Friday, January 2, 2009

ER Dr. Spitzer (and Hemocrit)

So I just called ER and got this one doctor I'll write about later, but she said it is "not possible" to have a hemocrit of 2.2.

But that's what I was told. I asked a nurse what my CBC was and she said my blood count was at about a 7.something. She said it was 7.2 something and I said that was very low, because I'd had blood transfusions when I hit that low, at the other hospital.

So she said, don't quote me on it, I want to double-check. So she checked and came back and said my red blood cell count was actually a 9.something and then she listed the hemoglobin, and then she said my hemocrit was 2.2something. I said, "Oh, so it's up" and she repeated, slowly, that my hemocrit was 2.2 something. I didn't think it mattered so I just took note, that my general count was at 9.something and thought this was good.

So now I've called and one of the resident doctors who was attending called back and said this wasn't possible, that my hemocrit was not 2.2 but was 25. I said, is this percentage? or is this a count and she said they went by "indices". I told her what I was told and she said it wasn't "possible", but at least one nurse gave me this information, and repeated it more than once because she thought it was very low.

So I asked the ER doctor, is this what you "remember"? or are you looking at my record and chart? and she said this is what she remembered. I asked her if she could obtain my chart and get back to me about the exact number and told her I'm still having very severe pain and that I still disagreed with her that my whole condition, right now, is "normal".

This kind of pain and discharge, is, I believe, "abnormal". I have really bad pain in my lower back, INSIDE, like when I had a kidney infection, and it's on the lower left side, and I have very bad cramps and pain and a lot of movement in my stomach and I'm having an almost constant flow of blood. It's like I'm having a heavy period and it's not let up at all.

She said she'd call me later this morning, so I'll find out what she says later.

I don't know what I think about this doctor, because she kept trying to argue with me, at the hospital, about every small thing, and was defensive of the idea that my baby's heartbeat stopped because of a malfunctioning MRI machine, and said it's "not possible". Another, "it's not possible". She claimed it's impossible for an MRI machine to stop a fetus's heartbeat and I told her it wasn't even a normally-working MRI machine, and that I KNEW when there was something wrong and a change in my pregnancy symptoms. She also wanted to know the name of the place that was taking the fetus for independent autopsy and kept asking me who was doing the pathology and where it was going.

Why does she need to know this information? I thought it was odd. Her name was Spitzer. Dr. Spitzer. She was also trying to tell me Cytotec and Methergine do completely different things, and I told her they were used for similar actions, and she said to me, after she claimed my pain and bleeding was normal when other docs told me it wasn't normal and I didn't think it was normal,

she said, I quote: "I'M the DOCTOR" to which I replied, "YOU are one of FIVE different opinions."

I found out she was under attending OBGYN doctor Macrie, who was the one who told me the day before, that I couldn't see the radiology record after they got results, and he asked me if I knew how to read them and I said I had some basic knowledge. He's the one who said it looked ectopic but could be a cyst, and he's the one who wrote the prescription for Methergine, which could have been dangerous if I'd taken it, because it would have caused a reaction, possibly, very similar to the reaction I had to Cytotec. He said I could go to his office to have HCG levels checked in a couple of days but then said go to ER when he found out I didn't have insurance.

He seemed professional and nice enough, but he didn't want me to see the radiology records, and there were a ton of doctors, attending and residents, who knew I wanted to see them, and it was after this, that I went to the radiology lab and the radiologist was only able to pull up about 6 photos, and she gave me everything that was there, which I have now, on a CD.

I guess Spitzer got the instruction from Macrie, yesterday, that my continued bleeding and pain was "normal".

On the short radiology report I got from yesterday, it says the endometrial lining is thickened. I don't know if that's the uterine lining or what, and I do know that EMF would cause scarring and thickening of the uterine wall, but I don't know how this is the same or different from the endometrial lining. It also says there is something inside of my ovary, and I told all of these doctors, that it is extremely painful when the intravaginal sonogram is done.

All they have to do is press towards that ovary, and I'm shouting out in pain.

Sorry, but I don't think this is "normal" either.'

I'm not complaining about George Washington Hospital as a facility though--many of the doctors and interns there are very good, and I felt, generally, very "safe" there. I just think a couple of the people have got my case "wrong" and I question some of the questions.

NO, I did not tell Spitzer where my baby was going, and who might do the pathology. It was none of her god-damn business and she knew it. But she kept trying to get the information out of me anyway. The intern was in the back, with a slight smile on her face. When Spitzer asked what was being done with the fetus and where it was going, I said, "He's having an independent autopsy" or something about how I was getting an independent pathology for him and I saw the intern smile.

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