I always get ALL my reports sent to me, directly (or I get a copy
from the doctor's office). I see a difference in my doctor, his
office staff, and his billing departments. The doctor can be the
best, but that doesn't mean his people always get his information to
him, or that the labs fax it to him, or that the hospitals forward it
to him in time.
After Steve's seizure, we saw our Primary Care doc the next
morning. Luckily, I'd left the hospital the night before with copies
of his CT scan, bloodwork, and emergency room report. They'd
promised to fax it all to my doctor, but it was NOT there the next
morning. So, I just let them copy all of MY copies. :)
Talk about time saved!!
When I have orders for blood work, Xrays, MRI, CT, or anything that
will be reporting back to the doctor's FAX, I have the doctor put my
fax on there, too. WHY?
1. I know when the report is ready and when the doctor's office
SHOULD have it.
2. I get my results early and have time for the news to sink in, so
I'm not in shock in the doctor's office and unable to ask good questions.
3. If the news is good, I don't waste time worrying it was bad.
4. If the doctor doesn't have his copy, I just produce MY
copy. I've done this MANY times.
5. I have time to prepare myself and my life, in case the doctor's
treatment is one that will change everything.
6. I see things in reports that doctors miss! More on this, in a minute.
There's one down side to getting your own reports. You might not
like the results and you might misinterpret and/or worry needlessly,
if you don't understand them. I recently looked up some words on my
husband's MRI and was sorry I did that late at night. I didn't like
what I learned, and then I couldn't sleep. I actually have a
personal rule (I didn't follow that night), that says you don't do
medical research after 2pm. Only read positive uplifting things when
you're tired. :)
As for missing things.....in 2005 I had ovarian cancer. A good CA125
number was <21. After chemo, mine was about 8. A year later, it
shot up to 16. Three months later, it went to 37. My doctors said,
"It doubled twice. That's NOT good. The cancer is back. Go for a CT scan."
The CT scan was clear.
One day, I looked at my 3 lab tests, which I'd had faxed to myself
and kept in my records. I notice on the right side, that the first
two said <21 was normal, but the 3rd one said <36 was normal. It
said the lab (same lab on all of them) had changed the test kit they
used for that test. So, my result of 37 wasn't "doubled" from
16...it was just up a little.
I told my doctor's office and they told me to let the doctor be in
charge and not worry my pretty head.
Meanwhile, we found out the numbers were up because my gall bladder
was inflamed (and it can LOOK like you have ovarian cancer in the
blood test). So, we removed the gall bladder.
Then, at a followup visit, my doctor said, "You CA 125 is now 22, but
that's okay, because they changed the test......"
He looked me and saw my strange look and said, "Oh yea, YOU are the
one that told us they changed tests. We should have listened. We
sent 4 other ladies for CT scans and worried them that their cancer
was back, before we realized you were right."
Did I change doctors? No. He's the best! There's just so much to
keep track of these days. I figure it's important that I do MY part,
as part of my own medical team.
Jill
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