I Get An Army Wife Instead of a Medical "Professionals"

Today was pretty much the last straw.

I decided to go ahead to my OBGYN appointment which had been delayed so long (not necessarily the fault of the hospital because I wasn't getting my cell phone messages), and it was the same old thing all over again.

I am really beginning to wonder if perhaps I AM a "genuis". I mean, some of the stupid things I hear out of the mouths of doctors drives me nuts. And they seem to get offended if I even speak up and say anything intelligent.

I wasn't even talking about medicine, and the intake nurse asked me if I had a medical background. I don't know where she got that, but she was serious. I hadn't even been talking about medicine. Maybe it was after I told her I would like a copy of the ER reports from when I went in with severe back pain (from work).

The ER chart note by the Dr. said I had claimed to have a "gelatinous", clear, discharge.

I could NOT believe it. I had gone in, SPECIFICALLY because of WATER or FLUID gushing out, and it gets written up as "clear, gelatinous discharge". Which any idiot would know sounds like NORMAL pregnancy discharge. A "clear, gelationous discharge" would be normal cervical mucus.

And yet, what I have had happen, is total gushing of thin water, no "gelatin" apparent. It's water or fluid gushing out.

If I fucking miscarry because of idiots...

So all I said to the intake nurse was that I had never gone into ER because of "clear gelaninous" discharge.

I had said it was watery. So, what disturbs me is the translation. And this was coming from the same Dr. who kept going on about how even a herniated disc wouldn't cause back pain and women go through this all the time, etc.

So, I discovered THIS, after I repeatedly asked to go by my middle name for security reasons, and they refused at registration and then the nurse is calling out my full name, to everyone in the huge, overflowing, public office.

I was almost in tears when I got to the intake nurse and said I did NOT want to be called by my first name and I had security reasons for wanting to keep my privacy.

Then I read the chart note about "gelatinous discharge" at a glance and got more upset.

THEN, this women is asking all these questions, and I'm trying to explain why I have security needs, and she goes down the psychosocial list of questions about "have you been sexually assaulted" and "have you been physically assaulted", and after hearing about the FBI, she says she wants to sign me up to see their psychiatrist, for "support" and because of everything I'd "been through". She also wanted to sign me up with their social worker, and I said no way. I was somewhat open to a psychiatrist, because I figured if I talked to the right person, I would be cleared, but by the end of my whole visit I realized there was no way in HELL I was going to any psychiatrist, to give someone an excuse to throw me into the pysch ward, which is quite a large department, and just next door (how convenient. I wonder how many activists and whistleblowers are currently taking up beds.)

But I let her sign me up with an appointment with the psychiatrist until after I went through the visit with the docs.

When I saw the first intern, she seemed nice enough, and understanding, and said there was nothing written down, from the intake nurse, about why I was "high risk". Interesting. So I told her about everything all over again. Another doctor pops her head around the corner and the first one goes outside to talk with her and then they came back in together. The one doctor said she was going to be in charge of my care and the two of them were tag-teaming for that visit.

The first thing the second doctor barks at me, is how all of my injuries are, "unfortunately", common results of pregnancy.

I just stared at her.

What happened to me was NOT "common" and it did NOT have to happen. They knew ahead of time that I needed a C-section, and because they chose to force it, we were injured.

She went on about the tailbone and said it heals over time. I told her it CAN'T heal because it is displaced. Then I said, what about the disc and she stalled and asked if I had records for that. She said they'd just have to sign me up with physical therapy to do stretches and exercises to manage the pain. Idiot. You don't "manage" broken bones and herniated discs, with stretches. Then, she goes over my history, where I had included the fact they'd had to give me morphine and stuff for my migraines in the past, and I admitted to trying marijuana and found it worked, LATER, and this doctor says to me:

"Because of your history of morphine use and marijuana, I'm going to have to ask for a tox screen." I said, "What? That morphine was PRESCRIBED, by DOCTORS, to treat my migraines." I told her I didn't use it on my own, or at home, or anything. She just repeated what she said. I almost burst into tears and jumped off the table in my dressing gown, and started collecting my clothes. I told them I could not believe what they were saying, that because I'd followed a treatment or prescription plan, I was considered to be a drug user of "morphine". I told them I could understand pot, because it was done on my own, even though it works and all migraine sufferers should use it. Both doctors said I was free to leave, and that I would get the same thing wherever I went.

I said, "Oh really?! So do you do "tox screens" on women after they have an epidural?" She said, no, because that was for surgery. I said, "And do you do "tox screens" on women after they have injuries from surgeries or are recovering?" The answer was no again. But these fuckers thought it was appropriate to "tox screen" someone who had to take morphine, on doctors orders, at a controlled hospital setting. It was prejudice. And obviously, they weren't listening to me. They were treating me like a drug user when they had no basis for doing so.

