When it’s very, very, very difficult to be happy about Good News

The weather was beautiful today, but . . .

1. Early in the morning, my doctor sent an email:

“The preliminary reading on your ultrasound suggests some dysfunction of the heart, though I’m not certain this would have anything to do with the episode of loss of consciousness. I’m going to discuss the results with the cardiologist, and I’ll get back to you.”

I’d had an echocardiogram last week and was awaiting the results for a recently requested medical report due soon to the DMV [Department of Motor Vehicles].

2. The doctor did not get “right” back to me. Wouldn’t you be curious, worried, anxious, stressed? I had to wonder whether or not the doctor’s email to me had followed any hospital protocol — or that doctors don’t care what they write and how someone might react, i.e., worry.

3. After 90 minutes, I called the hospital to talk with the doctor. The “phone-answerer” told me she could get a message to the doctor and he’d get back to me within 24-48 hours OR I could have an appointment in one hour. Which option would you have taken?

4. I saddled up my bike [remember I cannot drive and the hospital is less than five miles away]. The doctor was very nice and said I had to see the cardiologist because my heart was “overgrown” and pumping out too much blood. So he made an appointment with a cardiologist for the afternoon in a different location 15 miles away and NOT accessible to cyclists.

5. I called a few of my local friends to see if they could drive me. No one answered.

6. I biked home and stopped at two of my neighbors — who were home, and gracious enough to volunteer to drive me. The appointment was supposed to take 45 minutes, and I didn’t want to make anyone wait, so I arranged one for the taking and one for the bringing home. I’d thought that was a “smart” move.

7. Here’s the “rub,” i.e. the Good News: The appointment took only 10 minutes BECAUSE . . . [fanfare] there was not one thing wrong with my heart. Four cardiologists looked over the results, but the first one had read it wrong.

BTW, this Good News came six hours AFTER the initial Bad News message. Am I the only person whose blood pressure might have risen during those six hours?

8. I wish I could say that was the end of the story, but it wasn’t. My ride home and I missed one another: and after waiting 45 minutes, I hopped on a bus to get to Novato . . . and walk the last mile and a half home.

Do you know the moral to this story? I sure don’t, but would love to hear a couple!

Tags: exasperation, hospital incompetence, merrygoround, wrong test results, your time isn’t money

17 responses to “When it’s very, very, very difficult to be happy about Good News”

Paula Cottom

September 11, 2010

Well, the moral of this story escapes me too, but I am glad that the news was finally good!! Doctors don’t think they leave people worrying because they are so busy moving to the next thing. The other good news is that nothing is wrong and you will be able to get your licens back. That is GOOD NEWS!!!

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1. sharisax
  
  September 11, 2010
  
  Hey, Paula, THX for checking in . . . I wish I could say that I get my license back. But, unfortunately, unless the doctor has an especially good weekend, he is unlikely to remove the “ban” until the full 3 months is up!
  
  I am feeling better, though, now that I got that all off my chest. So maybe “that,” i.e. getting it off your chest — is the moral!
  
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Faith Kinslow

September 11, 2010

Shari: I read your blog, and though I am sorry about you having 6 hours of stress, I am so happy there is nothing wrong with your heart. In fact, your heart is simply wonderful!

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1. sharisax
  
  September 11, 2010
  
  My hubby took me to the movies, and although the George Clooney feature was about as exciting as watching paint dry, it was fun eating popcorn and getting “away.” So I feel lots better. I did have a big, artificial, unnecessary scare today, though. And that was not fun.
  
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Mike Maynard

September 11, 2010

The moral of this story is get a second opinion and then distrust that one as well! I hadn’t heard of an echocardiogram, they just did an ECG on me when I went a little wobbly. I understand the delay though, those scans aren’t very clear and most doctors will get them wrong; so they have to get an expert opinion. Even reading the screen can be hard. I had an ultrasound scan on my pancreas, it’s not very helpful but combined with other information gives an idea of what’s going on without submitting to the surgeon’s knife! With the information from the ultrasound scan and what I saw on the MRI scan I know most of those young doctors were just wrong – they guess and they guessed wrong. This stuff about using clinical judgement is another way of saying ‘this is a good guess – lets see if I’m right?’

At least it sounds like (no pun intended) your heart is fine; my pancreas isn’t I think a flesh eating enzyme has eaten through some vital part! This is a quote from an email I just got – “I believe every country has an insurance/medical plan that is inadequate, only the elite are able to get treatment; but that’s ok, the sooner I go home with God the better.” Isn’t that a sad thing to say? She asked if I can look up her condition on a medical site, I just happen to have a password for.

I’m not awake yet. I can’t work out why your post says 5:22 am today and it’s only 9:33! I am 8 hours ahead of California! The email that led me to this post was sent at 03:15, that must be BST! I think times are being converted to BST for me, how weird? Emails’ do that but not usually blogs! I’ll keep drinking tea until the caffeine has an effect.

