I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!

*PATCH ADAMS SAID IT BEST: (THE MOVIE)........I AM WATCHING IT NOW BECAUSE IT REMINDS ME WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT:

(Robin Williams playing Patch Adams said to the psychiatrist at the beginning;)

~"I want to help people. Last night with Rudy, I connected to another human being; I want more of that.....I want to learn about people, I want to help them with their troubles"

(The Psychiatrist:)

~"That's what I do"

(Patch)

~"Yeah, but you suck at it. You don't even look at people when they're talking. I want to Listen......I want to REALLY LISTEN"

......This is the movie that always inspires me to get into the Medical Industry to CHANGE it for the better, because I care about what matters most......PEOPLE/PATIENTS!

I am watching "Patch Adams" while writing this because it reminds me that I am NOT a crazy ranting person, but a person and a patient who wants to be heard.

Is it me or have Doctors become even MORE arrogant over the last century? What do I know, I wasn't around a century ago but I have a feeling that they actually cared about their patients long long ago..........The question is WHAT HAPPENED?

I was finally provoked to start a blog about Patients and the mistreatment of patients because of a situation that happened to me last week and believe me it was the LAST STRAW. Yes I will be venting for now, but way more importantly I want to hear YOUR stories and your disappointments in the medical industry. It can have to do with anything.....DOCTORS, NURSES, INSURANCE COMPANIES, PHARMACY'S ETC..........JUST VENT! And after we vent we have to pull together to try and CHANGE the way things are done, because we are the patients and without us the would be no MEDICAL INDUSTRY!

Just to give you a brief history: In 2007' I was diagnosed with CVID (common variable immunodeficiency disease) and if you wish to know more about it here is a link.......(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_variable_immunodeficiency). In a nutshell, it means my body does not produce enough IgG antibodies to fight off bacterial and viral infections so the common cold can turn into pneumonia for me if I don't get help quick. The problem with being diagnosed is I had to DIAGNOSE MYSELF essentially. I went a good decade (my 20's to mid 30's) going to doctors constantly sick and instead of researching what might be wrong with me they just kept handing over prescriptions for antibiotics. After 15 yrs. I kept telling my doctors "I really think there is something else wrong with me. It's not normal for me to be sick ALL the time". But my words were futile. I might as well have been talking to a rock. I felt my body getting worse through the years. I felt, literally felt, my cells and tissues dying. My body was crying out for help. So I took it upon myself to find an IMMUNOLOGIST and made an appointment. Of course when I called I got the old:

~"What doctor referred you".......?

~I replied...."NO doctor......I referred myself, because after 15 years of being sick and getting sicker everyday, I KNOW MY BODY, and I KNOW that something is wrong because antibiotics sure as hell don't work anymore" 

So after making an appointment with Dr. Mark Olmstead in Rockwall, Texas. He agreed to do testing. We did testing for 4 months and just like I thought I had finally gotten diagnosed with CVID. To Dr. Olmstead's credit, he was extremely thorough and one of the best doctors today because he actually listened to me and looked me in the eye when I went to him desperate to find out what was wrong.

Unfortunately, since that day I have really learned the truth about the medical industry and doctors, nurses and insurance companies (especially) and how dark and impersonal it can truly be.

What I don't get is how is knowing more about one's own health a BAD thing? Well, it's NOT.......but to most doctors it is intimidating and irritating. Don't get me wrong, I don't go in acting like I know it all. I know I don't know it all, but I see it as a mutual arrangement between two people (doctor and patient) where you are both trying to figure out what is wrong and get the best treatment possible. And for the record, I do have a Biology degree (almost; I'm a senior and can't seem to finish because I have spent the last 5 years sick all the time!). Nonetheless I do know about anatomy and physiology and CANNOT learn enough. It is by far my favorite subject and pleasure reading to me is opening my Biology book. I guess I'm a bit of a nerd! But I am also an Artist......I make things with my hands, paint, draw, take photos etc...........BUT I DIGRESS. The point is the beautiful juxtaposition of science and art makes me able to see both sides.........SCIENCE AND ART........DOCTOR AND PATIENT!