I told them I wasn't probably going to continue with them, because of this, but PLEASE, go ahead and feel free to do their "tox screen" on the urine sample I had already provided.

Oh, this doctor ALSO told me, when I told her the discharge gushing out was not "gelatinous" but fluid water, she tells me that normal discharge BECOMES "watery" when it's in the vagina.

Which is flat-out ridiculous. The water gushing out was happening when I was walking around at work. There was no liquifying of "discharge" while I was sitting at rest. It was gushing out. And it still does, usually when I'm standing or walking long.

The last stupid thing she said was with regard to my periods. I told her about how my regular 5 day cycle had gone from my having to use a whole box of Tampax, to dwindling to only using 2 tampons at all, and not even having to use those ones because there was barely anything. What does she say? She tells me I must be getting back to good health or "to normal". I repeat, "normal", for me, since I was 13 years old, has been at least 5 days, and having to use a whole box. There was never a change until 8 months ago or so. I thought her explanation was idiotic.

When I asked her about complications from prolapse, she said it was just going to get worse in pregnancy and that there was nothing to do about it until after I delivered. She said if my back hurt, I could use a pessary. I said to here, "Well yes, because I certaintly wouldn't want to miscarry on account of a worsening prolapse." She just looked at me, uncomfortably for a moment. Hmm...she was probably thinking...she knows about miscarriage risks from prolapse...hmmm....

I stared at the strings around her neck, which attached to her ID cards, and they said, "Army wife, army wife, army wife, army wife, army wife."

Just what every pregnant woman needs. An Army Wife.

Finally, the other doctor, the first one who came in, came back to me later and asked if I was taking any meds, and what they were, and a number of other questions and then she tells me she wants to schedule me for a neurology consultation.

This is after I saw their referral for a "social worker" and I said firmly: "I don't WANT a social worker." So they crossed it out and wrote: "declined".

She said she wanted a neurology consult to help me figure out what to use for migraine during pregnancy, that's not harmful. I told them I hadn't been having migraines as badly and that I only had to take Advil, twice. I tried Tylenol first, and it didn't work. So at first I thought this was a good idea, until I realized they were also telling me to "drink lots of water" and "eliminate stress" as if that was going to cure or help migraine. That might help "tension headaches", not migraines. So then she says she thinks I need it anyway, because I had mentioned one doctor thought I had clusters for awhile. I told her, maybe so, but I already had neurology exams, and I knew there were migraines, because I responded immediately to ERGOTAMINE, which is effective for migraines, not clusters. I don't have off-and-on sharp stabbing pains. I have severe migraines. I've had them for over 10 years, and I've done tons of research, and stop fucking undermining what I say I know about my own fucking body.

She decided she wanted to argue with me, and insisted that they could be "clusters" because they were piercing behind my eye. I told her migraines pierce behind the eye too. So she just tries to talk over me, and gets more insistent, and then leaves.

Who really wants this "neurology consult" and for what purpose anyway? Why can some people not simply accept the fact that I GET MIGRAINES?!!!!????!!!!

So I decided then and there, there was not going to be any trip to see any "psychiatrist".

Number one, they didn't listen to me. Number two, I was already finding chart notes that were not translating what I said correctly (and, by the way, I did tape record secretly). Number three, they wanted to argue with me and didn't respect the fact that I did research too, and knew my own body. Number four, stupid comments came from one of the doctor's mouth. Number five, they organized consults with a social worker, a psychiatrist, and a neurologist, but did NOTHING about my broken bones situation.

Why didn't they schedule a consult with a bone specialist? Instead, they're sending me to some stupid physical therapy that does NOTHING FOR fractures and bone injuries. They could have scheduled a consult with an osteopath, but no. I asked for an MRI and they said maybe in a month after they received other records. Yeah. After my "psych eval".

I also wondered about the fact that the Army Wife was going to be following my care the whole time, when everyone else gets doctors that switch off an on. She and I did not see eye to eye on things.

I left, almost in tears, because I knew my baby was not going to get reasonable care and that going there would be putting myself and my baby, and our chances of staying together, at risk.

I also looked up treatments for cluster headaches. Why did they want me to have "clusters" so badly? Why can't people accept that I have migraines? With Wenatchee, they wanted to claim it was all "tension headaches" but after they were proven wrong, I think some people wanted to change things around a little.

Migraines are treated with a variety of things, including ergotamine and narcotics. Clusters are best treated with...Well, just GUESS what the remedy of choice is for clusters everyone?!

Lithium.

I am getting the hell OUT of this country.