#2
From: shali9 (shali9@icdc.com)
Mon Aug 20 23:16:42 2001
What has transpired within the last month. Cutting and pasting off of an
email:
Boston called regarding the second evaluation. For those of you who dont
know the fiasco, my doctor wanted me to have a colonoscopy. There is NO way
I could have any more pressure induced than what is already in there so
Vincent, who knew all there was to know about a Virtual Colonoscopy by this
time, suggested this. It shows much more than a regular colonscopy, no
anesthesia, 10 min procedure and all they do is insert a speculum into the
rectum about 3" and blow some air in. It 'virtually' flies through the colon
by sliced images thru a CAT scan and the images are in motion. An animated
show of it is on the net. Doctor wasnt familiar with this test so Vincent
suggested he call radiology. Radiology said it would show what it was he
needed. Well . . . UNFORTUNATELY AGAIN, the doctors script said
Rx: Obstruction RATHER THAN what he was suspecting so the test came BACK no
obstruction! I continue to be an awe at their ignorance at our expense and
Im not talking financial here which is nothing compared to the physical pain
and add the emotional frustration to it.
Vincent decided to contact Boston University after reading extensive
information on the net regarding their expertise on Virtual Colonoscopies,
who was more than willing to do a second evaluation for $150 [24-48 hour
turnaround in diagnosis!]. They responded
to our fax within THREE HOURS. Wont even go into the hassles from the lab
here and other problems as well, but we got what we wanted which were the
images transferred onto disc. We airborned the
disc to Boston BUT NOW the format was wrong and Boston needed a certain
format! It had to be converted from GE format to Dicom so V had to call ALL
OVER to GE Corporation since it is their equipment being used by the lab but
of course, no one can really reformat it or knows how to or it was their
lunch hour or something. Finally found someone in Sales who was cooperative.
We'd be rich if there was some way to collect all the money for the time we
spend doing THEIR job.
On top of that, Boston is going to duplicate the disc for us so that my
colo-rectal surgeon can view it AS IF he himself did the colonoscopy. I
asked them what they would charge for another copy of it [we can have one
for us]. He said nothing! Prior to any testing, my
surgeon, Dr Irwin was suspecting Cecal Volvulus - which is a twist and/or
fold [usually
an emergency procedure but Ive been keeping myself alive with colonics due
to no diagnosis otherwise I'd be dead by now]. When he said this and I went
on the net to find out what it was, I was confident this was my problem.
Volvulus is not constant, therefore almost impossible to pick up on xray
plus Cecal volvulus is usually misdiagnosed as sigmoid volvulus.
Boston's radiology report: Cecal Bascule [there are two kinds of Cecal
Volvulus and this is the one I suspected from what I was reading IF Dr.
Irwin was right].
Cecal Volvulus is a surgical procedure where they have to remove a segment
of intestine - a right hemicolectomy is the most effective. It involves the
cecum
"folding" in an axis at right angles to
the mesentery. In contrast to sigmoid volvulus, which is usually an acquired
condition, cecal volvulus is due to congenital incomplete retroperitoneal
fixation of the cecum or ascending colon. In an autopsy study by Anson, over
10% of ascending colons had a mobile mesentery, permitting volvulus to
occur. In a further 25% of cadavers, the cecum alone was sufficiently mobile
to permit cecal bascule to occur. Volvulus is an emergency surgery.
Now we have a diagnosis
Shali
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