When I was pregnant husbands were allowed to join their spouse at some of the pregnancy checkups. There’s my husband sitting in a chair basically at my feet. The doctor comes in and tells me to get my feet in the stirrups. As the doctor walks back to examine me I ask my husband “ how’s the view down there?” I still smile remembering the time I managed to embarrass both my husband and my doctor at the same time. And yes it was a male doctor.
Funny now, not-funny then— I was taken into the ER with a head injury and broken bones after a bicycle wreck. I had a helmet on but it was old and although it saved my life it did not save my marbles, at least temporarily. We live in a small town and so word got back to me eventually….
The doctor’s notes politely say things like “word salad” and “patient will not hold still for CT scan.” But Reader, I was bat shit.
I counted relentlessly out loud, then would get stuck on a number and shout obscenities, words that I do not regularly use in public. I repeatedly attempted to climb off my gurney despite my neck collar and broken bones (collarbone, shoulder blade, four ribs). I screamed for help when help was right there, and flailed at people who were indeed helping me.
They gave me meds to calm me down and finally had to go to the stuff that shuts meth addicts down, just to get me to quit further injuring myself.
For me, this is now just ten hours of nothingness.. I felt drunk for a month and am still not quite myself, but am glad to be alive. And I laugh to think this otherwise nice middle class white lady had all that waiting inside her for the right moment.
I bought a new helmet, of course. Please wear yours.
I can't bear to think about anything involving eyes being poked or prodded or surgically touched. While studying ancient literature in college, I was reading Oedipus Rex silently in class one morning, (trying to catch up with the rest of the class), and got to the part where he gouged out his eyes. This event was so vividly described that I felt I was there witnessing it. The room grew dark and silent all around me and the next thing I knew, I was face down on my desk, then looked up to see a crowd of hazy, strange beings, who I came to realize were the teacher and my classmates. I had fainted dead away. P.S., 58 years later, I have cataracts. I appreciate the encouraging success stories!
My first colonoscopy was the "milder" procedure known as a sigmoidoscopy. This procedure occurred the morning after the final episode of the first of the Survivor shows. As I was undergoing the expedition in my innards, I looked up at the doctor and opined this procedure should have been the final challenge: whoever could last longest is the true survivor.
Attention Pool Powers: We do not like leaving comments on Google Forms because they suck if you do NOT want to use a gmail account. Please offer an alternate submission option for those of us who revile the Google.
Dentist claimed I had an infected molar which should be pulled. Went to odontologist on a Friday, extraction scheduled for Monday; in between I was supposed to get yet another Covid shot and see my cardiologist. My primary told me that as long as I had neither pain nor fever to fuhgeddiboutit. I still have the tooth. Haven't been to dentist since - I'm 88 and figure I'll stick with what teeth I have.
Hoping your surgery went well, and you are already on the mend. Was going to try to say something funny, but there's nothing funny about having surgery. Cheers!
Pre-pandemic, I finally went to my doctor about a nagging, intermittent pain in my side. I was worried about liver failure, or a gallstone, or some significant problem. After an MRI, which insurance did NOT cover, my doctor told me it was....poop. Yes. A bit of poop that had lodged itself in that area of my intestine and somehow did not flush itself out. She prescribed prune juice every day for a week, and the pain went away.
I had a similar situation in 2019, except it turned out not to be the initially diagnosed constipation--it was actually a kidney stone. This after the urgent care x-rayed me.
When I was 14, I passed out in my chair one morning after recess. Spend a bunch of hours doing tests in the hospital by exceedingly frantic doctors until I happened to mention that a bully had punched me in the stomach twenty minutes before the event. They were like, "Oh, vasovagal reflex, nothing to worry about," and sent me home. Why no one thought to ask me if anything strange had happened earlier is beyond me.
I passed out one time while giving blood, and woke up surrounded by about a half-dozen nurses (probably all of those who were there). They gave me some juice, and I felt fine. As they were trying to diagnose what might have caused an otherwise healthy college student to pass out, I happened to mention that I had been playing volleyball for about two hours right before I showed up. They didn't call me a doofus, but I felt like one.
A scar on your face? Just tell people it was a fencing accident from your duel with Herr Groff. Don’t add that it was from a nail in some fencing you were helping a neighbor disassemble.
