Let me update you on my wife's situation. As you know from previous posts (here, here, and here) she has been in and out of the hospital with numbness in the left side of her body. She still has numbness in her arm, although she can function much better this week (as opposed to last week when she was in the hospital).
Many have asked what was the results of the second take of the Cervical (neck and spinal cord) MRI.
As soon as I know, I'll let you know.
Systems are built to allow ease of operations, smooth transitions between stages, constant communication between departments.... or they can make life a living HE(double hockey sticks).
When she was released from the hospital, she was told that she needed to see the hospital neurologist. On Monday, she called the neurologist (er, neurologist's "assistant") who said to call this number and schedule the MRI. And the MRI would have to be quickly because the Neurologist was going on a two week vacation. If the MRI wasn't done quickly, the appointment would have to wait until after Thanksgiving.
The MRI was not available in the timeline necessary, but my wife (who was sick enough to be kept in the hospital for 4 days) does not want to go through Thanksgiving not knowing what was wrong. So, she calls another Neurologist that she saw a couple years ago. He says, "I'd love to see you, and I have plenty of openings. But I'm in the same co-op as [the other Neurologist] so you'll have to get him to release you."
So during Tuesday and Wednesday, my schoolteacher wife has called the Neurologist inbetween every class, and multiple times after school trying to get released so she can get medical attention.
Guess who doesn't check messages/return phonecalls?
It's a shame when systems that are built to help people end up hurting them. It's a failure, not of the people, but of the system they are working under. Unfortunately, it's costing Amy her state of mind during this time.
Pray for my wife. She has dealt with health issues most of her life. Knowing what is going on allows her to process and accept the symptoms. Not knowing what the numbness is, in my estimation, is doing more damage to her than the numbness itself.
I totally understand the situation, my wife Nancy is also suffuring from pain and numbness in her left arm and is getting the run around about "we don't know hats wrong, its a mystery"
So she will be having and MRI on the 15th if they don't cancel and we should know a little more or maybe not. Yes the system does work and the tough part of it is we are helpless.
Calgon take me away.....
Posted by: Oscar Roque | 2007.11.08 at 10:54 AM