GOT INSURANCE, SAW A DOC...SCARED!!!!!

[Guest guest]

Just thought I would update everyone who has been so nice to me in

answering my questions and supporting me here!

I got my insurance cards for the short term medical (They have a

preexisting clause that I'm sure they'll try and exercise, but I'll

fight it since I was never officially diagnosed and they didn't ask

any health questions regarding any things minutely related to

this....just heart, lung and HIV questions) Anyways....even if they

decide NOT to cover it, the good thing is, I GOT IN TO SEE A DOC AND

SPECIALIST! I'll pay the bills! :0)

Went to a family doc Monday. He was WONDERFUL! He thinks it's 1) my

galbladder, but he also thinks I have GERD too! (Didn't we discuss

this? LOL) He thinks my nawing intense nighttime pain that bores

through my back is the GERD and gernia and the sharper attacks are

the GB attacks. He wants to get all the ducks in a row asap.....so

I'm now on Protonix for the GERD and to heal any possible erosions

and firm up my diaphram muscles.

I go Monday (the 26th) for my GB sonogram. Then I got May 6th

for " The Scope " ....eeeeek, this one scares the bugeebers out of me!

Has anyone else had one of these....OMG! I NEED COMFORT....I'M

SCARED S*%^less! Any advice would be welcomed here! Anyways, it is

being treated as a " surgical " procedure. I go in an hour early to be

prepped. I'll have an IV cocktail of Demoral, Versed and something

else....plus my personal staple, Phenergan (Pain meds make me VERY

nauseous) I'll have my throat sorayed with a numbing agent as well.

The nurse said I'll be able to respond to the doc and all, but will

not remember the procedure at all. My thing is that my brain will

know that I'm

getting a tube shoved down my throat at the moment it's happening!!

I don't care about afterward! LOL!

Anyways, I'm well on my way to knowing if the flush is the thing for

me, or I'll opt for surgery. The doc is afraid my GB has become

diseased and hardened....but he'll know alot more after the scan.

*sigh* I really hate being sick! The most medical procedures I have

ever had is giving birth to my kids and having a wart removed! So

I'm pretty well rattled and anxious right now!

I'll let you all know more as I know. Thanks for your words of

wisdom and advice, I really appreciate. Hopefully, you'll have more

to give about my frenzied state right now....I'll take it as well as

any coddling you'd like to offer.....LOL! I'm a big chicken...boc,

boc, boc!

Take care!

Edie

[Guest guest]

Well, Edie, you are a braver cat than I am if you are submitting to an elective

ERCP gastroscopic exam. They tried to do this to me twice during my

hospitalization (first I was heavily drugged so that I would be more compliant)

but, to their chagrin, I asked too many questions. When I found out that there

was a significant (1:5) chance of perforation of the common bile duct (in

people like me with an inflammed duct) and a 1:20 chance of other

complications, not to mention anesthetic risk, I realized I liked my odds much

better without the procedure, thank you.

The gastroenterologist was furious with me, argued, cajoled, even sent in the

hospital shrink to work me over to convince me I was a fool to be avoiding this

common sense procedure. Note: Asscroft had at least one ERCP. In

any case, my gastorenterologist DUMPED ME to one of his lesser partners

because I was an " uncooperative patient " . Bye-bye, amigo! I liked the new

guy much better anyway and he admitted it was not really a good idea since

my blood enzymes (I read them daily) showed my stone had already passed

days ago.

There is certainly a case for the procedure and a stuck stone could be one

instance (If the patient had never heard of epsom salts). Otherwise, I think it

is primarily designed to protect THE DOCTOR'S BUTT. Overuse of diagnostic

testing is super common in this litigenous society. The ERCP has purchased

many a yacht, Lexus, and condo as well. For them it is win-win-win. Far safer,

far richer and you never have to think or diagnose. Bugger all.

I'm a veterinarian and I'd estimate 80-90% of the X-rays, blood tests and

other tests I perform (at the client's cost and the patient's pain!) are

strictly

CYA, i.e. totally unnecessary for diagnostic purposes, but to protect ME

against the rare one-in-a-million freak abnormality and subsequent lawsuit.

Most vets around me are far worse, doing spinal taps, scans, and willy-nilly

biopsies of everything that moves. The bottom line is that if your patient dies

and you haven't protected yourself with an armload of tests, you are a dead

duck, whereas, if the patient dies and you have done the full spectrum of

tests, well, then it was God's will that he died and you are a hero. The

non-medical public has no clue.

I can't imagine what good could come from your ERCP (ask the doc

specifically what they hope to find out with the scope). Meanwhile, if you

aggressively pursue a course of being nice to your liver and gall bladder,

starting your cleansing, and starting your detox, you will be that much further

ahead of the game and you won't be rolling nearly as many dice.

Best wishes,

Will in Minneapolis

[Guest guest]

<<Just thought I would update everyone who has been so nice to me in

answering my questions and supporting me here!>>

Thanks for the follow up Edie. Glad that you have some professional help and it

sounds like you will at least have a better idea when all the tests are

finished.

My GERD took me to the emergency room many years ago thinking it was a heart

attack. It acted up after I went to bed for the night so I know the routine.

Jay