I was an avid hiker with my dog when younger and would check the both of us for ticks frequently.. After one hike I noticed that a tick had settled itself into my scrotum. I plucked it out the best I could but didn't get the head completely out. Over the next few weeks I noticed a small lump forming that was becoming quite tender at the site of the bite. After much thought I decided that I was not going to visit the doctor due solely to the the embarrassment factor. I was a dentist and had a little experience doing minor surgical procedures in the mouth but, not surprisingly, no real scrotal experience. One evening I situated myself in my dental chair, a bright light highlighting my package area. I numbed the site with a local anesthetic, used a scalpel to hemisect the lump, and was able to remove the tick mouth parts with dental pliers, flushing the area with saline to finish. I relayed this story to some close friends and they informed me that I should have recorded this on video as it may have been worth some money on certain internet sites. That was my only regret as things quickly healed. I made sure that for any upcoming hikes this area was liberally coated with tick repellent.
Thanks for story. Myself I stay far away from doctors. And the great american swindle. While I admit probable not good idea to have your drunken friend reset your broken leg. I feel a lot of freedoms have been lost from the manipulated healthcare industry. Was diagnosed with hep B and C in early 90s. Somehow lost the B but refuse the ripping out of a peace of liver. I also self treat my low test level am 62 been doing that since 40s. There enuff info out there to take care of yourself. Instead of running to the nearest health clinic. Use some common sense eat somewhat correctly take vitamins and exercise. And dont consume alcohol excessively. Ill stop yaking. I enjoy the story. I feel I should have access to certain drugs. I would not spend 5 grand to get a tick head out of my privates either. There is always cigarette heads.
I have cataracts in both eyes and they are getting worse. I am terrified of the surgery. Today I mustered up enough courage to search "best cataract removal surgery doctors in Seattle." The first hit (an ad, of course), was for CAT cataract surgeons.
Despite what I seem to remember writing here when I signed up to post, I am not actually a cat.
I has cataract surgery in both eyes about 4 years ago. I opted for clear lenses rather than prescription ones bc I only wear reading/computer glasses. The surgery itself was a breeze. The prep is a PITA because of the multiple eye drop regimen, but in the scheme of things it's a minor annoyance.
It's a walk in the park! You have to go in the next day to remove patch, told I couldn't drive, but guess what? I drove myself, no problem and as someone else remarked, colors look brighter! I also had Lasik in both eyes several years ago, a bit more like sand in the eyes but it was a MIRACLE to see after glasses since 4th grade, hard and soft lenses...
Thank you all so much. I have heard about the color thing - that's something to look forward to, in addition to having to wear glasses/contact lenses any more. Sooner or later, I will get the surgery, I promise. It's just that I'm 71 years old and I have lupus, so I am still taking Covid precautions, and while I may not be a cat I am a chicken. :-)
It's not fun having to worry about catching COVID while you're seeking healthcare. It may help you screen for eye surgeons if you ask about their COVID precautions when you're calling around. Good luck with the cataracts.
I had cataract surgery in both eyes late last year. Not a comfortable surgery, but not really any actual pain. And the surgeries each lasted about 20 minutes. I would do it again in a heartbeat! I no longer wear glasses, and I love it. I also noted the color clean-up. Phenomenal!
In 2013 I had cataract surgery on both eyes, one week apart. In the interim, I could compare vision between the eye with the replaced lens, and the yet-unoperated-upon eye. I had expected the sharper vision with the operated-upon eye, but what surpised me was the imrovement in color rendition--the increase in purity and clarity of colors. If was as if a brownish veil had been lifted from that eye.
No medical advice --- but yes, even thinking about having anything done to the eyes can be unnerving. However, cataract surgery is an overwhelmingly safe and routine operation in the hands of an experienced ophthalmologist. Before any surgery is undertaken, of course, the opthamologist will do a thorough workup involving your eye and overall health and any conditions which might affect both the surgery and recovery. While clinically there is usually no reason why you cannot have cataracts in both eyes treated at the same time --- most surgeons recommend a few weeks between operations to let the first eye heal properly and your vision stabilize. You should have no problems finding a fine ophthalmologist in the Seattle area. As you no doubt know, it is among the finest metro areas in the country for medical care with top-flight facilities and of course, the superb UW medical school which helps attract excellent medical professionals to the area.
