Ute's ShadowBlog

Before I consulted another physician, a dermatologist, I talked to my insurance company and a few other people who I asked for advise, too.

On Wednesday, 26th January 2005 I talked to a specialist at my insurance company and asked him whether the insurance company has some kind of procedures that family physicians can go by when certain matters have to be examined.

The person on the phone replied that this is a matter of opinion and that I should go with what I feel. I told him that I felt uncomfortable that the family physician who had not seen me before had told me that my blood is okay, though my blood had not been tested. The specialist recommended that I write a complaint to L. H. in N. Y.

In the mean time I not only felt that I didn’t receive the appropriate medical care, I felt that something was not adding up right here.

On the same day I spoke to another neighbor and asked her for a recommendation for a physician. When I talked to her about not having a blood test done on the same day when I visited the physician, she said that physicians don’t get enough money from the insurance companies therefore they want you to schedule another appointment, a physical examination. And maybe then they request a blood test.

Here I would like to mention that, since I’m living in Washington State, I rarely called on physicians. I actually wasn’t knowledgeable about the healthcare or the health insurance business. While living in Washington State I have had on and off health care insurance. Before August 2004 I have had neither health nor dental insurance for a couple of years. In January 2005 I neither had a family physician nor did I know other physicians except Dr. F at the Bellevue Women’s clinic.

I believe that Dr. P. could have sent me to the lab for having my blood tested on the same day I had visited his practice at the Evergreen Medical Center.

Now I chose to consult a dermatologist, Dr. G., in Seattle. I had read an article about this dermatologist in the newspaper. Therefore I decided to give his practice a call. I received an appointment, but I was told that his assistant would take care of me because he was not accepting new patients.

On Wednesday, 2nd February 2005 I met his assistant J. and another female nurse. Before she clipped my nail, I asked her for a stool analysis. I mentioned that I had heard that an infection, a fungus, could be determined through a stool analysis. Her reply was that they don’t do this test.

On the same day, early in the morning, I had talked to my sister in Germany. She advised me to request a stool analysis to look for the cause of an infection, such as bacteria, or a fungus. She had asked a dermatologist in Germany, what kind of tests I needed to have done. The dermatologist recommended a stool analysis to see whether I had an infection. But J. told me that this test was not done at Dr. G.’s practice.

J. clipped parts of my nail for testing. And after I had told her that I also had sometimes a numb feeling and some prickle or tickle sensations in my mouth, which I had never felt before, she also swiped my mouth with a Q-tip to examine my saliva.

J. told me that the results of the tests would take about two weeks.

Here I would like to mention that in the coming weeks I would develop more severe symptoms of radiation overexposure. At some point I didn’t produce any saliva in my mouth for a couple of weeks. I’ll describe these experiences in more detail in my next post.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2007 at 4:34 pm and is filed under Doctor's visits, Malpractice, Wellness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.