Medical Red Tape, Missed Health Risks, and Survival

Oh Mama give me strength. I am trying to get a kidney stone removed from my bladder, as I have explained in other posts, and the red tape along the way and contradictions by medical staff here there and everywhere is driving me round the bend. The surgery is going to be the easy part compared to all this medical red tape. During a recent CT for the stone they also discovered a lesion on my right ovary and that needs to be dealt with - hopefully it is nothing but if it's a secondary cancer then it has to be dealt with quick AND get this, apparently the lesion was on an older CT but it was MISSED in the report from the radiologist. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Briefly the latest issue is that I had no choice but to postpone the surgery to remove this stone that I was supposed to have done last week because there was a confusion as to the type of anesthetic they were using. Who in their right mind would allow themselves to be put out unless they were clear on what type of anesthesia they were going to use?

I was told by another anesthesiologist not long ago that I should avoid total general anesthesia if at all possible because of my health - heart in particular. So when I called the nurse at the hospital to ask them a question the night before surgery, in talking about something else I mentioned it was conscious sedation, to which she answered 'no it's general anesthetic'. WHAT???????????? She argued the point which further drove home that it was different from conscious sedation. That was it for me as I had had other instances of contradictory info from other staffers there and anesthesia screwups now were the last straw. I'm not going to be knocked out not knowing what form of anesthesia I am getting - HELLLOOOOO.

So the surgeon doesn't return my call directly as I had asked, the question would have been cleared up in 2 minutes if he had, but he handed it off to his secretary and she told me that since I cancelled the surgery, um I didn't cancel, I postponed it til I had all the info, I would have to start all over from pre op meetings that took 3 hours to meeting with the surgeon again to discuss 'all the issues'. ALL? There is only one. Because of paperwork and stupid in place rules and regs to make it easier on everyone but the patient, this surgery might take several months again to get settled. I won't even be able to see the surgeon til the end of July to just start discussing it again.

For the love of gawd my health is the same today as it was last Thursday when I had to postpone, why put me through all of that set up again? It's nuts and in my case, as well as in many others along the way, potentially (hopefully not for me and others) this could turn out to be the difference between early diagnosis of a cancer and not. Paperwork and protocol, possibily one more thing to factor in to our survival for some.

You know what I am wondering? In the beginning this Urologist had a bit of a question mark as to whether it was in fact a stone at all and that stuck with me. I asked him about that a few months back and he assured me yup it was a stone. Now in light of this new finding of a lesion on my ovary, not too far away from the bladder, I am wondering if he is worried about an incorrect diagnosis and is trying to cover his butt. Oh man just take out the stupid stone or whatever the heck it is. I mean if that's the case then he should be pushing me to the head of the list with this surgery so they can see what the heck that thing is. I tried to get a second opinion but my GP decided it could wait til I see her next week - man sometimes patients just seem to be cut off from relaying all the information at every turn, because doctors are so busy. Hey I get that, but what about me? What about you? What about early diagnosis? What about, what about, what about?

Other than that, having a great day. lol. Blessings, Blueroses.