So what is the point of having work insurance if you can't use it?
Let's see this all started around the end of February this year. I was not feeling well upset stomach, diarrhea (whoa I am sounding like a Pepto-Bismal commercial) etc. All the goriness and I don't need to provide details. Well this lasted for about 2 weeks. So naturally I thought I just ate some bad Sushi (Dang you Spider Roll!) so I just dealt with this off again, on again explosion from my behind.
Needless to say by the 3rd week I was starting to think that I had a parasite. Something was definitely wrong. So first week of March I make an appointment for the Dr. She's an awesome lady, very thorough with the exam. Gives me some Cypro and Bentyl for my tummy aches and tells me to take a few days off work since I am literally leaking from my bum.
Start taking the Cypro and within 2 days all my joints are killing me. Especially in my hands! Okay this sucks really bad now. Not only does my butt leak, now it hurts to wipe my leaky butt. Can life not get any worse? So get to do some blood work and Dr says my white blood cells are elevated which could be infection AND I have Mediteranean Enemia. Seriously? Not just regular enemia? You have to put an official "name" with it. Mediteranean? Huh.
So get to stay on meds and come back in a week. We will repeat the bloodwork and determine our next step. Okay Dr! Not a problem. So I get to spend the next week still spewing from the nether regions but learning how to deal with it. POPCORN! Oh yes, splended Popcorn. My little life saver. Little known fact - Popcorn tends to plug you up. Well it did for me at least. So I am living on Popcorn and bread, following the BRAT diet to a "T". I do get some relief with this diet. But man or woman can't live on BRAT alone.
The next week at the Dr's office we re-run my bloodwork, still elevated with the WB's and still having stomach and you know (the other stuff). Alrighty Dr says - let's go ahead and stay on the Cypro for another week (by this time my stomach has also started to burn) and we will check back in a week. Oh yeah - let's try and get you an Upper GI to rule out any ulcers. Great I say. Also tell her that I am starting to miss some more time from work and we decide to fill out FMLA paper work.
Paper works complete. I am all covered at work and I won't get fired for my absences. YEAH I am so lucky to have FMLA. So towards the end of March while trying to deal with this and going to work to collect money from people I have my upper GI. It's really not as bad as everyone was telling me. The only thing that was really annoying was the crushed alkaselzer with a shot of water they make you take. Yeah you have to HOLD IN YOUR BURP! Do you know how hard that is? Holding in a BURP? That was the worst! So I get the GI results a few days later and the Dr says "You have Diverticullum - so this means you have little pockets in your small instestine that fill up with food - like popcorn and nuts - so stop eating those things". I am crushed. POPCORN?? The only thing that has been plugging me up? POPCORN? This is a cruel joke. She's kidding right?
Needless to say I cut out the popcorn and the bursting from behind continues - I am literally on the toilet singing the poop song - "when your sliding into first...and you fill a great big burst". Yeah I know...gross...juvenile...ewww. WELL WELCOME TO MY WORLD!
So as I am missing more time from work, trying to use as many vacation days as I can, taking VTO (Voluntary unpaid time off) and feeling worse with no relief, the Dr says "Let's send you to a GI specialist". FINALLY - I will get some reflief! Oh yes - and my Dr tells me she is possibly leaving this office and that she doesn't know when she will be working there any more! I swear - can my luck get any worse? But the new Dr is very nice so I am not too upset.
So I go and see the new GI. Nice guy...I wait 1 hr in the waiting room...15 minutes in the exam room and he spends a total of 7.5 minutes with me and tells me we are going to have a colonoscopy to rule out Crohns disease. Seriously? So I leave shocked. No description of what Crohns is, no telling me there are tests he wants to perform first to rule out certain things. I am not happy. I decide next time I see him I am making Walt go with me.
So April rolls around and I have about 6 days of misery. Actually the whole month of April was a miserable month but the first 2 -3 weeks were a blur. I couldn't control the *biznass* called in for like 4-5 days, finally saw my regular Dr again - she saw how miserable I was and we talked about taking some time off of work. I agree. I am spending my day miserable with no energy, stomach hurts 24/7, it burns all night long and I am pooping out everything. The only beneficial thing is that I lose 16 lbs in the process (yahoo). That was the worst month of my life. Even being pregnant with twins in the middle of the hottest month of the summer and having P.U.P.S was more manageable then this.
So the work Insurance company calls and they need medical records and all test results and the Dr needs to fill out another form. And it's just crazy. Get all the stuff to them and they start reviewing my "approval". Um pardon me - the Dr wrote me out - that's all the approval you need. Apparently not....more to continue on that
The day before the colonoscopy I have to be in a liquid diet and take magnesium citrate (natural laxative) - OH MY HEAVENS. As if I wasn't pooping enough. It was ridiculous. I was running to the bathroom all day/night before the procedure. When I got to the medical office I was still going to the bathroom. When they had me hooked up to all my IV's I was still going to the bathroom. It was ridiculous. So my colonoscopy happens, I wake up from my anethesia and I am crying like a baby ( I always do) and the staff is like freaking out. I am calling (screaming) for Walt - they won't let him come back because of other patients - I always do that. It's just how I react to the medicine they give you to knock you out. 30 minutes later I am calm, dressed and ready to leave. The Gi comes out and says " You don't have Crohns, but I took a biopsy for colitis and you have internal hemmoroids". Well Duh - I have been crapping my brains out of course I have internal hemmoroids - doesn't take a genious to figure that out. Then he tells me to increase my fiber and sends me on my way.
