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!
