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Also known as the reason why I’m completely fed up with all doctors.
Last August, during a routine check-up, my regular physician Dr. G-C told me she wanted me that because I’m slightly overweight and have terrible acne on my back and shoulders (to the point where my back is entirely either acne or acne scars), I needed to get blood work done to make sure there wasn’t any underlying medical condition. I reluctantly agree and get the work done before out to college 9 hours away.
I get a phone call several weeks later from my doctor, telling me that several hormone levels are high and it looks like I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and I need to see an OB-GYN, Dr. P, relatively soon. By the time I get home for Thanksgiving break, Dr. P no longer has an office in the area. November and most of December is spent trying to find a new doctor in the area that I could see (problematic only because I’m still under my parent’s medical insurance, which has strange restrictions on which doctors I can see because they work for a hospital).
January rolls around and Dr. P has a new office in the area. I make an appointment a few days before I’m due to go back to school. She tells me that whatever tests Dr. G-C had them do weren’t thorough enough to definitely diagnosis me with PCOS. But if I do have PCOS it could be treated with birth control. More blood work is done, and I return to school where a little while later I get a phone call from Dr. P. I need an MRI done ASAP… except I can’t have it done out at school for insurance reasons.
March, spring break. I have an MRI on Tuesday; Wednesday Dr. G-C calls my house and tells my dad (despite the fact that I’m not a minor and she doesn’t have my permission to talk to my parents) that I have a benign tumor in my pituitary gland. My dad then tells my mom, who then tells me. I then call Dr. P, who explains that the tumor is benign but could be what’s affecting my hormone levels and until we know for sure that’s going on I can’t go on birth control.
Dr. P gets in touch with Dr. B, an endocrinologist who works in the same group as Dr. P. Dr. B tells me that because of the size of the tumor it shouldn’t be doing anything to affect my hormone levels, but she orders more blood work (because apparently everything else that’s been done hasn’t been the right tests) and a salivary cortisal test just to double-check that. This blood work has to be run a very specific way.
I had been having the blood work done at my mom’s hospital, because it was covered under her insurance and I know and trust the people working there. But her insurance changed, so in order for the tests to be covered I had to go to a new outpatient lab associated with a different hospital. First problem was when I handed them the salivary test and they had no idea what it was. Then it takes them close to forty minutes just to figure out what tests had been ordered.
I return to school and hear nothing from Dr. B. Then I get a call from my dad because, despite me specifically telling her that I would be at school and she needed to call my cellphone, she decided to call my home phone. I then call Dr. B and she tells me that the lab lost my salivary test and did every single blood test wrong, and these need to be redone ASAP.
Except I’m 9 hours from home. I end up printing out a release waiver so my mom can work out the details with my doctor; release form gets lost in the mail. Dr. B ends up mailing out another salivary test kit and the orders for the tests and I get finally get the tests redone during finals week at the beginning of May and I return home.
Several weeks pass, no news. I call Dr. B to ask about the test results, get an answering machine and leave a message, hear nothing. This continues for several days, at which point I have another appointment with Dr. G-C. She asks me about what’s going on with everything, because after the MRI she’s been completely out of the loop. I fill her in, and sign more release forms so she can talk with my other two doctors. We also discuss other options for dealing with the side effects of my screwed-up hormone levels (like the acne, and other things).
Dr. G-C calls me a week later, tells me that Dr. B has my test results and I need to get in touch with her ASAP. Three days of phone tag later (caused, once again, by Dr. B calling my home phone when I kept telling her to calling my cell phone, and giving her that number, since I was out of the house most days) I finally get in touch with her. Come to find out, the tumor is not inactive and is actually secreting something that’s affecting my hormone levels. Which means I can't go on any medication for anything, because of the treatment I may need to deal with the tumor.
Dr. B orders another salivary test and a 24-hour urine collection. She mails the orders and the kits- or at least, half of the urine collection kit because my mom ends up picking up the rest from work because it was missing- to Dr. P. I don’t know why, because Dr. P is only in her local office on Tuesdays and it arrived on Wednesday, so it was a week before I could even pick it up.
Dropped it off at a lab two weeks ago. Currently stuck in another round of phone tag with Dr. B trying to figure out if she has any test results yet, because of course she’s not going to call. All I know is that if it's confirmed that the tumor is secreting something I'm going to need more blood work, a round of steroids, and then more blood work... Whether that's the treatment or just more tests I have no idea, because Dr. G-C is yet again out of the loop and Dr. B is either being vague or unreachable.
So as of right now I have no definitive diagnosis, three doctors who refuse to talk to each other, and I honestly have no idea who is supposed to be dealing with what. At this point, I’m extremely tempted to throw in the towel and call it quits because I can’t deal with this anymore.
Except, y’know, there’s a tumor in my pituitary gland...
