Friday, April 10, 2009

"Patient has a small AVM in the brain" Part III

I finally get the radiologist on the phone again after a second holiday weekend, he wants copies of my MRIs from last year. I assumed this was for comparison purposes, so that his report could include what he observed about changes (if any) to my AVM. I bring all my old films up to the hospital, and wait around at the records window for an hour reading some tattered waiting room copy of Family Circle (it's like "Highlights" for adults,) waiting for them to copy my CDs. I ask them to page the radiologist, I am told that he is just a few doors down. He is told that I am waiting for him. 45 minutes later, I am told that the doctor said I did not have to wait, because he was not going to emerge. Considering he probably decided that he was not going to talk to me as soon as he heard I was waiting, taking 45 minutes to intimate this information to me seemed excessive. Several more days pass. My regular doctor (who is a doll) calls me, and tells me that he has the report, and it says......wait for it....."patient has a small AVM in the brain." I was so pissed off I could have eaten nails. This is what I was waiting for? This is what I have just paid god-knows-how-much for a specialist to tell me? Could anything be less precise, or more subjective? It took me less that five minutes to look through the films, with no medical training, to determine that "Patient" indeed had an AVM in the brain. Two weeks later, the only new information that I have is that said AVM is "small." Well, great! Thanks for your expertise, but the only "small" AVM is the one that is inside someone elses' brain. All other AVM's are a pretty big deal.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I had an avm. In 2009 it ruptured I was in acoma for6 weeks 3 braiin surgeries avm could not be surgically repaired because of its location it was a small bleed. After 69 days in the hospital and 1.5 million dollars later I made a complete recovery