I rather dislike our regional hospital, I say regional because my local one is great,it is just so small that it often lacks specialists that I now need. So I have been going up to Eastern Maine Medical Center known as EMMC here. When I had my logging accident, they told me I did not cut through a spring pole, I had a seizure and fell on my forehead and cut my face. They were not there, but for four days, and weeks afterward, they claimed this. (I do have seizures but it is controlled by meds, which they took me off from. My regular neurologist was upset and put me back on what has worked for years!) Then I get cancer. It is kind of a big deal, but no one tells me until I go in for a routine check up and say, "so now we have to talk about your cancer." I am like HUH? "What, no one told you had it?" No...I am pretty sure I would have remembered a conversation like that, you tend not to forget that word when it is directed at you. So long story short: I cannot get cancer treatment because I got some bad blood work numbers in my liver. If they treat me for my cancer as they should, and my liver is bad, it could be fatal. I applaud them for that, but then I must see a Liver Specialist. So for 5 weeks now the Endocrinologist has been trying to get me an appointment to no avail. Today, the 5th week to the day, Katie gets mad and threatens them with the Dr Licensing Board of Maine. So the woman calls back, complains that my wife left a nasty message on her answering machine, and that "while there was a request for an appointment, they could not find any information on my liver, just bad test results". So I explain as calmly as I can, "THAT IS WHY I AM GOING TO SEE YOU!" All I need them for is to determine if my liver can withstand the cancer treatments, and if it can, I am all set up to start. For some reason this woman decided that I just did not need to see the Dr she works for. Then she starts in saying that it was my fault for not contacting them. I Did! Repeatedly. I even had a referral from my Dr that YOU ignored! So now I have to wait until March 21st, at which time they will want to run more tests, I will have to get a bunch more tests done, then reschedule back with them to explain the results, then MAYBE with their blessing sometime in April, I might actually start feeling better. MAYBE???? Words cannot convey how much I hate EMMC!
I unfortunately can imagine going through all that. The healthcare system in this country is in the crapper is the most polite way I can say it. I'm sorry to hear of your severe health issues. I have no love for our local hospital either. They gouge on price, and underperform on results. I stated somewhere else, and stand by the fact that NO AMERICAN should go bankrupt due to health concerns. A person works all their life to build what they can for their family, then the hospitals take it all away when a person suffers an illness. Then they have the gall to ask for donations, all the while taking taxpayer money as well. No.. no love for the hospitals. I wish you the best, and hopefully if you do indeed have cancer it is one of the "more manageable" forms. I also hope your liver functions turn out to be up to the task as well. The liver is one of those "important organs". Chaz
It is most certainly NOT your fault. I can't believe you are not getting chemo yet. I don't blame Katie at all for calling them out, sounds like that's what was needed to get them to pay attention. I would let your endocrinologist know about all these delays, if he doesn't already. Is Bangor closer for you than Portland?
Yes, Bangor is 40 minutes away and Portland is about 2 hours away. I wish you knew Katie, you just have to know her, she does not say "boo" to anyone, let alone come across as being "rude". I had a few friends that said they would gladly call on my behalf (I don't use a phone), and if they thought Katie was "rude" I would be afraid of what some of my friends would have said. One was a dairy fam girl and "talks pretty plain" so to speak, she said she would call!
I'm so sorry to hear this. It happens-it shouldn't-but it does. I've been fortunate with prompt care both here in this small city and still have my docs from a bigger city only a couple hours away. I might call your doc again or make an appt if needed and ask him to personally call the test order in while your are present. Also, I ask for a consent form for many visits, it lets me see results faster and also is nice for doctor to doctor communication problems that sounds like yours might be having, I print the results and have them in hand (including doc's notes/comments) so I don't have to wait when the miscommunications happen. Start with the doc that recommended the liver tests.
Getting sick is a total fiasco anymore. I've had digestive issues for over 4 years and still no answers after dozens of tests(many multiple times.) I haven't been able to eat a meal in 4 yrs. without being sick so I basically starve myself in order to somewhat function. It's unbelievable how screwed up the medical system can be. Just a big runaround. The bills never stop but incompetence is a daily struggle. I wish you the best for a speedy recovery! Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk
For sure one can get very frustrated with today's healthcare or lack of it. And also the fact that many times they just don't listen. We went through a bunch of needless crap recently with the problems I had. Still frustrating. And tests! They really want to run all the tests they can. No wonder when you consider how much they charge for each one. I've had to have 5 ct scans in the last 3 months and even more tests besides. Just for the ct scans it is over $4,000 each. And they had the gall to ask if I would like to have another one this month. No thank you.
I can understand your frustration. I have chronic kidney stones and have quite a bit of pain. It is so hard to get pain meds nowadays and I end up going to the ER quite often. Thankfully I have great health insurance and it only costs me $35 to go to the ER. So whenever I’m in a lot of pain I go to the ER, the bill is $6k and the insurance company gets it down to $1500. Seems like there should be a simpler, cheaper way to go but what do I know? If the hospital knows my history of Kidney stones why do I need a CT scan every time I go to the ER?
