Jayne from Jo

From: Jo Eslick (wallamara@hotmail.com)
Sun Jan 6 05:45:48 2002




Hi Jayne

I read your reply to Sally, you really have been in the wars haven't you!  It is so hard to stay positive sometimes when we are constantly dealing with a new medical drama.  It's just our luck to fall into that "small percentage" though isn't it!

I am struggling a bit myself at the moment, I had a very bad night with pain last night to the point of vomiting. *sigh* I hate it when it gets that bad!  I was glad to read that you have a good family doctor, that is just SO important!  I am currently having a few problems with mine which is sad because she has been my doctor since my pregnancy with my now 14 yr old daughter.  I missed an appointment with my Gyno, long story but the fact is Shane rang and spoke to my Gyno, explained why we missed it and filled him in on what had happened during my recent visit to a specialist team at a Sydney hospital who deal with Endometriosis and Gyno problems specifically.

Anyway, this visit was to see the pain specialist who see's what she call's the "more difficult Chronic Pain patients" not in difficult as in obnoxious (although I can be if I wanna be...hehehe) to determine the best long term plan for pain relief through medication, physiotherapy and other diversional therapies.  I had explained to her during our consultation that my GP was starting to become a little concerned about the amount of narcotic pain medication I was on.  She understood the issue from both sides & said that she would write directly to my GP (something she doesn't usually do, it's generally a generic report sent after all members of the team have made their assessment within their field.)  She was happy with all the things that I had discovered and organised for myself (pain councilor, diversional therapies, alternative medicine...etc) and agreed that the pain medications being prescribed for me were in fact just the right combination.

I also had an hour consultation with the physiotherapist who will be helping me with my bladder problems and incontinence.  We discovered that I had very strong pelvic floor muscles on my left side (where I experience constant pain) and next to no strength in my right side pelvic floor.  So we have worked on a couple of things to help me with my pelvic floor and also my bowel movements.  She was impressed that I was already massaging my descending colon (spell?) and simply advised me to slightly adjust the way I did this massage.

So all in all it had been a very successful day.  When I got home (this clinic is in Sydney a three hour drive from the town I live in) there was little time for me to organise a consultation with my GP before she went on holidays for the Christmas & New Year period.  It turned out that she was fully booked, so I simply left a message for her letting her know what prescriptions I needed her to write up before she went away.  I had been having a rest in the afternoon and the phone rang, it was my GP and she was very unhappy with me.  My Gyno had rung her (as he told Shane he would, to organise the new HRT prescription I would need as a result of my Sydney visit) and simply she was upset that she had been left to write all these scripts for me for very serious restricted medications without a report from the Sydney clinic, she then went on to blast me about missing the Gyno appointment.  Several times I repeated to her what had happened and that we had contacted my Gyno & explained the circumstances etc.... she just wouldn't let up!  In the end I was in tears & couldn't talk to her any longer and handed the phone over to Shane.  He had to be very firm with her & assert that we had spoken to my Gyno and he was happy with what was happening!

Jayne, all I can say is .... I was devastated!  This was my rock!  My one doctor who had always been in my corner and had encouraged, congratulated and said she admired my will to go on and my positive outlook.  I cried and cried for over half an hour, it was just the last straw, I had had such a tough week as travel is very uncomfortable and is physically & mentally very draining and to make matters worse I am coping with additional pain caused by an ovarian remnant cyst. I will have to go and see her next week Jayne, and I can tell you it isn't a consultation I am looking forward to.  I honestly don't know if I will be able to have the same trust and confidence in her now, I feel that she acted dreadfully as a doctor and attacked me to the point that I was crying!  That isn't the way to build doctor/patient trust!

Well, I have had a very hard time since Christmas with increasing pain, nausea and I am getting very little quality sleep.  I was very close to getting my husband to take me to our local hospital the other night, and I'm sure you know how that feels!  So, I made it through the night & made an appointment to see one of the other doctors at the same office.  As it turned out, he was wonderful, after a brief overview of what I had been dealing with over the last two years since my hysterectomy I knew I had found my new doctor.  He was sympathetic, quick to understand the steps that had been taken recently to manage my pain over the long term and increased the twice daily dose of oxycontin and said that I needed to take it at the same time every day to get the maximum benefit from it.  He explained that this drug works on a stable level within our system over a long period of time.  While oxycodone (which I use for breakthrough pain) is a quick fix, works quickly but it's effectiveness ending in a short space of time.  He said that the amount of oxycontin I required was worked out based on the number of oxycodone I was taking each day.  Based on what I was taking, he doubled my current dose.

The part I don't understand Jayne is that my GP had told me that if I had a good day, then she said not to take the night time dose of oxycontin!  Which was the opposite of what this other doctor told me.  My husband & I felt that he should be my second doctor, as my current GP is only part time and sometimes I have waited in pain until she was available the following week because it was easier than trying to explain it to another doctor.  So I asked this doctor if he would be my second doctor because of my GP's part time hours.  He said he would be happy to, and said that he would go over my file & familiarise himself with my history.

LOL  I am sorry that you have born the brunt of this, it has been spinning around in the pit of my stomach since the episode occurred before Christmas, and just now writing to you I found myself getting to this sentence!  *sigh* well that is what this group is all about, letting off steam, finding support and understanding from others who have similar experiences.  I find that trying to explain things to my friends sometimes is hard because it sounds like it should be an episode of Day's of our Lives!  LOL

So getting back to where I started this, I am glad you have a great friend & GP.  I look forward to reading your future posts...that is if you haven't run off after trying to read this long and woeful tale....

Love & warm gentle hugs

Jo (Australia)

P.S. Could all those who read this post please pray for rain and help for our paid and volunteer firefighters.  Much of my home state of New South Wales is suffering from the worst bushfires since the 1960's and these will soon become the worst fires on record.  Bushfires are a part of our life here, many native plants only germinate after a fire, BUT we have had thunderstorms and arsonists starting fires every where and many homes have been lost.



 


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