Stereotatic Core Biopsy

Why don't a good amount of doctors understand that each patient might have a totally different pain threshold? I had one of these absolutely horrific tests 19 Mar 2010 and will warn every woman I can that if they are ever suggested to get this test and they do not have the pain limit of Zeus to run for the hills. I guess since I have had numerous surgeries in my life courtesy of a red light runner I expected certain things would be done, boy was I wrong! I informed them that I had an extremely low pain threshold. I expected they would as all my surgeons had done used Lidocaine to numb the pain of the initial tissue numbing shots but no, they said simply they did not do this. Then they had me lay on the table and have boob hanging down and the assistant told me I could not move or talk as that would wreck the test. I was then put through horrible pain as needle after needle was put into my breast. The assistant just kept patting my back asking if I was o.k. NOT!!!! I was ready to knock my self out! After they were through I asked if they would give me a script for the pain and they said no, contact your regular doctor. I said NO she had not caused the pain. The first 4 days were nothing short of horrific. Thankfully hubby had some meds to get me through the first 36 hours sort of. It is now 2.5 weeks later and I have shown my boob to 4 doctors and they have all been appalled as they saw a scared boob that was purple from the bruising and scars from where the patch they put on for antibiotics tore skin off when it was removed leaving open flesh. Are we getting to a point where doctors are forgetting the beginning of the oath, first do no harm? I intend to write to the CEO of the hospital & the head of the women's health building so they can see the photos of my boob and understand the pain they are causing. With 5 docs in the family they tell me what is normal and what is not normal. So how do we wake people like this up?

[japdip]

I'm sorry you had such a horrible experience; hopefully it doesn't happen often. I don't know the answer to your question about waking people up .... the things you intend to do sound reasonable. If at all possible I think it's wise to ask, ask, ask as many people as you can about an institution and the procedures performed there. It is true that each person experiences things differently but I have not heard of this procedure being done without a local anesthetic. Perhaps one of those 5 Dr.s in you family could do some investigating into the way this procedure is done ..... hard to believe that it's routine to do it the way you describe (without local) but it seems today anything is possible.    Take care .....

[sophiefritz]

Thanks, That is what I thought. They certainly could not expect to put needles into such a sensitive piece of your body without numbing it first but they did not seem to care. Are you from Japan? My main doc in the family is our nephew and his wife Mari is from Japan and we love them both. They are peds docs but they are doing research for me.
If nothing else I will get the word out via all sorts of mediums from this board to facebook and my thousands of websites. Hospitals need to learn you cannot treat people like that. When I showed my boob to my primary care doc yesterday she was appalled that they wanted me to ask her to write a script for drugs because they did not care or whatever? She then did write a script for me so at least I can replace the meds that hubby gave me so he will have some when his back goes out again.