In the meantime Walt has been racking his brains. He has been spending at least an hour everynight on the computer looking at different things and trying to "self-diagnose" (you know you all do it from time to time - WebMD is awesome). So Walt gets me convinced to stop taking my Metformin. I am not diabetic but I take Metformin because it helps with my PCOS (polysystic ovarian syndrome). I am really against stopping. I am finally after 20 years of never having a normal period, starting to get them again. I DON'T WANT TO STOP.
So a few days later I stop taking my Metformin WITH the agreement that I see my Gyno so I can prove to Walt how wrong he is. Mid April we see my Gyno. And she's like the best Dr ever. We go into her office I tell her everything that has happened in the past couple of months. I tell her I still don't have a diagnosis and then I tell her how Walt made me stop my metformin and then I sit back and wait for her to start yelling at him. She looks at Walt.....and says... "I agree with you - it won't hurt to stop it for about 2 weeks just to make sure. But since she's been on it for almost a year the likely hood of having a side affect or adverse reaction is a small percentage. Even Lactid acidosis at this point would be highly unlikely. What I would also consider based on your description of pain is to start cutting out Dairy. You may have developed Lactose intollerance." I then proceed to pick my jaw up off the floor, dust it off, and then look at Walt who is grinning from ear to ear with that "I told you so" look on his face. We have a nice conversation with my Gyno and I feel more relief in talking with her then I have with all the tests I have had so far.
The next day I see the GI again for my biopsy results. Negative on colitis (yea) but I am still having pain. I have been trying to eat more fiber. He said I was eating the wrong kind. Walt asks him if we can supplement and with what kind. Dr gives the info tells me to schedule an appointment for a HIDA scan since most of my stomach pain seems to be on the right side under my rib-cage. I mean the guy is practically running out the door and the only reason he is staying is because Walt is asking him questions. I once again leave the Dr's office feeling disgusted and answerless. Oh wait - I did get an answer " Since we have been unable to find anything specific this is what we would class as typical IBS - Irritable Bowel Syndrome". Really? IBS is the catch all when you can't figure out anything. OH Yeah - and we tell him that we are going to start taking out Dairy products and he goes "Oh yeah - that's a great idea". HE should have told me that not my Gyno! I am going to be having a second opinion. I really am not liking this guy.
The Hida scan is scheduled for a couple of days later. Can't eat or drink 6 hours before. The scan itself isn't bad. Besides the fact that you have to be perfectly still for about 1 hour while you are getting x-ray'd it's not too bad. Until they can't find your Gallbladder! YES! After 1 hour the technician asks me if I have ever had my gall bladder removed? "No - I think I would remember that". "Hmm" he says, "Hold on a second". He leaves the room and comes in with another guy. I can hear them whispering and then the new guy says "Did you eat before you came in here"? "No - I followed the directions just as you said". "Hmm" he says. "Did you have your gall bladder removed when you were a child or an infant"? By this time they are driving me crazy. What is wrong with my body? Is this my problem? Can you be born without a gall bladder? "No" I tell him. "Well it appears that we are unable to locate your gall bladder and we can't do the second scan where we have the gall bladder contract. We are going to send you home for an hour, please go and eat something and then come back". I then ask "Can you be born without a gall bladder"? "Well I guess, but that would be pretty wierd" he said. I think I died a little on the inside when he said that!
I go get something to eat. Come home and proceed to excrement my lunch and whatever radiation they put into my bloodstream. I head back to the Radiology center to finish my testing. Here I am back on the table and 35 minutes later the technician tells me the radiation has already gone through my system and they can't inject me with anymore or continue any testing. I am thinking...well Duh...I just went home and crapped it out...that's the whole reason for this test. So I am sent on my way with no feeling of comfort.
The only thing at this point that is working is that I am taking 10 fiber pills a day so that I stay regular with solid poops. I go back to the GI a few days later and by this point I have actually had a few good days where I am feeling about 70% better. Mostly because I am just eating bread and water and taking a ton of fiber pills. The GI asks how I am doing, I relate the above, then I mention about the fiber pills. He's a little surprised I am taking so many but if it helps he says to keep taking them.
We talk about my scan and he mumbles off something generic about a "over stimulated gall bladder" and we talk about pain. For the most part the pain in my stomach is only noticeable after I eat. So generally speaking I do have decreased pain. He doesn't want to do an ultrasound and he goes back to his original diagnosis. I have IBS. Deal with it. He wants to see me back in 4 months or sooner if my pain persists. I don't ever want to see him again. I feel bamboozled and want a second opinion.
I am still having pain and discomfort. I am 100% convinced that I have developed lactose intolerance and have been learning to avoid dairy or take my lactase pills to not feel discomfort.
So my next battle is going to be my works insurance company. They are denying me for payment while off of work for 28 days. They claimed that my symptoms were never noted in my medical chart from my doctor that I was feeling worse then my first visit about this issue. I feel torn about this. I understand the insurance companies have protocol. On the other hand I have no control what a doctor writes in my medical chart. I have 180 days to dispute the decision in writing. At this point I want to tell them to read my blog! LOL.
I will of course dispute what they say. I have been at my work for almost 13 years. The only other time I received Short Term Disability payments was when I was pregnant with twins and unable to perform my duties. I am not one of those employees who takes advantage of this benefit from my company. I actually like going to work. I would never leave that place. Even though my position was down sized last year from an Analyst to a phone job, I still showed up everyday to do my best. I am feeling a little discouraged that I am now going to have to go back to my doctor and tell her that she wasn't clear in her notes or by not noting my symptoms were getting progressively worse. She was already irritated by having to fill out paperwork for my leave. She felt that she could just write a note saying I needed to be off until I got better or at least got a treatment plan going.
So this will be my new battle. If you read this whole post I want to say thank you. This took me two days to write!
TTFN
No comments:
Post a Comment