Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Ultrasounds Don't Lie!

On the advice of Dr. Minissale (who gave me a few OB/GYN names, it happened to be the first one he gave me) - I went to see Shannon Frederick PAC – Doylestown Gynecology. The reception staff was fabulous and they were kind enough to fit me after I called when I got home from my ER visit on March 3rd.  On March 5th, I brought them some homemade coffee cake to show my appreciation for fitting me in and to start, what I had hoped, would be a lifelong relationship with a new gynecologist. Hahahaha.
Shannon Frederick probably had the worst bedside manor ever. I was still having pain, bloating, growing extremely tired. I explained about my lack of periods for the past several years and that in September of 2013 I had a cyst on my ovary. I explained I’d been in the ER a few days before but the ultrasound showed I didn’t have a cyst – but I still felt like I did. She did an exam (painful!) and said she didn’t feel anything and she said, very curtly, “Ultrasounds DON’T lie.”
Now, as a former paramedic, we were always taught: Treat the patient, not the equipment (heart monitor, bp monitor, oxygen monitor, etc). So Shannon made me feel like, well, if the ultrasound didn’t show a cyst (or something wrong) then I guess it must be all in my head.  I left that office like a dog that had just been scolded. She did a pap smear and the one positive was that she sent me to have my blood drawn to see just where my hormones were (why I was only having a period twice a year).
Like I said, fabulous staff, but she made me feel like I was a moron.

“Ultrasounds Don’t Lie!” I will never forget that. And luckily, I would soon meet an Ob/Gyn who did assure me that yes, ultrasounds do lie, and they can lie quite often! 

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