Go to the ER, or keep suffering and hope it doesn't get worse...
My abdomen hurts pretty bad and feels tender today, so I'd like to find out the results of a scan I had done, but the doctors won't get back to me. Who knows what could be going on in there, and it seems my only option at the moment is to walk into the hospital ER. The latest in my personal saga, and expose of the almost-nonexistent Canadian healthcare system!
Summary taken from my previous post on this issue:
I've been dealing with abdominal pain for 7 months. It was intermittent and mild at first, but it gradually became worse. Then in January, it got quite bad, and became mixed with a few other symptoms in the same region. Some of those symptoms were worrisome, so I made an appointment to see a doctor. (I don't actually have a family doctor "GP"... I have to see the specialist I was connected to when I had my heart surgery last year.)
Eventually, I saw him briefly. He asked some questions and assessed a few things, then sent me for an ultrasound. This is a very cheap and easy test that can be done almost anywhere, any time for essentially no cost. A few days later, I spent the afternoon at the hospital, to get that scan done. The results were sent to my specialist.
10 days ago later, I hadn't heard back from the doctor about the scan results. The pain and other symptoms were still there. So I called his number and it went right to voicemail. The message said "leave all your personal details" and "give us 3 business days to get back to you".
I eventually got ahold of the doctor's secretary, who informed me the scan had not found anything conclusive. (Great, all that time waiting for it, and a day getting the scan done... "inconclusive".) I had been referred to a surgeon, and would hear back from him by phone. If the scan didn't find anything, why do I need a surgeon? Shouldn't I just go back to the specialist to get a different test ordered? "Maybe the surgeon has some ideas for how to help you", she said. Well, that doesn't sound great, and it's annoyingly vague. But I agreed to speak with the surgeon.
About a week later, I called her back because I hadn't heard from the surgeon. She didn't have his current number, but gave me his name. I looked him up and called his office. An answering machine picked up: "Office hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.." so I hung up.
The next day (Wednesday) I called the surgeon's office just after noon. The answer machine picked up again: "Office hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 9am to 2pm..." Wow, they're available 15 hours a week? I left a message asking them to call me back, but nobody called.
Today (Friday) was my next chance. I decided to call right after 9am before they got too busy. The answering machine message had been changed: "We will be closed until next Wednesday, if you have an emergency go to the ER."
See? That's how it goes, every time. There's a delay and/or a screwup at EVERY step. And there are several steps required just to get any little thing accomplished.
I kid you not, there's very little chance I'm actually going to get to speak with a secretary next Wednesday. If I do, there's very little chance she'll be willing and able to get the doctor to see/call me about my scan results.
I decided to call my specialist again, but only got the machine, with the message "we'll get back to you in 3 business days..."
I did send away a freedom of information act request to get the scan results and interpret them myself, but after a couple weeks I'm still waiting. Who knows if anything will even show up? Sometimes they just don't bother to send it.
Somewhat frustrating to have gone through the scan, and not be informed what it found/didn't find. How long could it possibly take? You'd think if there was something interesting on there, the patient would be told about it immediately. You'd think, anyway...
Even if nothing interesting was seen, shouldn't a different examination or test be done? I'm in pain, and pain means something's wrong. My whole gut doesn't feel right. I'm taking a fair bit of acetaminophen and cannabis for the pain, but even so, it's causing me some (additional) trouble with sleep.
After going through the heart problems and almost dying in 2021-2024, I felt so positive about 2025. Just when I was finally making progress in life again, and getting back on track... this wants to derail things.
I do my best to stay positive, but after my experiences in the last 9 years, and knowing what I know about the healthcare system, the prognosis is guarded.
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DRutter