The Brady Bunch Kids

The Brady Bunch Kids

Monday, November 28, 2011

Why is it called health'care' if it feels like nobody cares?

This was on a billboard sign I saw while leaving Breanna's much anticipated doctors appointment today. And how I truly felt while driving home 1 hour after her appointment began.

In October Breanna had several lab draws done, in which several of her results came back abnormal. With the last lab results her doctor's office informed me that he would be unable to treat her and referred her to an endocrinologist. Over a month later she finally had her appointment today.

Due to her regular physician stating he was unable to treat her and the possible diagnosis he spouted out, including the big C word (cancer), my mind has been racing non-stop of all the what-ifs but today was the day to get answers....Or so I thought.

We were told that our appointment today would possibly last from 2 hours to all day and therefore we packed ourselves a little picnic and headed to Tacoma. Arriving about 30 minutes early, which gave us just enough time to find parking, find the office, and check in with 1 minute to spare, we sat in the waiting room for 20 minutes. Finally we were called, we headed back to what we thought would be our room for a few hours. Although Breanna's physician and the specialist are with the same organization, the medical assistant gathered information that was supposed to already be in her chart. After 10 minutes of trying to enter data, the medical assistant stated the doctor would be with us shortly.

Okay, we are on our way to find out what is going on...

The endocrinologist comes in, asks a few questions, and simple turns and looks at me and asks "Why are you here?"

I inform him that Bre was referred to him due to abnormal lab results and that her physician had informed us he was unable to treat her.

He looks at her lab results, and states while her results are somewhat abnormal, they are not for a child and then asks me if she has any symptoms, I had to ask what symptoms would she be having, he only stated pain and of course she doesn't feel pain! And then he asked again, so why are you here?

(With deer in the headlights look) I simple respond, abnormal lab results.

He again reviews the lab results, tells me there is a scan to see if she has tumors on her parathyroid, but he doesn't see the need because only 'OLD' people get them. He did briefly exam her, listened to her left lung, her heart, looked in her eyes, and felt her stomach in 3 spots and stated "well I guess we can repeat her lab work." So after he places the order he realizes it expires in March, therefore he sees no need to have it done now. Um OKAY?!?!?!

The results of today's visit: No clue why Bre was referred to an endocrinologist as he didn't want to do anything, we can repeat labs in February (if we want), and follow-up with him in February (if we want)!

So with driving, waiting, and seeing the doctor we wasted 2.5 hours of our day and still have no idea of what is going on! Only benefit, that doctor just got paid a lot of money for doing nothing!



2 comments:

  1. How completely aggravating! Nothing like leaving you wondering if there is a problem or if there ever was. Have to say, the more I learn about healthcare, the less confidence I have in some of them :) I'm sure you understand that!

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  2. I completely understand! But that shouldn't be the case, if you can't treat your patient the way you would treat your family member, then find another job! Tomorrow I will be contacting OHSU and CDRC (Child Development and Rehabilitation Center-OHSU) to see what we need to do to schedule an appointment, since she has been going there since birth. I'd rather make the drive to Portland then continue with this doctor. Sadly, he knew nothing about her diagnosis, nor did he look it up to see if her abnormal lab results may be related, he actually felt that I should have known that information! While I have a medical background, I am the parent and I take my child(ren) to physicians to be receive help. If I had all the answers, I wouldn't need a physician and I would be sending him a bill for an outrageous amount! (Can you tell I am still ticked about the entire situation!) Ughh

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