When I arrived at the surgery center for my colonoscopy, I was brought to my private room. I noticed that a report from my Gastroenterologist, dated December 7, was by my bed. Being a patient who prefers to be in the know, I read through it.
Then I started to cry.
The report contained inaccurate information that makes me wonder once again – did this doctor actually listen to what I say? Did they examine me? 
What is the point of seeing all of these doctors if they don’t take in to consideration anything I tell them or anything about me as an individual?
The inaccuracies included the lack of family history of Crohn’s disease, my hands being warm to the touch (Doctor Resident remarked about my cold hands), previous colonoscopies, and my weight (by 10 lbs).
By far, the family history part is what hit me the worst. I wrote about this is three different places on my intake form and told both the Resident and the Doctor about this at length.
To top it off, the Gastroenterologist wrote to Doctor PCP “her symptoms are likely IBS.” I am of the opinion that if I am presenting with symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) more than Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), why do the colonoscopy now? The severity of my symptoms is rather recent – no other diagnostic choices? Why not give it some time before giving me another procedure if you think I have another throw away diagnosis.
I mean no disrespect to persons with IBS but let’s face it – it’s nebulous, there’s no substantial treatment and years and years of eating a fiber rich diet supplemented with Metamucil have not improved my bowel symptoms in the least.
Thinking about all of this made the tears fall. Hard. When the Anesthesiologist came in, he asked, “Are you nervous?”
“No I’m not. Not at all. I’m frustrated. I’m angry. I saw my report there and it misses one thing I consider significant. It says no family history of Crohn’s or Colitis. My sister has Crohn’s. I’m not saying I have it, too, but come on – why do I see all of these doctors if they aren’t even going to pay attention to what I say?”
I was surprised by the Anesthesiologist’s reaction: “I understand. Many doctors copy over information from one report to another and miss big things like a family history. Your sister has Crohn’s. That’s significant. Unfortunately, I see this a lot. False information will be carried over from report to report. If they aren’t going to spend the time reviewing and reporting your information, it makes one wonder why they make the big bucks.”
The Anesthesiologist felt it most appropriate to give me a “relaxing medicine” prior to the colonoscopy.
It’s been a rough year. I’m not a person who gets angry very often. I tend to turn to sadness instead. However, I am mad. Pissed. Off.
Perhaps I need to get my own set of these posters so I can help treat myself.
Turns out that I had a polyp in my colon and it was removed today. I received no other information because the gastroenterologist continued on his drive-thru treatment. I follow-up with Dr. PCP.
Despite the lack of information Drive-thru Gastro doc will give me, this I know. My anus is ripped apart. Seriously. He mentioned nothing about this today nor did he examine me in his office when I met him and told him about it. My reflux is severe. The EGD is a wait and see. No matter what, I need to find a workable treatment for these two problems and will need to push Dr. PCP for new approaches.
Thanks for reading. Even when I have a seriously angry tone.
It could be the two day liquid diet. it could be the anesthesia. It could be that I’m just really upset right now.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | colon polyp, colonoscopy, doctor patient relationship, drive-thru gastroenterology, frustrated patient
In my part of the world they take digital images of everything they see in there. You, the patient, can go to medical records at the clinic in which this was performed and get a nice print out of all the images along with the GIs comments. Just show up with your ID and tell them what report you want. They can do this within the same day you show up and make the request, maybe even immediately, so it’s very likely you can have your results for yourself before your doctor appointment. This is such an easy thing to do it surprises me that very few people do this. The pathology results will take a bit longer though, maybe up to a week, but again, you can request your records from the pathologist directly. (I got a second opinion f on the samples that were taken from mewith another pathologist and it ultimately made a difference in my treatment) So if they come back and say that nothing was found in the sample they took or that what was found wasn’t significant you can have those slides sent to someone else, for another opinion, better than a second colonoscopy, that’s for sure!)
The cynic in me wonders how really helpful it is for them to know your family history about relatives with Crohn’s. My daughter had always had bad reflux, and now bad abdominal cramping and chronic diarrhea and her doc doesn’t regard the fact that I have Crohn’s to be particularly useful at all.
I have found keeping my own set of records such as these very useful. I have never had a sore rear as a result of a colonoscopy but I have had a sore backend as the result of my disease, Crohn’s. (fissures, etc.) and it’s very painful, there isn’t much they can do for it anyway…unless you are up for some sort of medicated enema. No thank you. In my case it took months to heal.
Again, anything notable about this area of your body will be in your report.
It is interesting but my bloodwork came back normal for years before the disease was bad enough for someone to be able to diagnose it. I remember being in a rheumatologist’s office about my achy joints and he said that he couldn’t find anything–blood work normal except slightly elevated sed rate, and he said to me, “This might have to get worse before someone can find out what’s wrong, but you won’t die in the meantime.” And he was right. It got much worse over the next year and finally manifested itself in such a huge blatant in your face way that anyone could see what the problem was. Good luck to you. They WILL figure this out. The worst part is all the anxiety in not knowing what the problem is, it magnified all the pain that I already had in my body. Once I was diagnosed I felt much better.
Sweetie,
I know you’ve got a good PCP. Please, please, please be sure to tell her how horrible your experience was with Dr. Drive-Thru. In fact, please bring her a print out of this post, because likely by the time you see her, you’ll be calmer about it. She can’t do anything about the horrible experience you had, but she can definitely never, ever send another patient to him again.
I’m sorry this was so awful. I’ve never (yet) had a colonoscopy, but while I’ve heard other people talk about being a little sore back there for a day or two, I’m baffled why he would have left you torn up back there, other than extreme incompetence. Removing a polyp shouldn’t have done that, I don’t think.