Last August, during a routine check-up, my regular physician Dr. G-C told me she wanted me that because I’m slightly overweight and have terrible acne on my back and shoulders (to the point where my back is entirely either acne or acne scars), I needed to get blood work done to make sure there wasn’t any underlying medical condition. I reluctantly agree and get the work done before out to college 9 hours away.
I get a phone call several weeks later from my doctor, telling me that several hormone levels are high and it looks like I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and I need to see an OB-GYN, Dr. P, relatively soon. By the time I get home for Thanksgiving break, Dr. P no longer has an office in the area. November and most of December is spent trying to find a new doctor in the area that I could see (problematic only because I’m still under my parent’s medical insurance, which has strange restrictions on which doctors I can see because they work for a hospital).
January rolls around and Dr. P has a new office in the area. I make an appointment a few days before I’m due to go back to school. She tells me that whatever tests Dr. G-C had them do weren’t thorough enough to definitely diagnosis me with PCOS. But if I do have PCOS it could be treated with birth control. More blood work is done, and I return to school where a little while later I get a phone call from Dr. P. I need an MRI done ASAP… except I can’t have it done out at school for insurance reasons.
March, spring break. I have an MRI on Tuesday; Wednesday Dr. G-C calls my house and tells my dad (despite the fact that I’m not a minor and she doesn’t have my permission to talk to my parents) that I have a benign tumor in my pituitary gland. My dad then tells my mom, who then tells me. I then call Dr. P, who explains that the tumor is benign but could be what’s affecting my hormone levels and until we know for sure that’s going on I can’t go on birth control.
Dr. P gets in touch with Dr. B, an endocrinologist who works in the same group as Dr. P. Dr. B tells me that because of the size of the tumor it shouldn’t be doing anything to affect my hormone levels, but she orders more blood work (because apparently everything else that’s been done hasn’t been the right tests) and a salivary cortisal test just to double-check that. This blood work has to be run a very specific way.
I had been having the blood work done at my mom’s hospital, because it was covered under her insurance and I know and trust the people working there. But her insurance changed, so in order for the tests to be covered I had to go to a new outpatient lab associated with a different hospital. First problem was when I handed them the salivary test and they had no idea what it was. Then it takes them close to forty minutes just to figure out what tests had been ordered.
I return to school and hear nothing from Dr. B. Then I get a call from my dad because, despite me specifically telling her that I would be at school and she needed to call my cellphone, she decided to call my home phone. I then call Dr. B and she tells me that the lab lost my salivary test and did every single blood test wrong, and these need to be redone ASAP.
Except I’m 9 hours from home. I end up printing out a release waiver so my mom can work out the details with my doctor; release form gets lost in the mail. Dr. B ends up mailing out another salivary test kit and the orders for the tests and I get finally get the tests redone during finals week at the beginning of May and I return home.
Several weeks pass, no news. I call Dr. B to ask about the test results, get an answering machine and leave a message, hear nothing. This continues for several days, at which point I have another appointment with Dr. G-C. She asks me about what’s going on with everything, because after the MRI she’s been completely out of the loop. I fill her in, and sign more release forms so she can talk with my other two doctors. We also discuss other options for dealing with the side effects of my screwed-up hormone levels (like the acne, and other things).
Dr. G-C calls me a week later, tells me that Dr. B has my test results and I need to get in touch with her ASAP. Three days of phone tag later (caused, once again, by Dr. B calling my home phone when I kept telling her to calling my cell phone, and giving her that number, since I was out of the house most days) I finally get in touch with her. Come to find out, the tumor is not inactive and is actually secreting something that’s affecting my hormone levels. Which means I can't go on any medication for anything, because of the treatment I may need to deal with the tumor.
Dr. B orders another salivary test and a 24-hour urine collection. She mails the orders and the kits- or at least, half of the urine collection kit because my mom ends up picking up the rest from work because it was missing- to Dr. P. I don’t know why, because Dr. P is only in her local office on Tuesdays and it arrived on Wednesday, so it was a week before I could even pick it up.
Dropped it off at a lab two weeks ago. Currently stuck in another round of phone tag with Dr. B trying to figure out if she has any test results yet, because of course she’s not going to call. All I know is that if it's confirmed that the tumor is secreting something I'm going to need more blood work, a round of steroids, and then more blood work... Whether that's the treatment or just more tests I have no idea, because Dr. G-C is yet again out of the loop and Dr. B is either being vague or unreachable.
So as of right now I have no definitive diagnosis, three doctors who refuse to talk to each other, and I honestly have no idea who is supposed to be dealing with what. At this point, I’m extremely tempted to throw in the towel and call it quits because I can’t deal with this anymore.
Except, y’know, there’s a tumor in my pituitary gland...
At least my doctors seem to be keeping quiet around her. I don't know if Dr. G-C put the fear of god into the others if they're just smarter, but I'm certainly not complaining. 
Unfortunately that's about the only good news.
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