The first person I blame for this mess is my mother. I have been whining about my IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irritable_bowel_syndrome) for months now, so she suggested I ask my primary care provider (Mark Press at Mosaic Medical) about the problems. I was diagnosed with IBS at least 10 years by a doctor in the Portland area that I no longer see.
I do NOT include my mother as one of the dumb people.
I asked my FNP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_practitioner) about my IBS; because he was not the medical professional that diagnosed me he wanted me to have a colonoscopy to rule out any other issues such as polyps, hemorrhoids, colon cancer, or diverticulosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diverticulosis). He also cut my Metformin dosage because long term use of Metformin can cause bowel discomfort, flatulence, and very loose bowels (also all symptoms of IBS)
I do NOT include Mark Press as one of the dumb people.
The referral for the colonoscopy was sent to Advanced Specialty Care. They were sent a list of all medications I am currently taking (Metformin, Warfarin [Coumadin], Levothyroxine, Iron, Niacin, Metroprolol Tartrate, Crestor, Citalopram, Hydrochlorothiazide, Calcium, and Lovostatin). They followed up with me over the phone to make sure that the list of medications was complete and they also asked me how much I weighed.
The colonoscopy was scheduled for Tuesday May 10 and the person I talked to told me that I needed to stop taking my Warfarin at least 5 days before the procedure, so I called my coagulation nurse (in the same office as my FNP) to tell her what was going on. She got approval from my insurance company for generic Lovenox to ‘bridge’ the 5 days I needed to be off my Warfarin and as far as we knew all systems were go.
My first clue that things were not going to go smoothly was that my packet of information from Advanced Specialty Care did not show up until Saturday May 7 (on Friday May 6 I had called to say that the packet had not shown up so they had me come in to pick up the information and a free box [2 doses] of SuPrep; normally that would have cost my insurance company at least $80.00).
On May 5, I stopped my Warfarin tablets and started giving myself Lovenox injections in the abdomen as instructed
On Monday May 9 at around 8 am I started with a liquid diet (water, soda, Arizona green tea/lemonade mixed, any Jell-o that wasn’t red, chicken broth, beef broth, etc).
At 12:00 noon I poured the first bottle of SuPrep into the provided cup and filled said cup with the required amount of cold tap water.
I drank the nasty stuff and the additional recommended 16 ounces of water; at approximately 1:30 pm Advanced Specialty Care staff called to tell me that they could not do the procedure because of my weight and because I was on blood thinners (Warfarin) and needed to have a consultation with the doctor who would be doing the procedure. They had known about my weight and my medications for close to three weeks at the time they made this call.
By this time I was cramping and had already defecated at least 6 times. By the end of the day I stopped counting trips to the bathroom. I might as well have lived in the bathroom!
I do include EVERYBODY at Advanced Specialty Care as DUMB people!
They led me to believe that the procedure was being rescheduled for Thursday May 12.
I called Charlene (my coagulation nurse at Mosaic Medical) and told her that the procedure had been cancelled and rescheduled. She was almost as unhappy as I was because I was going to need more Lovenox. Normally the Lovenox has to be ordered through Express Scripts for my insurance (PacificSource Community Solutions aka Oregon Health Plan) to cover it but because of the time pressure it had to be ordered through WalMart — so she had to do battle with my insurance company to get them to cover the additional injections.
I do NOT include Charlene as one of the dumb people!
Advanced Specialty Care called me again on Wednesday May 11 to confirm the appointment for the 12th. It turned out that the appointment was simply for the consultation with Dr Diamond. So I had to call Charlene again, she had to get even more Lovenox for me.
She also called Advanced Specialty Care to find out what had happened. They had the nerve to tell her that it was my fault because I had never told them I was off my blood thinners (Warfarin). They had never ever mentioned that I needed to tell them that in the first place.
So I have my consultation with Dr Diamond on Thursday May 12 and again apparently all systems are go for the procedure being done at St Charles Medical Center (our local hospital) on Tuesday May 17.
So bowel cleaning started again at noon on Monday May 16 — I poured the first bottle of SuPrep into the provided cup and filled said cup with the required amount of cold tap water. At 6 pm on the same day I poured the second bottle of Suprep into the provided cup and filled said cup with the required amount of cold tap water. I was required to drink another 32 ounces of cold tap water after drinking the second dose of SuPrep. After probably 20 trips to the bathroom I went to bed.
I was only allowed clear liquids again on May 17. About an hour before I was supposed to be at the hospital I received a call from the hospital. They were refusing to do the procedure because Dr Diamond had failed to set up the proper anesthesia when ordering the procedure. By this point I was really starting to lose my temper.
Finally the stupid procedure was rescheduled for Wednesday May 18. I was told to continue the clear liquid diet for the remainder of Tuesday, and then on Wednesday I couldn’t have anything to eat or drink after 5:15 am.
By the time I actually was wheeled into the operating room on Wednesday, I had not eaten anything other than clear liquids for nearly 3 days.
On Thursday June 2, I find out that Dr Diamond said that the bowel prep was inadequate. I can tell you who I think is inadequate–Dr Diamond and the entire staff at Advanced Specialty Care.
If I am ever scheduled for ANY procedure in the future, and Dr Diamond and/or anyone from Advanced Specialty Care is involved in any way I will refuse to have the procedure done.
IMO, so-called medical professionals should not blame the patient for their screwups. IMO, so-called medical professionals should remember to set up the anesthesia in advance. IMO, so-called medical professionals should not bitch about inadequate bowel preparation when their incompetence caused the procedure to be rescheduled numerous times.
By the end of this whole mess, my INR was very low (due to being off my Warfarin for nearly two weeks) and my abdomen was bruised, swollen, red, hot, and itchy from over 20 Lovenox injections. My abdomen was so itchy irritated and sore that I was given a prescription cream to heal the irritation
Am I impressed with Advanced Specialty Care? I DON’T THINK SO!!
Thanks for that informative post. It is pleasant to read a blog post that seemed to be fact checked. I am going to check in more often. Take care!
fantastic content about diarrhea, We really do not fully understand exactly why unfortunately i get diarrhoea at all times. It ought to be linked to my very own diet or sometimes a little something, however thanks a lot for that important information my friend
I don’t know how you contained yourself throughout this ordeal! I’m between my split doses of Suprep now and if I had to do this all over again because of someone else’s inadaquacies … especially my doctors!! … I would be soooo angry!