Well, That Was a Wasted Visit

As frustrated as I was the last time I saw my doctor, I was even more so today after leaving Meg's visit with her gynecologist.  Two weeks ago, Meg went to see her about a pain that she was having on her right side.  She was also experiencing some personal issues that she wanted to talk to the nurse practitioner about.  She left that appointment feeling great.  The NP told her that she had a large fibroid which was causing all of the health problems that Meg was experiencing and scheduled her for an ultrasound.  

Meg spent the next two weeks researching fibroids, their causes, symptoms and treatments.  From what she told me, I completely believed that was the correct diagnosis.  Since Nick was out of town, I offered to go with Meg to her appointment.  Meg was grateful as she felt that if both of us were there, we could remember all of the information better and come up with a plan of treatment with the practitioner.  

Instead of walking out with a diagnosis today, both Meg and I left the office feeling extremely frustrated.  The ultrasound did not reveal a fibroid, instead it showed an issue that may have been caused by an excess of estrogen in Meg's body.  The NP glanced right over that finding, threw out several other issues that made no sense when compared to Meg's symptoms, and completely ignored my history of hormone problems as well as the significant number of women in my family with cervical and uterine cancer.  She offered a few blood tests that Meg had already had with her family doctor and then pushed birth control, completely disregarding Meg's history of migraines with aura.  It was incompetence at its best, and the condescension was alarming.

As I drove home today, I thought a lot about Meg's appointment.  I had struggle with many of the same issues that Meg has when I was in her age.  Birth control was always the answer until the migraines became severe, then nothing but "take some Ibuprofen."  I couldn't believe that in thirty years there wasn't a better answer.  Thankfully, Meg was able to get ahold of her NFP sponsor from Chicago who set her up with a family doctor who had a more wholistic approach to Meg's medical concerns.  Meg also has my support as well as Doug and Nick's.  I know in the end, Meg will find a solution, but unfortunately, it won't be today.