Oct 22, 2017

Rant #5 – Oops is the scariest word in the English Language: The Fear/Panic Syndrome



July – October (2017)
Now what?
The pain in his foot was so bad, he couldn’t put any weight on it . . . Fred thought there must be a broken bone or bones in his foot.
I can’t deal with over 200 pounds of pained weight, so again, after talking to Healthlink (telephone health service) it was a call to 911 and the EMS with a stretcher to take him.
Again a long stay in Emergency and a final diagnosis of gout . . . but the Emergency doctor said he was concerned about prescribing the usual medications for gout because of Fred's kidneys so he tried a very a minimal dose . . . it didn’t work.
A trip to the Family doctor resulted in a steroid regime.
Cricky . . . what next?!
What Next was another visit to the hospital with a significant amount of blood in his urine. This time he was admitted. After more tests that revealed nothing, they thought maybe it was still a leftover from the TURP or irritation from the wrong catheter when Fred had the urology dynamic test . . . another one of those ‘scare-the-hell-out-of-you’ experiences. 
Fred monitored the blood-in-the-urine thing and realized what an issue was and what was not.
Now the gout (the pain and the difficulty walking) and the failing kidneys became the centre of our concerns. The resurgence of the gout pain was continual and once more the Family Doctor prescribed the prednisone.
October 8th, 2017 – the latest visit to Emergency
An extended (24 hour) stay in Emergency undergoing extensive testing to identify why he was experiencing a muscle spasm in his lower back.
This was the first time we have actually experienced one of the Hospitalist Physicians[1] (and I am still reserving my opinion about their role in the system). We were impressed with the gal who came in to see Fred. (We both commented that she was very different than any doctor we had encountered up to then on our medical misadventure journey: she was very hyper; was not wearing a ‘white coat’; seemed exceptionally concerned about her patients). She was more thorough than any other doctor – it was obvious that she had even read Fred’s file.
She uncovered a potential issue that was noted in January that indicated there should be follow-up! She even called our home the next morning to ensure we understood and were following up which we did. And another Hospitalist called a few days later to find out if we had followed up with our Family Doctor.
When your Family Doctor calls you to make an appointment you can only assume there is something very important.
No doubt!
The Family Doctor admitted that the January report did indicate the need for follow up. 
He commented with a smile, “It must have fallen through the cracks.”
OOPS!
Did he actually read the report???
Whose CRACK was it anyway??
October 19th, 2017
The scheduled six month visit to the Wong doctor (the Nephrology Specialist that never shared information with us before) resulted in a Medical Rant from him about: how little other medical personnel knew about the interaction of medications with the kidneys; how wrong they usually are; how he had done the tests before Fred left the hospital in January; how he had discussed all the results of the tests with us (like the tests he had done and no concern in regard to potassium, etc) that we did not recall AT ALL.
We heard more from him that day than he had ever shared with us before. [2] 
Needless to say, this outburst relieved considerable anxiety.
We realize that we have been suffering from the Fear/Panic Syndrome.

[1] Hospitalists are “Physicians whose primary professional focus is the general medical care of hospitalized patients. Their activities include patient care, teaching, research, and leadership related to hospital medicine.” Society of Hospital Medicine http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/info/hp/cfm/if-hp-cfm-annual-report-16-17.pdf page 12

[2] He did tell Fred his blood pressure was high after just one test and prescribed Coversil – that we questioned because his blood pressure had not been high before.

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