As someone who has had problems “back there,” including an anal fissure, there are some topical pain relief things your PCP should be able to prescribe. When I gave birth to Ellie, and was really ripped up, the hospital gave me a bottle of spray lidocaine, that helped with pain relief. When I had my anal fissure (something I haven’t had the courage to ever blog about, so kudos on your courage here talking about a part of the body that way too many of us are too uptight about), my PCP gave me a hydrocortisone ointment that could be used on the outer part as well as worked inside as needed.
I’m *so* sorry you had this horrible experience. I wish you lived out here in Portland so I could not only refer you to a fantastic GI doc but could bring you some comfort food and help you out. *hughughug*
And please, sweetie, never apologizing for venting in your own blog.
I had a similar experience with an a-hole gastro doc who was scheduled to do my colonoscopy. You have a right to vent. My idiot gastro wouldn’t even talk to me until just before the colonoscopy; I had some questions and he was way too rushed to answer any of them. As soon as I had about 1/2 of a question out, he started to get flustered and demanded that “we get going”…the nurse told me that he likes to do the exams carwash style..as fast as possible. I put on the gown and the anesthesia nurse started my IV; I told her that we aren’t doing anything until I get my questions answered….Try as I might, I couldn’t get this idiot to sit still long enough to answer a question. I was in a bad mood, dehydrated and my butt was raw from the prep. The CRNA told me not to sign the consent unless the doc answered all of my questions; she even called the pharmacy for some lidocaine gel and was applying it to my “back passage” when the GI doc barged in once again and demanded that we “hurry up”. I asked the CRNA if she still got paid if I cancelled the procedure and she said not to worry. When the doc heard that I was going to cancel, he flipped out…..he even threatened to charge me part of the endo suite time if I cancelled and he demanded that the CRNA push my litter into the endoscopy suite. She asked me in a whisper if I was still going to cancel and I whispered yes. She told me not to tell the doc until I was in the room, I did and got off the litter and blasted that SOB for being so rude. At some poing, I ripped the IV out, tore my funny paper hat and nasal oxygen cannula off and stormed out. The CRNA followed me into the locker room as I changed (I was so mad that I didn’t even mind changing in front of a young woman)…. she explained that by letting them wheel me into the endo suite THEN cancelling the procedure really threw a wrench into the GI doc’s assembly-line. Since I was in the room, they had to pay to have it cleaned and that takes over 1 hour. The hospital adminstrator was in the waiting room (my wife called him) and documented my complaint. The CRNA made a few phonecalls and arranged for a different doctor to do my exam later that afternoon (so I didn’t have to repeat the prep). I can’t believe how nice she was to me. So, 4 hours later a new doc and nurses started the process all over. The new doc suggested that I get an enema since my test was delayed so long…I reluctantly agreed; as I was on my side waiting for the washout, my CRNA friend appeared with a syringe full of this milky anesthetic and told me that I had been put thru enough and it was time for a power nap. I know that the nurse started the enema, but I only remember the CRNA saying “sweet dreams, don’t worry about anything and leave the driving to us”…next thing I remember was eating crackers………….long but true story..if the doc doing your colonoscopy isan a-hole, walk out. there are plenty more..
Gary,
Thanks for sharing your story. It’s helpful and entertaining. It’s good for fellow patients to remind us that we can demand better care and don’t have to accept unacceptable treatment. So glad you got to relax by the time of you procedure – what hell you went through up to that point! Thanks for writing and reading. I hope you are feeling ok. Take care!
Update_ I just got (4-1-10) a colonoscopy done by a wonderful woman doc who had done many without sedation. I was uncomfortable for only a few seconds, but not painfull..It wasonly a few months ago that I had the irst colonoscopy, but the polyps were cancer and i got the pleasure of having another. I insisted on drug-free, but my gastor asked me: “if things get bad during the exam, do I have your permission to administer drugs?” sure…when things got ba, I tried to be stoic, but she told me that it was time for painkiller (fentanly) and that was that…panless, no memory loss; but they ketpt me overnight because of dehydration…… every hour or so, a nurse was watching me
Queen… yet again… similar story. My Internal Med/Gastro doc had errors in my report. He obviously copied things from a report that another doctor had done on a visit after his (I know this because he was ripping me for not telling him about family history that I didn’t know at the time of my visit to him), and he included a bunch of discussion we had about me telling him that I had a high pain threshold, but him informing me about the difference between pain from external sources and internal pain (because I was trying to tell him that my abdominal pain was the worst pain I’d ever felt and give him some points of reference for other pain I’d felt in my life). REALLY? He really thought that had ANYTHING to do with my upcoming colonoscopy? He too was an arrogant prick. Must be something about that particular specialty. After seeing him and then the first Endo I saw, I have vowed to NEVER go to another male doctor over the age of 50. They all appear to be very set in their ways, arrogant as all hell, and… in all honesty… behind on advances in medicine.
I think he was just hurt because I had to inform him of some changes in the diagnosis of gall bladder ejection fractions; He informed me that he would not order a HIDA scan because even people without low ejection fractions, “even some people with GREAT ejection fractions” (meaning very high) also experienced relief after getting their gall bladder removed. Therefore the test was worthless in his opinion. I tried to, as tactfully as possible… and in the form of a question, ask him about studies I had read regarding high ejection fractions (above 80, if I remember correctly) being equally bad. Akin to other illness where there’s a range and if you fall outside of it, either high or low, it’s not good. His poor feelings got hurt and delicate ego couldn’t handle it so he then felt the need to disagree with me about everything from that point forward to prove how smart he was. It was the single worst doctor visit I’ve ever had.