I spent over 30 years in the medical field. I was a medical transcriptionist.  What that means is when you went to the hospital or the doctor's office I was the person who typed your reports.  I knew what they were saying, so you did not end up with a report that said you had a tonsillectomy if you really had an appendectomy.

Over the past year-and-a half I have had more tests and been to the doctor more than I have been in my entire life.  I have a kidney that is, basically, dying and blood pressure that is finally under control.  In the process of all of this I ended up in the hospital back in June.  While there, I found out I had an ischemic bowel.  That means that the blood flow was restricted to my bowel.  Scary, yes.  Dangerous, could be.  I made it through that episode, but I could not get an answer as to what had caused it.  I heard that I had had a low blood pressure event that caused the blood vessels in my bowel to be restricted.  You would think if I had a low blood pressure event of that magnitude I would have had symptoms of some sort.  Nope.

Well, being me, I kept asking the doctors what caused it.  No one gave me a straight answer, not even my primary care provider, the one who is supposed to know me the best.  Hmm.  I finally got an answer and I was floored.  Apparently, my blood pressure had been treated too aggressively and caused this "event".  So, in other words my physician's treatment caused me to spend 3 days in the hospital and be scared to death that I was going to have another episode.

Now that in itself is enough to send most people into a fit of frustration, but I asked her why there had been no follow-up from the hospital for this condition, because it seemed to me they would want to keep an eye on it to see if the blood flow was coming back normally.  Her answer to this was to say she did not realize there had been no follow-up and she would examine my "tummy."  When she did she said she heard a "bruit", which is a sound like a whish, that was in tune with my heart rate, according to her, indicating there might be an abdominal aortic aneurysm.  News to me.  No one had mentioned that before, and believe me there were enough tests to show one if there was one in June.  Aneurysms do not generally grow rapidly, so what was the deal.  She then decided to send me for an abdominal ultrasound, looking for this aneurysm.

By now, I am getting close to furious.  If there was an aneurysm, why hadn't someone said something before, and why is this the first time my doctor had even slightly examined my stomach.  I have heard about this kind of thing happening to other people, but certainly not to me.  I have always felt I was getting really good medical care and watched carefully to make sure I was. If I did not like something I said so.

What has made this different is that I bought into the idea that doctors know what they are doing and they can be trusted to take good care of us.  In most cases that is absolutely true.  It just so happens in this case, not so much.

So, today, while getting the abdominal ultrasound I got copies of all of the reports from my hospital stay in June.  I read them.  There was no mention of an abdominal aortic aneurysm.  There were at least 2 errors in the reports, one was my height.  It was stated twice that I am 5'1" tall.  I wish, I am 4'11".  It also stated I weighed 93 pounds.  Two days later I weighed 109 pounds, which is my actual weight.  These sound like minor details, but inaccuracy is inaccuracy.  Besides if another doc is looking at the report, it could put a question in their mind and treatment options could change.

The point of all of this is, first of all, to vent, because I am still angry about the lack of follow-up and the abdominal aortic aneurysm, which could be a serious issue, and, secondly, to let you know that no matter who you are or how much you may know you need to be aware that doctors make mistakes.  Be proactive in your own healthcare.  If something does not sound right or you don't want to do it say so.  After all you are the one who has to live with the consequences.  Don't expect them to own up to the fact that the treatment they provided damaged you.  It took six months for me to get a straight answer and I sure was not happy with the one I got.