To Shun or To Be Shunned...That is the Question

When you live in a small town it seems as if everyone knows everyone.  Kind of like that "Mayberry" feeling.
It didn't help that my mother owned her own business in this small town.

24 years ago when my water broke I remember calling my OB/GYN and telling him my water broke. He asked me if my contractions started. I told him no. He then told me to wait until my contractions started and to call him back. My husband took me to my mother's house and he went to work. What else could he do? Plus I wanted to be with my mom. A few hours later my back hurt bad. I was told that wherever you had menstrual pains you'd more than likely have labor pains, so that pain made sense to me.

The back pain became intense so I called my doctor back. By this point he asked if I could walk or talk through the pain. I thought, "what an idiot, I got to the phone to call you", "of course I can walk and talk i told him". My OB/GYN told me to wait until I couldn't walk or talk before I went to the hospital.

My mother wasn't happy at all. I was in terrible pain. It had been over 12 hours since my water broke. By this point my mother called my husband and we went to the hospital.

The nurses checked me over and I was sick. Really sick. My temperature was 104 and I had Group B Sepsis http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3277572. I was loopy from being so sick. I don't think I knew what was going on because I was sick, but my parents knew what was going on and so did my husband.

My OB finally arrived and so did a surgeon. By this time it was almost midnight. I had gone 18 1/2 hours since my water broke. My OB wanted me to wait until I was fully in labor to deliver my baby naturally. My parents smelled alcohol on his breath. Apparently he had been at a party all day; hence him wanting me to wait to go to the hospital. Sorry to be such a bother doc!

The OB surgeon stepped up at told my OB that I wasn't waiting a minute longer that my baby would be delivered via c-section. Luckily for that OB/Surgeon I delivered my daughter, who looked to be healthy, but was actually so ill that she needed to be air lifted to a hospital that had a NICU.

My daughter and i were given 72 hours to live because we both had Group B Sepsis. She looked like she was the healthiest baby in NICU but in actuality she was the sickest baby.

After we both recovered from our illness, my husband and I met with a local medical malpractice attorney. We explained our case to him. The attorney knew my OB and he said that no one would take our case because of the notoriety of this doctor and his practice. He indicated that if we lived in a larger city it would be easier because not everyone would know everyone. He told us to be thankful we were healthy; which we were. We just wanted him to be stopped of what he was doing so it wouldn't happen to someone else.

I heard years later that he was no longer practicing at obstetrics and that he was now teaching. It didn't make me feel much comfort that he was teaching, but at least he wasn't delivering babies.

Hubby #2 and I had a baby boy together. We only intended on having one baby together due to my health conditions. After my 3rd c-section we decided to have my tubes tied and burned. A year later I was in terrible pain and had to have my left ovary and left fappolian tube removed; leaving only the right ovary and right fallopian tube.

On September 11, 2008, I felt that all too familiar tingling feeling in my nipples and I decided to purchase an OTC pregnancy test. I was already 10 days late for my period but my cycles were all over the place due to endometriosis, cervical cysts, & uterine fibroid. In less than 2 minutes the pregnancy test showed up positive. I was in tears. I was fearful that I had a tubal pregnancy.

I called my OB (different that many years prior) and I told him I was pregnant. He yelled, "WHAT"? into the phone. He was as shocked as I was. How many women actually become pregnant on 1 ovary and 1 cut, burned and tied fallopian tube? According to the medical malpractice attorney we hired (after my delivery) 5 in 1000 women each year get pregnant this way!

My fourth baby was born April 24, 2009. When he was first checked over the doctors thought he may have Spina Bifda becuase he has a hole on his spinal cord area. They had to perform tests on him to make sure his spinal cord was completely covered and remained in place. He was born with a semi-closed sacryl; thankfully! Today you can see where the hole is, but he's fine!

He was diagnosed as FTT; failure to thrive. During the first 18 months of his life I had to track his voids, bowl movements and his feedings along with his weight. Today at almost 4 years old he's still small at only 24 pounds.

At 4 1/2 months old he underwent at sigmoidoscopy and endoscopy. This was due to his FTT. The GI doctor found that he was born with damaged villi. The damaged villi usually only occurs to a person who has Celiac Disease. Since he had never had wheat of gluten this meant he was born with damaged villi. He was breast fed for some time and then was on specially delivered formula that was paid for by the insurance company.

