Aa
emergency room visit / diagnosis = cancer???!!
last firday i was having nausea and chest pain..well i got worried and thought maybe its my heart..it ha went on for three days already..went to an er near my home at first i was taken right back ... not much was done as far as an exam..just checked my breathing and since it was a come and go lingering pain in my torso/chest area they sent me for a ct scan of my chest...im 33 years old w severe anxiety and suffer from panic attacks...well i had not had anxiety for 3 months now till now..any how te doc forgot about me for a few hours finally i said sorry ive got to go can i please have my ct scan results..and be discharged..the nurse comes in 0 min later says im sory he forgot about you he was with a siezure patient...i say its okay but can you let him know i must leave...its been 4 and a half hours by now...another nurse comes in hands me discharge papers and says doctor cant come in but says just to get a mammogram you have a breast lump and may be cancerous....? on my discharge paper work under DIAGNOSES they put in CANCER?! and then sent me home?? seriously? is this real? if they had asked theyd know i had this mass in my breast since i was 19 years old and im 33 now...they did no other testing other than a ct scan? can they really send me home with a cancer diagnosis?
I am so happy to hear your wonderful news!
By coincidence, both you and another member I have been chatting with had your tests today, and both of you came out fine.
I told her about an hour ago that she had made my day, and you have done the same.
Now I am doubly delighted!! :-)
Warm regards,
bluebutterfly
p.s. I hope you will now go back to the hospital and make sure they get your discharge diagnosis corrected. If you don't know where to start, ask to speak to a patient advocate, and tell him/her the whole story of what you were put through.
By coincidence, both you and another member I have been chatting with had your tests today, and both of you came out fine.
I told her about an hour ago that she had made my day, and you have done the same.
Now I am doubly delighted!! :-)
Warm regards,
bluebutterfly
p.s. I hope you will now go back to the hospital and make sure they get your discharge diagnosis corrected. If you don't know where to start, ask to speak to a patient advocate, and tell him/her the whole story of what you were put through.
I'm okay! Had a mammogram and a sonogram the lump I have is benign and he called it a clump of tissue and the word he used was not any I've seen used on the web but it started with an H..so I'm okay and now I can feel better Knowing what it is..thank you so much for being here for me, God puts angels on earth I know this thank you!
well my appointment is @ 9am tomorow...funny thing..no anxiety all day today?? im just ready to find out whats going on...even as scary as this is.. knowing whats wrong is better than not knowing...i will be back tomorow with an update..its in Gods hands...thank you :)
I'm doing great, thanks for asking.
Since I'm a health professional I knew at once they'd coded it wrong, so I wasn't worried in terms of my health, just irritated that they had been so careless in such an important matter, that could haved cause me trouble getting life insurance or health insurance in the future if not corrected!
But I can understand, in your case, why what they wrote freaked you out.
:-( I am sorry that you are still having so much anxiety and panic. If at all possible, try to approach this one step at a time.
Fortunately, Thursday is only a couple of day away. Once you get the mammo results, which should contain a BI-RADS Category score (from 0 to 5), that will give a good idea of the degree of suspicousness, if any, of any findings, as well as the radiologist's recommendation, if any, for further evaluation or follow-up.
Please update us when you know more--we care!
bluebutterfly
Since I'm a health professional I knew at once they'd coded it wrong, so I wasn't worried in terms of my health, just irritated that they had been so careless in such an important matter, that could haved cause me trouble getting life insurance or health insurance in the future if not corrected!
But I can understand, in your case, why what they wrote freaked you out.
:-( I am sorry that you are still having so much anxiety and panic. If at all possible, try to approach this one step at a time.
Fortunately, Thursday is only a couple of day away. Once you get the mammo results, which should contain a BI-RADS Category score (from 0 to 5), that will give a good idea of the degree of suspicousness, if any, of any findings, as well as the radiologist's recommendation, if any, for further evaluation or follow-up.
Please update us when you know more--we care!
bluebutterfly
Thank you so much...in just going out of my mind worried.
Mammoth is schedule for this Thursday.
