My abdomen hurts pretty bad and feels tender today, so I'd like to find out the results of a scan I had done, but the doctors won't get back to me. Who knows what could be going on in there, and it seems my only option at the moment is to walk into the hospital ER. The latest in my personal saga, and expose of the almost-nonexistent Canadian healthcare system!
Summary taken from my previous post on this issue:
I've been dealing with abdominal pain for 7 months. It was intermittent and mild at first, but it gradually became worse. Then in January, it got quite bad, and became mixed with a few other symptoms in the same region. Some of those symptoms were worrisome, so I made an appointment to see a doctor. (I don't actually have a family doctor "GP"... I have to see the specialist I was connected to when I had my heart surgery last year.)
Eventually, I saw him briefly. He asked some questions and assessed a few things, then sent me for an ultrasound. This is a very cheap and easy test that can be done almost anywhere, any time for essentially no cost. A few days later, I spent the afternoon at the hospital, to get that scan done. The results were sent to my specialist.
10 days ago later, I hadn't heard back from the doctor about the scan results. The pain and other symptoms were still there. So I called his number and it went right to voicemail. The message said "leave all your personal details" and "give us 3 business days to get back to you".
I eventually got ahold of the doctor's secretary, who informed me the scan had not found anything conclusive. (Great, all that time waiting for it, and a day getting the scan done... "inconclusive".) I had been referred to a surgeon, and would hear back from him by phone. If the scan didn't find anything, why do I need a surgeon? Shouldn't I just go back to the specialist to get a different test ordered? "Maybe the surgeon has some ideas for how to help you", she said. Well, that doesn't sound great, and it's annoyingly vague. But I agreed to speak with the surgeon.
About a week later, I called her back because I hadn't heard from the surgeon. She didn't have his current number, but gave me his name. I looked him up and called his office. An answering machine picked up: "Office hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.." so I hung up.
The next day (Wednesday) I called the surgeon's office just after noon. The answer machine picked up again: "Office hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 9am to 2pm..." Wow, they're available 15 hours a week? I left a message asking them to call me back, but nobody called.
Today (Friday) was my next chance. I decided to call right after 9am before they got too busy. The answering machine message had been changed: "We will be closed until next Wednesday, if you have an emergency go to the ER."
See? That's how it goes, every time. There's a delay and/or a screwup at EVERY step. And there are several steps required just to get any little thing accomplished.
I kid you not, there's very little chance I'm actually going to get to speak with a secretary next Wednesday. If I do, there's very little chance she'll be willing and able to get the doctor to see/call me about my scan results.
I decided to call my specialist again, but only got the machine, with the message "we'll get back to you in 3 business days..."
I did send away a freedom of information act request to get the scan results and interpret them myself, but after a couple weeks I'm still waiting. Who knows if anything will even show up? Sometimes they just don't bother to send it.
Somewhat frustrating to have gone through the scan, and not be informed what it found/didn't find. How long could it possibly take? You'd think if there was something interesting on there, the patient would be told about it immediately. You'd think, anyway...
Even if nothing interesting was seen, shouldn't a different examination or test be done? I'm in pain, and pain means something's wrong. My whole gut doesn't feel right. I'm taking a fair bit of acetaminophen and cannabis for the pain, but even so, it's causing me some (additional) trouble with sleep.
After going through the heart problems and almost dying in 2021-2024, I felt so positive about 2025. Just when I was finally making progress in life again, and getting back on track... this wants to derail things.
I do my best to stay positive, but after my experiences in the last 9 years, and knowing what I know about the healthcare system, the prognosis is guarded.
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DRutter
It's sad to go through so much turmoil to even understand the problem, the treatment comes much later, and more the delay the problem can aggravate. It's so unethical on their part to behave like this, especially a Doctor who takes an oath to always be in service :-(
If the pain is in lower abdomen then it possibly can be kidney stones. You never know what the problem is exactly till it's clinically diagnosed, but in the mean time you can do some home remedies. Have lots and lots of water, this will help flush out the toxins. If by any chance you consume more coffee then cut down on it, boiled ginger and curry leaves water also helps for regular pains, need to have 2 cups a day.
I wish you get some insight on your problem and get treated soon.
Thank you very much for the advice and support! You have knowledge and wisdom to share even though you're still young : ))
I am really sorry to read about what you have been going through with the inefficient healthcare system. I know there are many stories of people waiting months for simple surgeries. Hopefully your new PM will probably make changes to make the system work more efficiently and ease the suffering many people are going through.
I do hope too you can get to the root cause of your problem. Please do keep us updated and thank you for sharing your story. It opens our eyes to what is going on.
Thank you buddy, I appreciate your comment along with your friendship and support. You're right, maybe changes are coming with the recent government changeup. Not that anyone here voted for the new guy... but it's hard to imagine much worse than Trudeau. (Hopefully I don't end up eating those words!) Have a great day mate.
Homeopathy man! Go to joettecalabrese.com and put your symptoms in the search bar. Start there. You can treat yourself, and inexpensively.
Or you and I could try to figure it out if you'd like.
Thanks for the url, I will check it out!
That's terrible news, but don't let this bring you up. The year is still going and this will probably be the worst of it. A quick storm will bring brighter skies soon.
I hope it's nothing serious buddy!?!?!?!? 🙏 Hang in there and keep us updated!!!! 🍀