New Year resolution

[30A Skunkape]

Happy New Year everyone. I wanted to take a minute and let everyone know of an incident I was involved in Friday, and how it made me think I should suggest a New Year's resolution for everyone. I was at the hospital doing internal medicine consults-typically orthopaedists don't feel like figuring out how to control diabetes, so they call internal medicine to do it for them, or similar scenarios. I was called by anesthesia regarding a lady in the outpatient surgery area who was being evaluated for cataract surgery occuring 1/8/02. Her blood pressure was 205/110, and if that means nothing to you, let me just say that is wickedly high. So I went to see her-very nice lady in the room with her husband, healthy all her life (or so she thought), felt fine. Said she had been told over the years her blood pressure was high but went to the doctor so irregularly nothing was done about it. I did a physical exam and she was fine. So I am filling out some paperwork, discussing the need to fairly quickly give this woman some medication with the nurses, and somebody shouts "She's locked herself in the bathroom". It was our lady! I ran to the bathroom door and peeked inside a small gap and could see her on the floor. "Open the door!" I was shouting, and I could see her flailing at the deadbolt without being able to reach it. Somebody showed up with a key and we found her on the floor, unable to get up but awake and no evidence of her having hit her head. We put her on a stretcher to bring her to the ER, and while on the stretcher I did a quick exam. I noticed she had no ability to move her right arm or leg...she had a stroke. Later that day, I learned she had a large bleed inside her brain which neurosurgery was going to evacuate. meanwhile, her poor husband was crying and crushed mentally. So what is the point of all this? Simple-please resolve to go to the doctor's office this year and get a physical exam. This lady may very well die, and at a minimum will be left with severe brain damage, and it was TOTALLY avoidable. Now her husband is in a living hell, and it was totally AVOIDABLE. If she had just gone to the doctor and been put on some medication she would probably be getting ready for her eye surgery tommorow;instead, she is in the ICU hooked to a ventilator, in dire straights. Think about it

 

[Miss Kitty]

I have a physical once a year. Thank you for looking out for us.

 

[skippertoo]

Good Post ! :clap_1:

 

[Mermaid]

Thank-you, Dr. Skunky. I will show this to Merman, who--in typical British fashion--thinks that a physical once every ten years is sufficient. I haven't been able to budge him from this old habit but maybe your post will. He has the greatest professional respect for you, so, who knows, you've probably saved me a lot of grief down the road.

May I also add about the importance of annual mamograms for women? In the space of one year three very dear women friends of mine have had brushes with breast cancer, one of whom lost a breast needlessly because she skipped a year between mamograms. That's frightening.

 

[Lady D]

Thank-you, Dr. Skunky. I will show this to Merman, who--in typical British fashion--thinks that a physical once every ten years is sufficient. I haven't been able to budge him from this old habit but maybe your post will. He has the greatest professional respect for you, so, who knows, you've probably saved me a lot of grief down the road.

May I also add about the importance of annual mamograms for women? In the space of one year three very dear women friends of mine have had brushes with breast cancer, one of whom lost a breast needlessly because she skipped a year between mamograms. That's frightening.

Well, I have an appointment with my gastroenterologist Thursday of this week to see if he thinks I have an acid reflux problem or if I need to go farther as to finding out if my problem is heart related. I have been so stressed my stomach is in a knot. I have always been one who thinks the worst. My husband's insurance will not cover a mammogram for me but every other year as I am not 50. I too work with someone who has gone through 8 weeks of chemotherapy for breast cancer and is now scheduled for surgery for a lumpectomy on January 24th and then has to undergo radiation after that.

 

[rapunzel]

Thank-you, Dr. Skunky. I will show this to Merman, who--in typical British fashion--thinks that a physical once every ten years is sufficient. I haven't been able to budge him from this old habit but maybe your post will. He has the greatest professional respect for you, so, who knows, you've probably saved me a lot of grief down the road.

May I also add about the importance of annual mamograms for women? In the space of one year three very dear women friends of mine have had brushes with breast cancer, one of whom lost a breast needlessly because she skipped a year between mamograms. That's frightening.

I used to work at a clinic devoted totally to breast reconstruction, and I can second this...few people realize that only one out of six breast cancer patients needs a mastectomy. Those people that need mastectomies are usually people with genetic anomolies that make them prone to breast cancer or people who didn't have yearly mammograms. Breast cancer is so curable when caught early that a mammogram is nothing to be afraid of...not having one is. Of the hundreds of women I worked with, only two were lost to recurrence of the disease. Both of them found their lumps in the shower.

Well, I have an appointment with my gastroenterologist Thursday of this week to see if he thinks I have an acid reflux problem or if I need to go farther as to finding out if my problem is heart related. I have been so stressed my stomach is in a knot. I have always been one who thinks the worst. My husband's insurance will not cover a mammogram for me but every other year as I am not 50. I too work with someone who has gone through 8 weeks of chemotherapy for breast cancer and is now scheduled for surgery for a lumpectomy on January 24th and then has to undergo radiation after that.

One of the ladies who lost her fight was from Tennessee, and her insurance wouldn't cover a PET scan to determine whether radiation and mastectomy were sufficient or she needed chemo. She, like so many of us would, chose to go with the statistics and not have chemo. She had metastatic disease to her spine and by the time the tumor showed symptoms it was too late. Tennessee and Kansas have the worst insurance laws in the country. If I lived in either place, I'd be writing letters to my state rep/senator and volunteering with the local chapter of the Komen Foundation. Insurance companies in those states wouldn't even pay for breast reconstruction...and there is a federal law that requires them to do so.
FYI, LadyD, if you call the Komen foundation, there is probably a place that will do a mammogram for around $100 if you are self-pay. And if you have a family history of breast cancer or have a questionable self-exam, your insurance company will authorize a mammogram for you with prior authorization.

 

[Ocean Lover]

Thanks, I've been meaning to make an appt for a mammogram. I looked up the number, wrote it on a post it and stuck it right where I'll see it. I'll call tomorrow.

 

[Lady D]

Thanks, I've been meaning to make an appt for a mammogram. I looked up the number, wrote it on a post it and stuck it right where I'll see it. I'll call tomorrow.

I go to Baptist East Hospital for my mammogram. I had one barely over a year ago. Mine showed absolutely nothing. They started using a new procedure back about 3 or 4 year ago called CAD. Has anyone else had this used on them?


Computer-aided detection (CAD). In traditional mammography, your X-rays are reviewed by a radiologist, whose skill and experience play a large part in determining the accuracy of the test results. In CAD, a computer scans your mammogram after a radiologist has reviewed it. CAD identifies more suspicious areas on the mammogram, but many of these areas may later prove to be normal. Still, using mammography andCAD together may increase the cancer detection rate.

 

[dbuck]

Thanks Dr. Skunky for looking out for us. I will quit putting off having the dreaded colonoscopy and make an appointment, soon.

 

[Lady D]

Thanks Dr. Skunky for looking out for us. I will quit putting off having the dreaded colonoscopy and make an appointment, soon.

I had one back in January of this year. I was totally asleep. Whatever they used on me to knock me out had me asleep before they finished injecting it in my IV. I woke up immediately after the colonoscopy and was able to get dressed and leave. And I was not nauseated at all. The one I had 10 years before the anesthetic made me so sick I could not eat for 3 or 4 days. I also have to have a sigmoidoscope every 5 years. The worst part of a colonoscopy is the stuff you have to use the day before. All that nasty laxative you have to drink. Yuck. If I can do it you can.;-)