Until then I'm a ball of anxieties and panic:/ your experience was terrible! A false diagnosis I'd brain tumor oh
MY gosh...I'm so sorry ..how are you now? U know after I find out what's going on I/ if all clear.. im going to contact the hospital and make a big complaint ..especially us w anxiety they should be a bit more compassionate anxious people sometimes hurt themselves over things or thoughts like that !
Mammoth is schedule for this Thursday.
Until then I'm a ball of anxieties and panic:/ your experience was terrible! A false diagnosis I'd brain tumor oh
MY gosh...I'm so sorry ..how are you now? U know after I find out what's going on I/ if all clear.. im going to contact the hospital and make a big complaint ..especially us w anxiety they should be a bit more compassionate anxious people sometimes hurt themselves over things or thoughts like that !
Oh my goodness, what a terrible experience!
Unfortunately, yes, an ER can send you home with a cancer dx, because they only do emergency tx, and if you truly had cancer, ongoing tx would be required...
BUT, in my opinion, that was not good coding! It should have said something more like "breast lesion, further evaluation recommended," or at the worst, "R/O (which means rule out, or evaluate to exclude the possiblity of) malignant breast lesion."
As the doctor told you, his recommendation was to get a mammogram, but even that can't dx BC with 100% certainty. If the mammogram looks suspicious, further evaluation, such as an Ultrasound, might be recommended. But unless a biopsy is done, it would still not be known with certainty whether you actually have BC.
These coding errors occur all too often,and when wrong, need to be corrected, as they can interfere with your ability to obtain insurance!
Just so you won't feel all alone, once I had to go for brain imaging, just to be safe, because I had elevated prolactin, which can be associated with benign pituitary adenomas. The indication coded for the test should only have been "hyperprolactinemia"(elevated prolactin level), but the coding clerk instead put, "malignant brain tumor."
The next day I went back to complain--strongly!--to the head of the coding dept. She was as aghast as I had been, got the error corrected. and promised to meet with all her staff to caution them about guessing, if the doctor failed to submit a dx with the order. (They are always supposed to check with the doctor in that case.)
So call your GYN or breast specialist and tell him/her what happened, and see if they want you to have a mammogram right away. (They may want to have the CT images available to compare with your previous images, or with the new mammogram results.)
Meanwhile, hang in there and practice all the anxiety-reduction techniques you've no doubt learned.
Best wishes,
bluebutterfly
Unfortunately, yes, an ER can send you home with a cancer dx, because they only do emergency tx, and if you truly had cancer, ongoing tx would be required...
BUT, in my opinion, that was not good coding! It should have said something more like "breast lesion, further evaluation recommended," or at the worst, "R/O (which means rule out, or evaluate to exclude the possiblity of) malignant breast lesion."
As the doctor told you, his recommendation was to get a mammogram, but even that can't dx BC with 100% certainty. If the mammogram looks suspicious, further evaluation, such as an Ultrasound, might be recommended. But unless a biopsy is done, it would still not be known with certainty whether you actually have BC.
These coding errors occur all too often,and when wrong, need to be corrected, as they can interfere with your ability to obtain insurance!
Just so you won't feel all alone, once I had to go for brain imaging, just to be safe, because I had elevated prolactin, which can be associated with benign pituitary adenomas. The indication coded for the test should only have been "hyperprolactinemia"(elevated prolactin level), but the coding clerk instead put, "malignant brain tumor."
The next day I went back to complain--strongly!--to the head of the coding dept. She was as aghast as I had been, got the error corrected. and promised to meet with all her staff to caution them about guessing, if the doctor failed to submit a dx with the order. (They are always supposed to check with the doctor in that case.)
So call your GYN or breast specialist and tell him/her what happened, and see if they want you to have a mammogram right away. (They may want to have the CT images available to compare with your previous images, or with the new mammogram results.)
Meanwhile, hang in there and practice all the anxiety-reduction techniques you've no doubt learned.
Best wishes,
bluebutterfly
If you have had a mass in your breast for 14 years, were it cancerous wouldn't it have killed you long ago? Have this double-checked. It seems odd and their delivery of this information is even odder.
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