As a Crohn's disease sufferer who was misdiagnosed for years (including being advised to see a psychiatrist and to work on my marriage) I have lots of unfunny stories. Here's a funny one that happened in my 20's, when I had 3 wisdom teeth extracted: The dentist's office forgot to tell me to use ice packs to keep the swelling down, so I blew up like a balloon. It was really bad the next day, but fortunately, I was still off from work. I decided to go to a movie to distract myself from the swelling. I arrived at the theater an hour early and walked around the shopping mall to kill time before the movie. A market researcher approached me for a survey. I agreed but said, "I hope you can understand me because I had three wisdom teeth pulled yesterday." The market researcher said, "I'm so relieved. I was afraid that a nice young lady like you was chewing tobacco!"
Even though I dutifully iced after my wisdom teeth removal, I still had major cheek swelling. On my first day back at the office, I had a meeting with a senior executive and was sitting across from him. In the middle of a discussion about the project I was handling, he looked at me and said “Sorry, CSU, but you really do look like a chipmunk.”
Without meaning to detract from the delightful case histories here --- misdiagnoses or diagnostic errors are a serious public health problem in the US. Diagnostic error research remains woefully underfunded as a proverbially drop in the bucket of the roughly $45B or so spent annually in total federal healthcare research. And while the finger can too often rightly be pointed at individual providers, there is really a whole host of possible causes and no single solution --- involving medical education itself and a great many of the structures and processes of the healthcare delivery system.
As someone who read something like 4000 medical articles a year for 32 years I can assure you that research has been done on medical errors and how to prevent them. Maybe not enough but it is out there. The problem of course is to err is human.
The problem is not that homo sapiens are innately error prone; the problem lies in the system in which they have to make decisions, even allowing for differences in diagnostic acumen. And of course, the results or effects of diagnostic errors or misdiagnoses are too often, and unfortunately, discovered after the fact.
When I was pregnant husbands were allowed to join their spouse at some of the pregnancy checkups. There’s my husband sitting in a chair basically at my feet. The doctor comes in and tells me to get my feet in the stirrups. As the doctor walks back to examine me I ask my husband “ how’s the view down there?” I still smile remembering the time I managed to embarrass both my husband and my doctor at the same time. And yes it was a male doctor.
Funny now, not-funny then— I was taken into the ER with a head injury and broken bones after a bicycle wreck. I had a helmet on but it was old and although it saved my life it did not save my marbles, at least temporarily. We live in a small town and so word got back to me eventually….
The doctor’s notes politely say things like “word salad” and “patient will not hold still for CT scan.” But Reader, I was bat shit.
I counted relentlessly out loud, then would get stuck on a number and shout obscenities, words that I do not regularly use in public. I repeatedly attempted to climb off my gurney despite my neck collar and broken bones (collarbone, shoulder blade, four ribs). I screamed for help when help was right there, and flailed at people who were indeed helping me.
They gave me meds to calm me down and finally had to go to the stuff that shuts meth addicts down, just to get me to quit further injuring myself.
For me, this is now just ten hours of nothingness.. I felt drunk for a month and am still not quite myself, but am glad to be alive. And I laugh to think this otherwise nice middle class white lady had all that waiting inside her for the right moment.
I bought a new helmet, of course. Please wear yours.
I can't bear to think about anything involving eyes being poked or prodded or surgically touched. While studying ancient literature in college, I was reading Oedipus Rex silently in class one morning, (trying to catch up with the rest of the class), and got to the part where he gouged out his eyes. This event was so vividly described that I felt I was there witnessing it. The room grew dark and silent all around me and the next thing I knew, I was face down on my desk, then looked up to see a crowd of hazy, strange beings, who I came to realize were the teacher and my classmates. I had fainted dead away. P.S., 58 years later, I have cataracts. I appreciate the encouraging success stories!
My first colonoscopy was the "milder" procedure known as a sigmoidoscopy. This procedure occurred the morning after the final episode of the first of the Survivor shows. As I was undergoing the expedition in my innards, I looked up at the doctor and opined this procedure should have been the final challenge: whoever could last longest is the true survivor.
Attention Pool Powers: We do not like leaving comments on Google Forms because they suck if you do NOT want to use a gmail account. Please offer an alternate submission option for those of us who revile the Google.
You can use the comment thread just as you did today.
