Donna in Hollywoodland

Telling Off A Doctor

I had to go back to Glendale Adventist Hospital today. I guess something questionable showed up on the MRI on my other breast, the right one.
Of course, no one communicated that to me.

I arrived at the Ultrasound area, and a very young technician starts to question me. I ask her "Are we just doing an ultrasound today? Are you going to do anything else ? Are you going to have to inject me with anything ? I can't have epinephrine. " I guess my suspicions were up.

"Oh, no" she replied, "Just a regular ultrasound today."
Or should I say "she lied".

The technician starts to examine me. She is digging the ultrasound device into my right armpit. I mean, she is pressing really really hard. For a good 15 minutes, or what seems like an eternity.
She can't find what she is looking for. She even whispers under her breath "I can't find it." And it hurts because she is pressing so hard.

All the time I am starting to panic, and get heart palpitations, because I realize that the lymph nodes are in the armpit area. And I am panicking that they must have seen something in my armpit and, oh dear God, this is serious. And on top of that, this technician can't find the dern thing !

Soon, the Radiologist/Doctor walks in. The technician says to her "I can't find it."
The Doctor takes the Ultrasound device, and moves it to my nipple area.
And the Doctor locates what they are looking for immediately.

The technician wasn't even anywhere near the correct area ! I endured all that pain for nothing.

The Doctor is looking at the Ultrasound TV screen, and after 2 seconds says matter-of-factly "Ok, I am going to do a biopsy."

"WHAT ?"

She repeats "I am going to do a biopsy on your right breast."

"TODAY ? NOW ? I can't do this now ...... I have to go back to work ! The last one I had, I took two days off to recover."

The Doctor straightens up and gets a snobby attitude "The way I do a Biopsy, All of my patients can go right back to work the very same day."

I sit up "A biopsy like the one I had last time ? No, I need a day to recover. I wasn't planning on this."
I get off the examining table. I am completely panicking now.
I say "Plus, you can't use epinephrine on me - I am hypoglycemic."
The doctor says "Oh, I don't have to use epinephrine - that just helps control the bleeding."
Me : "The bleeding ? Oh, no ... and I have been taking 400 IUs of Vitamin E everyday."
(Vitamin E can thin out your blood.)
The doctor : "Oh, I really don't care about the Vitamin E, it doesn't matter."

Did this woman just say Vitamin E doesn't matter ? So basically, with no epinephrine, and the vitamin E in my system , I am going to end up bleeding all over her table.

I say "Absolutely no way. No one drove me today. I drove myself, I thought I was just getting an ultrasound. I want it scheduled for a Thursday, like I did last time."

She turns to the inept technician and tells her to take me to the front desk and schedule it for Thursday. And she leaves, without so much as a "See you Thursday" - she was mad that I wouldn't let her start slicing me open.

Its just me and the idiot technician, and I start to cry. Not only can't the technician read an ultrasound machine, she isn't very good at comforting patients
either.

We get to the front desk. The Doctor and one other assistant is there.
The doctor says something to me about the schedule.
I say "I am going to call my Breast Surgeon and talk to her, and see if the doctor who did my first biopsy, can also do this one as well."
Doctor : "Well, the thing is, they just can't read these films as accurately as I can".

Me : "I don't want you doing a biopsy on me because I feel you do not adequately prepare your patients for their procedures."
She turned on her heels, and walked away from me without a word.

The two assistants looked shocked, their eyes wide round circles popping out of their heads.

Wow, did I really say that ? I sure put her in her place. Considering how upset I was about the entire thing, I was amazed I managed to tell her off in a sentence that made sense.

I get out to the parking lot. I call the Breast Surgeon and start crying to her assistant. My doctor calls me back.
I explain the whole situation, and how pushy this other doctor was, and how uncomfortable she made me.
"I didn't have anyone drive me. I didn't bring my fruit juice and protein bars for my hypoglycemia. I've been taking Vitamin E."

My doctor says "You weren't prepared, and some people need to be prepared. Its okay, you can have it done on another day."
I tell her I am calling the doctor who did my first biopsy, to see if she can do this one.
I guess there is some question about the technology and if the other Doctor has the experience to read the MRI film. But I don't care, I will drive to Tim-buck-to if I have to, to find a different doctor who can do the biopsy.

I stop and have lunch in Los Feliz at what looked to be a cute outdoor cafe. The food was terrible. Or is it because I gave up Diary, and I am eating a chefs salad without any cheese on it....
As I am eating, I leave the doctor who did the first biopsy a message about doing this biopsy. Turns out she is out of town until Tuesday.

Once back at work, my breast surgeon calls to see how I am doing. I tell her I am okay. And I make sure to say "I am going to get this biopsy done, just not with that doctor." And I tell her I have left the other doctor a voicemail.
Once she hears this, she seems to relax a bit.

Later on, my breast surgeon calls me with the results of my blood tests from the other day. Turns out I am anemic after all. Thats why I felt faint the other day.
She wants me to add Beef back into my diet a few times a week. And I tell her I had switched to a Multi-vitamin with no Iron. She says no, she wants me to take a multi-vitamin with iron.
I said that I have read in at least two books about breast cancer, to stop taking Iron because it helps feed the tumor.
Her response was something like, yes, the tumor sucks up alot of things - and its probably making me anemic, so right now I need the iron in my diet.
Okay, I guess that makes sense to me. At least, I won't feel so week.

Another weird thing - I was low in protein. She was concerned because I said I eat some protein at every meal since I am hypoglycemic.
But maybe it is the tumor as well. Because it doesn't make sense.

Then another weird thing ... my sugar was high. And with hypoglycemia, it should be low. It took alittle while for me to remember that the day I had the blood test, it was really hot - and I drank a regular sugared Coke out of the machine because my bottled water had become warm.
That was probably it. I have stopped drinking Diet Sodas now. Occasionally, I will have a regular soda, maybe once a week. But I guess I better watch that too. No diet soda, no sugared soda - just water. No fun.

She did say my one kidney was healthy (The left one was removed as a child.) And since it is healthy I can go ahead and do more tests next week.

More tests, what fun. I can hardly wait.