints and confusion, if I can ever

get it straightened out, I'll let you know.

Hope everyone is doing well, the board's been sorta quiet the

last few days, I hope that's a GOOD sign!

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

Southeastern Representative

PAI, Intl.

Note: All advice or comments are personal opinion only, and

should not be substituted for professional medical consultation

[Guest guest]

Poncho,

Thanks for your wise and comforting advice. As always, it's

advice that can be easily done, with positive results. I'm dealing

with each procedure and appointment on a day by day basis and

not trying to let it all overwhelm me. Much less stress this way!

I loved the reference to climbing a mountain.....it evoked

memories of a lesson I learned from my brother, but had

forgotten in the confusion. You said you wished you could offer

more, but your comments have done more to help than you

realize.

My brother and I used to climb a lot when I was a senior in high

school. It was his goal that summer to become a member of a

very select mountain climbing club whose condition of

membership was to trek all the highest peaks in the Northeast. I

believe there were 46. If you thought of all these mountains as a

whole, it would seem an impossible task to complete. But by

separating them, taking them one by one, and planning careful

strategy on how to accomplish each mountain's climb, he was

able to climb them all and become a member of this club that

meant so much to him. I went along on a few of these climbs

that summer. Those days are some of my happiest memories

of things we did together in our youth, provided some

experiences that we've been able to laugh about all our adult

lives, and provided him with his much wanted elite membership.

So I'm going to apply that lesson in this case and just climb this

mountain in nice, easily accomplished portions, day by day.

Once I reach the top the view will be a hundred times better,

since I'll still have the strength and breath to enjoy it!

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

Southeastern Representative

PAI, Intl.

P.S......BTW, this brother is my oldest brother (I have two) and

lives in Sweden. He's 56. He was just here to visit me, worried

about my recent hospitalization and overall health. He's always

looked out for me. He's a Vet, is an accomplished skydiver and

teaches sky diving on weekends. Our school is having a big

100th anniversary party and reunion in 2005, which would be my

35th reunion, his 40th. He wants to teach me skydiving and have

the two of us dive in for a reunion surprise.......what d'ya think?

Note: All advice or comments are personal opinion only, and

should not be substituted for professional medical consultation

<<I can only suggest sorting it all out and just trying to deal with

one thing at a time. What you have been and are going through

would be totally overwhelming. Please try to take it easy and

make it easy and don't let the mountain you are climbing get the

best of you. Pull out all you old tricks to deal with this situation

and situations that are forced upon you.

I wish I could offer more.

Best Wishes, Poncho - GA