Dentist claimed I had an infected molar which should be pulled. Went to odontologist on a Friday, extraction scheduled for Monday; in between I was supposed to get yet another Covid shot and see my cardiologist. My primary told me that as long as I had neither pain nor fever to fuhgeddiboutit. I still have the tooth. Haven't been to dentist since - I'm 88 and figure I'll stick with what teeth I have.
Hoping your surgery went well, and you are already on the mend. Was going to try to say something funny, but there's nothing funny about having surgery. Cheers!
Pre-pandemic, I finally went to my doctor about a nagging, intermittent pain in my side. I was worried about liver failure, or a gallstone, or some significant problem. After an MRI, which insurance did NOT cover, my doctor told me it was....poop. Yes. A bit of poop that had lodged itself in that area of my intestine and somehow did not flush itself out. She prescribed prune juice every day for a week, and the pain went away.
I had a similar situation in 2019, except it turned out not to be the initially diagnosed constipation--it was actually a kidney stone. This after the urgent care x-rayed me.
When I was 14, I passed out in my chair one morning after recess. Spend a bunch of hours doing tests in the hospital by exceedingly frantic doctors until I happened to mention that a bully had punched me in the stomach twenty minutes before the event. They were like, "Oh, vasovagal reflex, nothing to worry about," and sent me home. Why no one thought to ask me if anything strange had happened earlier is beyond me.
I passed out one time while giving blood, and woke up surrounded by about a half-dozen nurses (probably all of those who were there). They gave me some juice, and I felt fine. As they were trying to diagnose what might have caused an otherwise healthy college student to pass out, I happened to mention that I had been playing volleyball for about two hours right before I showed up. They didn't call me a doofus, but I felt like one.
A scar on your face? Just tell people it was a fencing accident from your duel with Herr Groff. Don’t add that it was from a nail in some fencing you were helping a neighbor disassemble.
I was an avid hiker with my dog when younger and would check the both of us for ticks frequently.. After one hike I noticed that a tick had settled itself into my scrotum. I plucked it out the best I could but didn't get the head completely out. Over the next few weeks I noticed a small lump forming that was becoming quite tender at the site of the bite. After much thought I decided that I was not going to visit the doctor due solely to the the embarrassment factor. I was a dentist and had a little experience doing minor surgical procedures in the mouth but, not surprisingly, no real scrotal experience. One evening I situated myself in my dental chair, a bright light highlighting my package area. I numbed the site with a local anesthetic, used a scalpel to hemisect the lump, and was able to remove the tick mouth parts with dental pliers, flushing the area with saline to finish. I relayed this story to some close friends and they informed me that I should have recorded this on video as it may have been worth some money on certain internet sites. That was my only regret as things quickly healed. I made sure that for any upcoming hikes this area was liberally coated with tick repellent.
Dude! 😬😆
Not my proudest moment and I never could work it into an Invitational entry but at least Pat and Gene gave me the chance to go public with it!
Or even pubic.
You'll be hearing from the American Urological Association shortly.
Thanks for story. Myself I stay far away from doctors. And the great american swindle. While I admit probable not good idea to have your drunken friend reset your broken leg. I feel a lot of freedoms have been lost from the manipulated healthcare industry. Was diagnosed with hep B and C in early 90s. Somehow lost the B but refuse the ripping out of a peace of liver. I also self treat my low test level am 62 been doing that since 40s. There enuff info out there to take care of yourself. Instead of running to the nearest health clinic. Use some common sense eat somewhat correctly take vitamins and exercise. And dont consume alcohol excessively. Ill stop yaking. I enjoy the story. I feel I should have access to certain drugs. I would not spend 5 grand to get a tick head out of my privates either. There is always cigarette heads.
I have cataracts in both eyes and they are getting worse. I am terrified of the surgery. Today I mustered up enough courage to search "best cataract removal surgery doctors in Seattle." The first hit (an ad, of course), was for CAT cataract surgeons.
Despite what I seem to remember writing here when I signed up to post, I am not actually a cat.
I has cataract surgery in both eyes about 4 years ago. I opted for clear lenses rather than prescription ones bc I only wear reading/computer glasses. The surgery itself was a breeze. The prep is a PITA because of the multiple eye drop regimen, but in the scheme of things it's a minor annoyance.
