Idiot "Doctors"

Some doctor's may have their medical licensure, but that doesn't mean some still aren't idiots, at least as far as I'm concerned. I've had the privilege of meeting many of them.

So this fun story began Saturday night and into early Sunday. We had a great evening Saturday night. Kevin's Dad, Step-Mom and sister wanted to come hang out with us and bring dinner over, which was totally awesome, so we ate, had dessert, played a board game and had some good conversation. The night was great and I felt great. They left about 11pm and we didn't end up in bed until about 1am and by 6am I was awoken by lots of pain in my lower abdomen. So much so that I couldn't go back to sleep. Maybe because I was just plain worried about where the pain was stemming from.  At this point I couldn't really discern what the pain felt more similar to, period cramps or UTI pain, I was too groggy from my slumber. I just knew it was painful and it was different.

By the time morning came I was still feeling uncomfortable. I had no spotting or bleeding or anything like that, and at this point it didn't really feel like full on uterine cramps, it felt more like bladder infection pains. I have only had a couple bladder infections in my life, but you never forget what they feel like. So I got up for the day, drank about 40 oz of water in a short time, and felt some relief. It was Sunday afternoon but Kevin really wanted me to call the doctor's after-hours number. I eventually did and the on-call nurse practitioner said that she did not want to wait to rule out a UTI until Monday so she asked me to go to a Care Now or something similar to get a urinalysis done to see if I have an infection. She said pregnancy makes women more susceptible to getting urinary tract infections.  She went on to say that on Monday they would bring me in for a recheck on my cervix JUST TO MAKE SURE there were no issues with it shortening. I felt totally comfortable with this plan and wasn't overly concerned at this point. I have great trust in my doctor's team and their expertise. After all, I did interview tons of new OB's, sought out personal and professional recommendations before choosing the OB  I have. She came highly recommended in the medical community and among friends, so  I feel certain I made a great choice.

Anyway, by the time I get off the phone on Sunday with the nurse practitioner, it's 5:30pm, Care Now closes at 5pm on Sunday's. So I hit the world wide web and found there is a free standing 24 hour ER with a Care Now concept not too far from the house. Kevin was not feeling well all day so I told him there was no need for him to tag along, I would just go by myself. I called the ER place before going to confirm they accepted my insurance, to make sure they could perform something as simple as a UA, and to also ask how long the wait was. There was virtually no wait, they accept our insurance and they said it would be no problem to screen for a UTI. So I headed in.

 I filled out paper work and was called back within 15 minutes. I was thinking this was a great sign! The nurse takes me back and asks all the normal questions, I explain why I'm there, what I'm experiencing,  and I was then left to wait on the doctor. He walks in and immediately wants to confirm that I'm 19 weeks pregnant. I say yes and his response was to tell me I was in the wrong location for treatment. I tell him I called before I came and I simply need a urinalysis and I would follow up with my OB for all care regarding my pregnancy the following morning. I tell him I was sent by my OB's nurse practitioner and a urinalysis is all I need.

He listens to my breath sounds and asks me to tell him what I have been feeling. I tell him I'm feeling a sharp pain above my pubic bone but no actual cramping. This was the sum of his physical exam. He tells me this does not sound like a UTI and that it sounds like an issue with the baby. He then tells me he needs to do a vaginal exam and a sonogram. I promptly decline. ( Like I'm going to let this butt head whom I'm not sure isn't just a pervert trying to take a look at the goods and who has no OB expertise feel my cervix. I think not!) He then tells me that he has been an ER doctor for 18 years and  this looks like something bad happening with the baby and it looks like I may be miscarrying. He then asks if the baby has been moving a lot. I tell him I can't really discern fetal movement yet. He stops what he's doing, looks straight at me and says, " This is very worrisome. You should absolutely be able to feel fetal movements at 19 weeks." I tell him this is not true. I am a first time mom and I have an anterior placenta both of which cause delayed discernment of fetal movement. I then tell him I go in for regular sonograms, one of which was 6 days ago and all was normal. He again stops what he's doing, looks up at me with a questioning look and says, " So the baby was fine? Are you sure? Did you see it move? And your OB said everything looked good on the sonogram?" At this point I'm very irritated and totally seeing that this guy is just a jerk and he has not an ounce of tact or sensitivity.

He again tries to convince me he needs to do a vaginal exam because he really thinks something is wrong with the baby.  I decline and tell him that I will leave all care regarding my pregnancy or my baby to my specialist and I will accept any inherent risks and wait until the morning to see my OB. He then says before he will treat me...what treatment??...he will need to call my OB on the phone. I say, " Sure, go ahead, I just spoke with her about an hour ago. She told me to have you call her if there were any problems."

I wait again..the doctor never returns the rest of the visit. But after his phone call with my OB's nurse practitioner I hear him bad mouthing and talking in a derogatory manner about me and my nurse practitioner to his nurse on the other side of my exam room's closed door! Really?!  My urine dipstick test came back negative for signs of a UTI, but apparently, my nurse practitioner asked him to go ahead and prescribe me a certain antibiotic  to clear a UTI as a precaution because urine dipstick tests are infamously inaccurate when looking for UTI's. For a more accurate test, we will have to wait three days for my urine to be sent to the lab and cultured. No biggie.

The nurse returns with my prescription and discharge instructions. My diagnosis was listed as "threatened miscarriage" and I was told to " show up at my OB's office on Monday morning and to not eat or drink after midnight so my OB could take me into surgery and place my cervical cerclage." I knew they had no idea what the heck they were talking about, so I just took the paper and left. But before exiting I stopped by the front desk to make sure I didn't need to take care of anything else before leaving. The front desk clerk's last statement to me, " I sure hope you get to feeling better. We will be emailing you a survey. We would love to know what your thoughts are of your experience today!" So I exclaimed as loud as I could without sounding too weird, " Oh, absolutely, I would love to fill out the survey and give feedback!"

So I left to get my antibiotics filled and I once again called the nurse practitioner back to confirm what the plan was for the next day as the ER nurse gave me some outlandish instructions and told me they came directly from my nurse practitioner. Like I assumed, all of what they said, all the alarming stuff about the baby to my discharge instructions were all bogus.

Idiots find me, I swear. You better bet I'll be filling out that dang survey and I already put a review on their Google page.

I just can't believe this doctor was so insensitive as to tell a first-time mom all of these alarming things. Thank God I have a clue and know what the heck is really going on or he would have totally freaked me out!