A cute 30-something mother of 4 comes into the shop. She would like her ears re-pierced if I cannot get earrings in the lobes that haven’t had jewelry in them for years. She wants something pretty in her ears for when she loses her hair.
While nursing her youngest child she discovered a small lump in a breast. Her doctor assured her that fibroids are so common while nursing, and that it’s not anything to worry about. But she worried. After she was done nursing the lump was still there. Again she showed her doctor who eventually ordered a Mammogram, but was clearly irritated at the waste of time and money when he’d already assured the patient about this. Of course you could see the lump in the mammogram, but after looking at it the Doctor now could clearly see that this harmless fibroid was nothing at all to worry about and he could at last show his worried, hormonal patient his determination.
Still ill at ease, the patient asked for a biopsy. The doctor scoffed and told her that he might do it at next year’s physical if the fibroid was still bothering her, but it would be a complete waste of time.
Bugged and not satisfied, she called around for a second opinion. Weeks after asking for it, she finally got the needle biopsy at her own expense as her insurance company deemed it unnecessary after a “normal” mammogram. By the way… these days, try talking a Doctor into giving you any kind of medical treatment that insurance isn’t going to pay for, even when you have the ability and willingness to pay for that service.
It came back that she had a very aggressive type of breast cancer, she was stage 4 and more testing showed that it has already spread to her brain and liver.
She was initially told to get her affairs in order. After another look around at Doctors she found someone who is willing to help her fight and is giving her a slice of hope to hold onto.
I am sharing this because I think it’s important for us to follow her example anytime you think something might be wrong. Too often we are dismissed in busy over-scheduled offices. We are given easy answers and are deemed not worth the time and expense of medical care outside of the standards that were set by office managers (not physicians) working in insurance companies who have to power to limit your healthcare and to not pay your physician for working for you.
We have been boiled down to numbers and statistics on a sheet of paper, stored in a binder on a desk. God help you if you don’t fall into the parameters of the majority in a medical setting.
Today, if you are not educating yourself and fighting to be your own advocate, it could kill you.
Blog Project 365-09 #146
