I am posting this as a warning for any women living in the USA planning to travel outside their home state. Get a mammogram NOW! Do not pass go. Do not get in your car or on a plane until you have had a mammogram.
You might be wondering what the big deal is. Why am I pushing a test that you can walk in anywhere and get? A test, as women, we are told to get by so many that you stop listening. You stop listening and do not hear the pleads because you will get one if you feel you need one. Easy Peasy, right?
Yeah...I thought so too.
I have spent the last five weeks trying to get a mammogram. Below is part of what I have been going through while helping my Mother heal from her broken leg.
Hello,
I recently switched my primary doctor to XXXXX XXXXXXX XX. My previous doctor issued me a prescription for my pain over the last ten years. I don’t enjoy taking them and only use them when my pain is completely unbearable, and I’ve cleared my schedule so I can stay safely at home if I must take them.
My new provider does not prescribe medicines that are opioids (narcotics). This is fine by me so long as I can have something to help manage my pain when it reaches the levels where it is to the point where I am gasping with the pain, haven’t slept at all or only for intermittent periods of time, and have tried EVERYTHING else. I play games, work on my art, and do whatever I can to distract myself from the agony.
My mother, who lives here in Florida, fell and broke her leg at the end of February. On top of her other health issues, she now has to have constant care as she can’t put any weight on that leg until it has healed from her surgery. With no other options for anyone to care for her, I immediately came down to stay with her.
Prior to my leaving, my liver doctor advised me to find a provider in Florida to run some blood tests for me. Because of this I knew that Wisconsin Doctors could send orders down to Florida if they chose to get testing done while I was here.
During the first of very stressful weeks with visiting her in the hospital while they treated her prior infection and performed surgery on her leg, and then bringing her home, tending to my mother’s home and preparing it for when the doctors and physical therapy released her for home care, the pain was mounting.
I tried aspirin, distraction, and a few other OTC meds to help alleviate the pain but the most I felt was more tired. Unfortunately, I was unable to actually sleep between the constant aching and nonstop phone calls from doctors, family, friends, neighbors, and etc. who were calling to schedule appointments for my mother, provide updates regarding tests, see how she was faring, and the like.
I called XXXXX XXXXXXX XX in Wisconsin and had to leave a message. I requested for a prescription for something stronger than an aspirin but NOT a narcotic. I need be able to take care of my mother so I don’t want anything that would interfere with that.
A few days later, I had not received any response from her or her staff. I called again and left another message with my request.
Meanwhile, with the stress, I began feeling the presence of my left breast more.
Fearing about the possibility of breast cancer on top of everything else listed above is not something I need to have weigh on me. I wanted to have a mammogram done so that I could receive the results and move on.
I called around to every provider that I could find listed in Florida and was repeatedly given the same response, I need a letter from my primary doctor to be able to be given a mammogram.
Mind you, it had been over a week of me waiting for a response from my primary doctor in Wisconsin by this point.
I called XXXXX XXXXXXX XX again and was given a message from one of the nurses that my doctor will not prescribe me a narcotic.
My response was that I had specifically requested to NOT be prescribed a narcotic. Twice.
The nurse immediately told me she wouldn’t prescribe a narcotic. I told her, again, that I had not asked for one and that I needed an order from the Doctor for a mammogram.
She responded that I should find a primary doctor in Florida to write the order for me since, if a mammogram comes back with anything, she wouldn’t be able to do anything for me while up in Wisconsin. I explained that it is near impossible to get a new provider before June (this was late in March) and asked for the order and something NOT A NARCOTIC for the pain.
The nurse told me to call around to find a Florida primary care doctor again and the Doctor gave me a referral for Pain Management for when I get back to Wisconsin. The first opening for an appointment is November 1, 2022.
I even went to an urgent care facility who stated that I needed a letter. I told them what my Wisconsin doctor would not provide a letter for a mammogram, and they were appalled.
Finally, I called my Mother’s Doctors office, XXXXX XXXXXXX XX, to schedule an appointment. They told me to fill out the 19-page form, drop it off and I would get a call back if everything was okay on the form.
I received a call back the next day and the very FIRST thing I was told was that XXXXX XXXXXXX XX does not prescribe narcotics.
I stated that I did not ask for any narcotics. All I wanted was an appointment for someone, ANYONE, to give me a mammogram so I can find out if I have cancer.
Please understand that I know things take time. I know that medical providers have rules and are besieged by an overload of patients. I empathize with that.
However, to be ignored by my doctor repeatedly, at a time when I truly need her most and to be treated like a drug addict has me hurt and frustrated beyond belief.
I implore you to help me through this, to listen and to not assume that I want anything other than to know the state of my health and to be able to have some days that aren’t riddled with pain.
Thank you.
XXXXXXX XXXXX
I now have an appointment for a mammogram on May 3, 2022. The place that my insurance covers can not see me until then. When I called this morning to get my X-ray early, the person who answered the phone said they had not received my old records yet and would not see me until they got them. I will admit I cried.
I have great insurance this year. That has not been the issue. There is so much red tape in the medical field that no one looks at the person who has the problem. No one is listening. People are just following the rules that have gotten so deep that they forget there are real people, Moms, Dads, and children behind all that red tape.
If I was home, I could have walked into my clinic and gotten a mammogram the day I noticed something wrong. Yet, when does anything happen where it is convenient? In my case, it doesn't.
To anyone reading this post and planning to travel, please take the time to get your boobs squished!! You do not want to go through what I am still going through.
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All photos are mine unless otherwise stated.