It's a walk in the park! You have to go in the next day to remove patch, told I couldn't drive, but guess what? I drove myself, no problem and as someone else remarked, colors look brighter! I also had Lasik in both eyes several years ago, a bit more like sand in the eyes but it was a MIRACLE to see after glasses since 4th grade, hard and soft lenses...
Get the surgery--it's safe and life-changing!
Thank you all so much. I have heard about the color thing - that's something to look forward to, in addition to having to wear glasses/contact lenses any more. Sooner or later, I will get the surgery, I promise. It's just that I'm 71 years old and I have lupus, so I am still taking Covid precautions, and while I may not be a cat I am a chicken. :-)
It's not fun having to worry about catching COVID while you're seeking healthcare. It may help you screen for eye surgeons if you ask about their COVID precautions when you're calling around. Good luck with the cataracts.
Thank you! I will do that.
Sorry, I meant NOT having to wear glasses/contact lenses any more.
I had cataract surgery in both eyes late last year. Not a comfortable surgery, but not really any actual pain. And the surgeries each lasted about 20 minutes. I would do it again in a heartbeat! I no longer wear glasses, and I love it. I also noted the color clean-up. Phenomenal!
In 2013 I had cataract surgery on both eyes, one week apart. In the interim, I could compare vision between the eye with the replaced lens, and the yet-unoperated-upon eye. I had expected the sharper vision with the operated-upon eye, but what surpised me was the imrovement in color rendition--the increase in purity and clarity of colors. If was as if a brownish veil had been lifted from that eye.
Wow, I love color, and I have a mild case of cataracts. Learning this makes the idea of surgery much better. Thanks!
No medical advice --- but yes, even thinking about having anything done to the eyes can be unnerving. However, cataract surgery is an overwhelmingly safe and routine operation in the hands of an experienced ophthalmologist. Before any surgery is undertaken, of course, the opthamologist will do a thorough workup involving your eye and overall health and any conditions which might affect both the surgery and recovery. While clinically there is usually no reason why you cannot have cataracts in both eyes treated at the same time --- most surgeons recommend a few weeks between operations to let the first eye heal properly and your vision stabilize. You should have no problems finding a fine ophthalmologist in the Seattle area. As you no doubt know, it is among the finest metro areas in the country for medical care with top-flight facilities and of course, the superb UW medical school which helps attract excellent medical professionals to the area.
As a Crohn's disease sufferer who was misdiagnosed for years (including being advised to see a psychiatrist and to work on my marriage) I have lots of unfunny stories. Here's a funny one that happened in my 20's, when I had 3 wisdom teeth extracted: The dentist's office forgot to tell me to use ice packs to keep the swelling down, so I blew up like a balloon. It was really bad the next day, but fortunately, I was still off from work. I decided to go to a movie to distract myself from the swelling. I arrived at the theater an hour early and walked around the shopping mall to kill time before the movie. A market researcher approached me for a survey. I agreed but said, "I hope you can understand me because I had three wisdom teeth pulled yesterday." The market researcher said, "I'm so relieved. I was afraid that a nice young lady like you was chewing tobacco!"
Even though I dutifully iced after my wisdom teeth removal, I still had major cheek swelling. On my first day back at the office, I had a meeting with a senior executive and was sitting across from him. In the middle of a discussion about the project I was handling, he looked at me and said “Sorry, CSU, but you really do look like a chipmunk.”
Oh, dear! I hope you get well, soon, and that everything goes great!
Without meaning to detract from the delightful case histories here --- misdiagnoses or diagnostic errors are a serious public health problem in the US. Diagnostic error research remains woefully underfunded as a proverbially drop in the bucket of the roughly $45B or so spent annually in total federal healthcare research. And while the finger can too often rightly be pointed at individual providers, there is really a whole host of possible causes and no single solution --- involving medical education itself and a great many of the structures and processes of the healthcare delivery system.
As someone who read something like 4000 medical articles a year for 32 years I can assure you that research has been done on medical errors and how to prevent them. Maybe not enough but it is out there. The problem of course is to err is human.
The problem is not that homo sapiens are innately error prone; the problem lies in the system in which they have to make decisions, even allowing for differences in diagnostic acumen. And of course, the results or effects of diagnostic errors or misdiagnoses are too often, and unfortunately, discovered after the fact.
remove my name off the last comment. someone has impersonated me. I am only 74. that cannot be I!!!!!