On August 22, 2005 I went to have my blood drawn for my follow up visit with my endocrinologist. My appointment with him was on August 31, 2005. This was over 3 ½ mos after the administration of 250 mCi’s of Radioactive Iodine. I am not sure what the medical community would think about this but I think this is horrible. I would ask him about this at my appointment.
I arrived at the office on August 31 for my follow up. They weighed me 168 lbs with a BP of 116/78 and a pulse of 104. My TSH was .16, FT4 1.1 and Tg 8 with no antibodies. He told me I was doing well. I told him I didn’t feel well. I asked him why I had not been able to talk to him before the ablation when I called. He gave some excuse about the nurses handling things. I asked why it was over 3 mos before I got to see him after the ablation. He told me he was busy. WHAT?? I pushed further. He told me that there were people that were scheduling 5 mos out and he had to balance them all. I asked why he didn’t close his practice to new patients if he couldn’t handle the ones he had already. He told me “They need me”. OH MY GOODNESS!!! I must be chopped liver because I think I needed him a few times when I wanted answers or help to feel better and he brushed me off on his nurse. He finally got frustrated when I asked for copies of the entire treatment and told me that I should probably go see someone else. I said nothing, got my copies, paid and left. Again I returned to my car and cried. This is not health care I was experiencing. There was no “care” here. I would go for labs, they would run them, take my weight, blood pressure, feel my neck and if I was in their “range” send me on my way after paying a $15 co-pay. It didn’t matter how I felt or what symptoms I had. My range was good so therefore there is no issue.
I took my daughter into see her pediatrician the same week. The Dr asked me how I was doing. He had been with me through the entire process since I was diagnosed 4 mos after my son was born. I gave him my story and he told me I was getting horrible care. His scheduler helped me get an appointment with an endocrinologist at the University of Michigan for September. I was excited and hopeful that this doctor would have some answers as to why my thyroglobulin continued to rise after so many ablations.
In anticipation of my trip to the University of Michigan I began to visit all the hospitals that had done scans and ablation therapies. There were 3 in all. I checked out the films from all the radiology departments and made copies of the documents in the files. It was at this point that I found documents that had been omitted from the information given to me by my ENT. I am assuming that he had copies because many were communication from his office to the radiologist
