Medical Records

I ordered a copy of my medical records for my new endocrine appointment next week. More than 100 pages since December 2003 have been documented and that doesn't include the lab reports. It's insane to think they could write so much about me and take so long to diagnose me.

It angers me to learn that they thought I had problems before this got so bad that I could even tell I had Cushing’s. There are notes of it months before I was told. They delayed my treatment and my life. We are talking months, not days or even weeks. It does me little good to get frustrated now but to think of all the time I have lost. I am further than a lot of people but it just seems fair that people who take an oath to treat people don’t do their jobs and follow through. You and I would have been fired from our jobs if we let such major things slide.

Throughout there are notes of increased weight and the descriptions of my appearance are kind of funny now that I read them. I gained more than 20 pounds in less than one month – it was marked as noticeable! The descriptions in that year period begin at healthy, young woman and then go to supple neckline and healthy appetite to an obvious weight problem to severely overweight. Mentions of a tired and exhausted appearance become more frequent with time and cushinoid looking starts in the middle of last year. They even mark my hair line and acne. The tumor descriptions are most interesting since I saw a neurologist last year in December who told me that I had no tumor. His letter to my primary care thanking her for the referral mentions that I do indeed have a tumor and he has told me to seek a surgeon…umm, he has surgeons in his practice and never mentioned any such thing.

I have to be honest. I don’t remember all of these visits to the doctors and all of the details. I do remember being very ill and I guess the cortisol really did play with my memory…no wonder people who didn’t know me thought I was insane. I do remember the days of my diagnosis and my constant battles which are corroborated in these reports so I know that I wasn’t crazy! It’s interesting to see the doctors describe my complaints of other physicians…they even mention the problem I had with the endo who told me I was fat and wouldn’t work with me….that was when I got the original “cortisol problem” diagnosis based on his work from my primary care. She wonders why he wouldn’t follow up and why no tests were done until I called begging for help. I was literally begging for someone to help me. She quotes me in December of 2004 stating that “I feel like I am about to pop out of my skin.” We were discussing my blood pressure and the crawling feeling from the high cortisol.

Hopefully this documentation will help in my appointment next week. I just have to move past this and work on getting better…but it does make me angry and I think I have a right to be. Perhaps one day I can use this in my book or lawsuit with doctors who don’t keep up with their oath to help people.

Either way, I have proof now that I wasn’t crazy for all those months and I couldn’t have made this up if I wanted too!