Friday, July 30, 2010

Unexpected Doctor Visit

The last few days have been rough on me physically - to name a few of the symptoms I've been experiencing:
* Swelling (I know... it's part of pregnancy)
* Nausea with a vengence
* Headaches
* Ringing/Buzzing in my ears
* Drowsiness (this one is interesting - I'll be sitting here fine one minute and the next I'm fighting literally to keep my eyes open)
* Sudden Blurry vision
All of these are signs of preeclampsia or pregnancy induced hypertension - except I'm missing the key symptom in the whole deal... my blood pressure is like a dream right now. It's bizarre!
So anyway - I called on Tuesday to get a refill on my Zofran prescription - to at least combat the nausea... but they wouldn't give it to me. Instead they wanted to see me immediately. So that freaked me out a little and I retreated - I asked them to let me wait it out one more day and see if the issues were just a fluke or something. All day Wednesday though was much of the same... so they made me an appointment for 8 yesterday morning.
Of course, being that my OB is so super fabulous... she had zero idea of why she was seeing me when she walked into the room yesterday morning. Almost an hour late - because she was delivering a baby. (No worries on being late - but it would have been nice for her staff to let me know that little fact)
So I went through my symptoms - only I didn't know to mention the ringing of the ears or the drowsiness to her... because I hadn't read the website I linked to until I got back to the office. I sort of feel like it's her job to ask those questions though if there is a battery of symptoms - you might just ask if your patients are experiencing any of them... since most of us don't know the signs as readily as the doctor should!
Once again - I left the office with no information or really anything to help deal with these issues. They took blood work - and are having me do another 24 hour urine collection... joy! So I guess we'll see if they call me before I go back on the 10th.
I did tell her while I was there that under NO circumstances will we be tying my tubes during the delivery - to which she started telling me that I'm a bad candidate for birth control pills because of my health issues. I almost find this funny - because I was on the pill for the better part of 10 years or more... partially under HER care... and no one said a word to me. Not to mention that I had weight loss surgery in 2007 - and haven't had blood pressure problems since then... catch up with the train lady! Geez!
I can just about guarantee that once Tyler comes and we get through my recovery - I'll be looking for a new OB/GYN before we try this again. I'll likely ask my PCP for a recommendation - because so far he has only recommended one doctor that I haven't loved.
The other day - I was googling to find her number... because I was too lazy to reach down and find my cell phone... and happened across a website where you could write reviews of doctors. She had like 17 reviews written about her... and I find them mostly to be accurate with my experience... some folks were outraged by her... others loved her... but overall, people said that during the delivery she was wonderful... but that the exams and visits leading up to that - they felt like she wasn't listening to them/hearing them and that she was too rough when examining people. I'm a little freaked by that part - because we haven't gotten to anything in terms of physical exams really since the first visit during this rollercoaster - and I'm sensitive as it is... so the pain factor will suck. I guess I'll forgive her though when I get the good drugs during delivery.
Speaking of which - I pre-registered with the hospital last night for Tyler's delivery... and I'm just wondering if we can go ahead and get that epidural flowing now so that we can ensure our ZERO pain birth plan. :-) HAHAHAHA!

3 comments:

  1. If you feel like you're being handled "roughly" by the doctor during exams, SOUND OFF and let her know!

    You are not required to sit through an uncomfortable/painful exam. Let her know beforehand if there are certain things you know to be very uncomfortable for you from previous experience.

    I'm a big believer of sounding off (politely of course). If no one does, then how does the cycle ever stop?

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  2. OMG! Your Dr. sounds interesting..ahem...I mean come on! I will be finding a new OBGYN if I ever have another. I haven't told people this but he really upset me. He was in and out of the room in 15 minutes while Connor was born and they didn't even bring Terence in the room until they were PULLING CONNOR OUT! I was so upset! I wanted him there by my side. AND- he absolutely would NOT write me a maternity leave note for more than 6 weeks, even though standard for a c-section is 8. My work would have paid for 12 weeks all I needed was a note saying that with his signature, but he REFUSED! Two girls I work with just had babies and they got paid for the full 12...must have been nice! I hope you start feeling better soon girl..praying for you! <3 Becky

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  3. Where did you find this doctor??? its not too late to switch. Find someone you feel comfortable with- you deserve that!

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