As I mentioned, we spoke with a medical malpractice attorney in regards to suing my OB. I had many health problems and we didn't intend on becoming pregnant again due to that. I obtained all of my health records along with the baby's health records. My attorney worked feverishly on the case and he hired experts to work on the case as well.

I had no intention of seeing my OB again. I previously wanted to have a hysterectomy and he refused to give me one. Every 2 years I was in for surgery due to the uterine tumors, cervical cysts, and endometriosis. Who wants to live like that? I was also getting ovarian cysts and I could feel those rupture. I couldn't understand why my doctor wouldn't give me a hysterectomy.

It seemed like forever before my attorney got back to me. He said to be thankful my son is healthy. His experts told me that 5 in 1000 women each year get pregnant  the same way I did and it happens more than we think. I had no idea; who would have thought. He went on to say that there is no case. I was disappointed but was also thankful at my baby being healthy.

There was no way I would see my OB again. I would have to look for another one. That scared me. I had seen this OB for over 10 years. I hate starting over, my history is extensive. Who wants to listen to all of this nonsense? I did get lucky when I finally found my new OB though.

19 years later I was seeing my rheumatologist and we were talking while she was going to give me a cortisone shot in my right elbow. My elbow had been bothersome for about a year. The tendons tore due to my condition. She refused to believe the 3 lupus tests that came back positive and had been treating me based upon what she believed to be only fibro, RA, and Ankylosing Spondylitis. I was so sick for these 3 years while she was treating me. The meds kept making me sicker and sicker (if that's even a word).

This particular day, as we were talking, seemed pretty normal until she administered what I thought was alcohol, as a cleaning agent. My nose started to tingle. Then my throat felt funny. I began to feel odd. Then she gave me the cortisone shot and I really felt bad. I asked her what she cleaned my elbow with and she replied, "betadine". I freaked out. I reminded her that I was allergic to IODINE! She ran out of the room and hollered for someone to grab Benadryl and then they couldn't figure out the ratio for my body weight. Really? My throat was closing up tight. Just give it to me already!

It took 20 minutes for the allergic reaction to leave my body. My rheumatologist apologized profusely about forgetting about my allergy to iodine. She said, "we got talking and I always use iodine to clean the skin before doing procedures". Yea, yea, yea....I really didn't want to hear her excuses. I was upset by her mistake.

My next appointment was for the following week for my B12 injection. My rheumatologist didn't come into the room. I only saw her nurse. I inquired with the nurse if I'd see my doctor and the response was, "she wants you to see a referral for lupus before she sees you again". Needless to say I didn't see the "so called referral" or my doctor again. Who knows if she even sent my records to this "referral" or not. I should be the one to shun her, not the other way around. She's the one who screwed up, not me!

A couple of months later my doctor was out on maternity leave, thank goodness, and I saw her partner. I brought in my (3) previous lupus test results that should positive for lupus. I wanted his opinion. He read the lab reports, looked at me, looked at the labs, looked at me and said, "you have lupus"!   

I was floored by what he just said! I had been going in circles for over 2 years. I had been tested for Multiple Myeloma (bone marrow biopsy), Multiple Sclerosis (spinal tap) and now to hear that I do in fact have lupus. WOW! Like they say, lupus is the "great imitator".

This doctor didn't have the best bed side manner, but he did in fact know what he was doing and that's what matter to me. I was going to get treated for a disease that I actually had and apparently had all along on top of RA and everything else. To think MY doctor was shunning me. Phew....I'm shunning her! This is my new doctor!

Two weeks later I get a call from my doctors medical office telling me he has left the medical group. WHAT? This can't be happening. I wouldn't go back to the doctor who mis diagnosed all that time. What do I do now? I called his nurse back and begged to find out where his is now. Lost has now been found~.

The last time I saw my neurologist I had to inform his office I had different insurance. They looked at me like I had the plague because it was state insurance. The office took the insurance, made a copy of it and didn't say anything else to me. One day I went to refill my prescription and I got a phone call from his nurse. The nurse kindly indicated that my neurologist would no longer be refilling my prescriptions or seeing me any longer. Really? I asked why and wasn't given a reason why my neurologist wouldn't be seeing me. I can bet it was because of our state insurance. Shunned yet again.

Thankfully I found a wonderful neurologist who treats me regardless of what type of insurance I have. My rheumatologist and neurologist are on board with each other as well as my OB.

It's difficult to find good doctors who actually listen to a patient. There's a difference between listening and hearing.