My friend posted something on Facebook yesterday about bone strengthening drugs causing cancer, I didn’t read it. I have already read the research and it’s very misleading, it wasn’t done very well. They didn’t say what doses they were concerned about and one of the group of drugs appeared to not have a problem. It seemed very suspect to me! I took my bone strengthening pill this morning anyway. I did forget I’m supposed to not eat anything antacid with it, but an egg isn’t that antacid.

We’re lucky, we have no plans to ‘go home to God’ any time soon. You will get people to take you any where, but that is one place we tend to leave until we get a call…

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1. sharisax
  
  September 11, 2010
  
  Michael, from one writer to another, here’s the best “moral” for yesterday’s story — Although I wasted a total of 8 hours of my time, I was given a story to tell that has many universal elements to it . . . and, thus, is one of those triggers for conversation within which Wisdom is shared and co-created.
  
  Hope the caffeine kicked in, your friend gets over her go-home-to-God funk, and that less things cause cancer than we are told.
  
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Susan Ambrosini

September 11, 2010

At least you stayed on it and didn’t have to worry waiting the whole weekend! But this could sure ruin a person’s day…and did. Glad everything is ok.

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1. sharisax
  
  September 11, 2010
  
  You are SO VERY right! I would have been a basket case if I’d had to worry about this all weekend!
  
  THX for commenting Susan. This gives me the chance to share one of the “nice” [in quotes because he won’t listen to reason and give me back my license] doctor stories to me during yesterday’s visit: He talked about a family that had decided to give up their vehicles for a whole year. And while somewhat inconvenient, they’d actually found so many new activities that they wouldn’t have otherwise.
  
  The operative words here are “they decided“!
  
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Mike Maynard

September 12, 2010

Hi Shari,

I hope things are better today. The sun is shining in England, but it doesn’t seem that warm. I have just looked at my garden, that is all I intend to do is look! I am not working on it today or ever if I can help it. I hate waste and I apples on the trees I can’t reach because I don’t have a ladder and no young children now to climb up and get them. Kids think apples grow in supermarkets anyway. I found some elderberries hiding in a corner at the back of the tree. I told someone how to make elderberry wine last week; they are very acidic though.

I wish the stupids of this world would mind their own business and stop controlling our lives. I am annoyed because if they left our clocks alone instead of try to ‘save daylight’ it would be 11 o’clock now and not midday. I would not be cooking lunch and would have a lot more time to get ready for an afternoon out and by midday the sun would have warmed things up! The stupids I refer to are of course politicians – they are the same the world over, a little power and they go even more stupid!

As frugal as I am I think if you have to you must occasionally spend money on luxuries like a cab to get to where you are going. It is a problem when you are spending money on a car you can’t drive and cab fares too. The deputy prime minister Nick Clegg on this side of the pond promised to scrap the annual car tax which cost me £200 a year. I put a comment on a website yesterday – “Cleggy scrap the car tax!” Cleggy was a fictional character in a TV series who held his trousers up with a piece of string and was rather outrageous and badly dressed. I liked that TV series, it was ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ and provided work for many older actors who were very experienced and of course brilliant in a comedy. I prefer old and experienced to young and dynamic (stupid).

I think my veggies are cooked, I’ll eat dinner. I’ll be back…

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1. sharisax
  
  September 12, 2010
  
  Mike, I detest Greedy more than Stupid.
  
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Kathy Beckerley

September 13, 2010

Hi Shari – so glad all is fine. What a story! Moral is always follow your heart and seek out the help you need to find the correct answer.

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1. sharisax
  
  September 13, 2010
  
  Kathy, did you mean for the moral to be a pun?
  🙂
  
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Anne-Marie Regish

September 13, 2010

I know what you mean about having to wait the 6 hours of worry and wondering – that’s awful! SOOOO glad to hear you’re fine! Moral of the story? Get a second opinion and be thankful, thankful, thankful to whatever higher power you put your faith in that it turned out the way it did. Congratulations on the good end result! 🙂

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1. sharisax
  
  September 13, 2010
  
  Anne-Marie, you are so right with appreciating our blessings. It’s just that sometimes, we have struggle through the mud to get to the thankfulness.
  
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randall

September 14, 2010

read it

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1. sharisax
  
  September 14, 2010
  
  pretty
  
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Gregory Stringer

September 14, 2010

Wow, Shari. This doesn’t surprise me much. I spent 22 years as a medical paraprofessional (respiratory care, neonatal specialist), and have been witness to numerous calamities. I once overheard a cardiologist state to family members, “Well, he’s dying,” with all the sensitivity one might have when ordering bacon and eggs. This is not to say that all caregivers act without empathy, but the few who do, do so in an egregious manner. So glad it wasn’t cardiomyopathy (enlargement of the heart), which can be problematic. Sure hope you’re back behind the wheel soon. This adventure has gone on for you quite enough, I’m sure. All my best in the interim.

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