SOLUTION: I HAVE TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE MEDICAL INDUSTRY MYSELF. I always knew I wanted to do something in Medicine, the problem is my Immunity and now my age (42).......It will be more than extremely difficult for me to do but I feel that it is almost a calling, a mission at this point that in order to change it, I have to become a part of it! So this fall , I am going back to finish my Biology degree and after that I may apply to medical school or just become a P.A. but somehow someway I must become a part of it and when I do WATCH OUT! I want to reshape what customer service is all about. I mean don't forget the doctors are working for US! They always manage to forget that.

Last week, I got another one of my letters from Dr. David Ritter, gastroenterologist (Greenville, Rowlett, Dallas.....Texas). I have been seeing this guy since last year because I have a Hiatal Hernia and have needed surgery for awhile. I have nausea everyday and constant abdominal pains. So when I first go into him to see him he does the old "so what brings you here" crap while looking at my chart and never once looking up at me in the eyes to acknowledge me as a person. I tell him the deal and that I need it fixed ASAP. Course the first thing he does is order like 4 tests at four different places. So to get that scheduled takes another month or two because you have to do it when you can, in the meantime my Immunity issues would cause me to have to rescheduled frequently, which I have no control over. So anyway after doing all the tests, which took from September to last month (march of 2011'......6 months); I thought YEAH finally I can get this surgery and start feeling better again. Then he calls me in to see him and tells me "well, now we need to get four more tests".......I was not happy but thought well, I have already invested this much time, I almost have to do it so I schedule all the tests and get one done and had to reschedule another one because I got Bronchitis. So a week later I get a letter from him saying "Sorry we cannot help you anymore because of your non-compliance to treatment"............WHAT THE ____?

I had NO CLUE what they were talking about. I couldn't have complied more. This Idiot made me go through 6 months of tests and waiting and then wanting me to wait some more even though I have been in severe pain for months. So I called the office and told the nurses I had no idea what this letter was about and that I had been sick. The nurses response was coldly "well, the hospital said you were a no show for one of your tests and that's why he sent the letter". I explained I already had one test and had to reschedule the other one due to illness. She just sat there apathetic saying nothing. How can these people act like your best friend one day and then throw you out like yesterdays trash without so much as a doctor referral or advice on what to do next. So I was and am, because this just happened last week, looking for another doctor now. Because of what Dr.David Ritter and his staff did to me I was left high and dry.

I asked them "why didn't you call me to ask me what happened instead of just taking the hospitals word for it when I did not show up?" (which by the way, I called the hospital and cancelled; I didn't just NOT SHOW UP!). They had no response to that. I mean who does that. The point is all these steps of aggravation, stress and outright TORTURE for me, a patient, to get nothing short of the simple help I need from doctor who SHOULD be capable of giving it to me has become a nightmare.

I cannot be the only one out there who goes through this? I AM BEGGING YOU TO RESPOND WITH YOUR STORIES. Doctors should not be able to manipulate us like puppets and treat us like blank checks for their enjoyment. Why is this the only industry where the customer pays for services yet the services think THEY are in charge? We are hiring them........we are the customers.

And it's not just the doctors anymore, the VIRUS has spread to the nurses, pharmacies and anyone and everyone who is involved. It's as if they compare medicine with "Omnipotent" and all powerful. There is no doubt that after going to doctors on a weekly basis that I have seen enough of it to know it is a very distinct attitude that you will ONLY find in a doctors office. You will not see it in ANY other field, so that right there should tell you something. I could and should totally be a CRITIC for the industry and now that I have a blog, it's a start; I guess!

It has to start with the schools and with the government. The industry has too much power and only the people can change that. It will take time and alot of congressional interference until one day the PATIENTS will rule over the doctors and the Hippocratic oath won't be the Hippo critical oath anymore. God I hope I live to see that day. PLEASE HELP ME IN THIS FIGHT...........I WANT TO HEAR ALL THE STORIES THAT YOU'RE GOING THROUGH TO BRING CLARITY TO MY WHOLE SITUATION! I THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS...............

NAMASTE'

CHRISTINE

an excerpt in Hippocratic Oath:

        ~"In every house where I come, I will enter only for the good of my Patients".