ER Follow-up??? ER Frustration!

I hope I am posting this in the right forum & would love input from those of you who have experienced the ER when dealing with pain from adeno (or endo). This was the 1st time to the ER for me & I was told by the OB that I would have a follow-up appointment with my specialist this week, but I have yet to hear from my doctor. Is it my responsibility to call and ask about this appointment? I was under the impression they would contact me, but I will pursue it in the morning if I don't hear from them today.

ER Story: I recently started a 3 month injection of Lupron knowing full-well that there would be an increase in pain, but didn't know it could be as bad as what I experienced. After 3 hrs of heat therapy & pain Rx I had no improvement & was taken to ER. Could barely talk, just writhe & cry. ER attending did quick assessment, administered IV pain med, & called for OB/GYN. OB did exam, started new IV pain meds, ordered Catscan, called my specialist, admitted me overnight to manage pain, & twice mentioned possible emergency hysterectomy in a day or two. Though miserable, I was pleased with the effort being made to treat me and that my pain was basically being observed for the first time by doctors & nurses.

SHIFT CHANGE...new OB in charge in the AM & change in attitude/treatment...let's get you switched to oral pain killers and discharged by noon...OMG! He progressed to tell me several things that make me feel horrible & question why I ever sought help in the first place:
1. The last two Catscans don't show anything serious so the odds of us finding something in laporscopy are slim, possible, but not likely.
2. I need to re-explore pain management even though those in charge of pain management say I am not ready for it yet because I have no official diagnosis (specialist suspects adeno).
3. I must accept that this pain may be something I will just have to learn to live with.
4. He can do a lap if I want, but there's a 50% chance we won't find anything (as if I would let him cut into me)

My worst fear of going to ER was that my pain would not be believed & they would think I was their for a pain med fix. I never realized that my worst fear should have been a doctor who basically wants me to live with this because he's never seen the pain pattern that was observed & documented by 2 other doctors and several nurses for 15+ hours. I came home & cried the rest of the day because of the things this doctor said to me.

	Quote:
Originally Posted by Desilu This was the 1st time to the ER for me & I was told by the OB that I would have a follow-up appointment with my specialist this week, but I have yet to hear from my doctor. Is it my responsibility to call and ask about this appointment? I was under the impression they would contact me, but I will pursue it in the morning if I don't hear from them today.

Hi Desilu:

I'm sorry you had a bad experience at the ER. It's been my experience that you (the patient) are responsible for calling the doctor to arrange for your follow-up care.

I hope you are feeling better soon & that you are able to make some progress in your treatment.

I am sending huge cyberhugs

In my experience, when dealing with such a drastic change in ER doctors, you really have to follow up by yourself on your referrals, because there's always a chance that the second doc cancelled what the first doc did (I've had that happen before), especially if they had a disagreement in opinion.

Also, please don't let one turkey make you feel bad the way that doc did. You know your pain is real, the other doc did, the other nurses did, and we all do. The second doc was just wrong. In fact, if he was saying "Oh, there's a 50% chance we won't find anything on lap..." that means there's a 50% chance they *will* (that's not a "slim" chance!!), and that's a really good reason to look. He was just being a turkey and trying to ditch you for reasons that had Nothing To Do With You (maybe he was having a bad day, it's OB service,
it could have been anything from a bad shift in the NICU to missing a golf game). But it wasn't about you.

You can do this. Take everything the second doctor said, put it through a filter of an over-worked sleep-deprived buddy who is past the end of his/her rope, and then put it out of your mind. And then work on that referral, and I hope that things get better for you soon, I really really do. We're rooting for you!!

Kpopcass & Twysmilng, thank you so much! I have made the follow-up arrangements & am waiting for my appt. Kpopcass, I never thought about how the discharging doc probably changed the orders of the other doc. Your advice & support is so very much appreciated!