I have a lot of gynecological history that I skim over to medical folks: “Numerous gynecological procedures, complete hysterectomy in 19XX.” This seems to satisfy just about everyone, and certainly eliminates the “could you be pregnant” question.
I also for every doctor visit bring a printout of all my medications. This saves everyone a lot of time.
I do this too-in fact, I keep a copy for everybody in the family in my wallet for emergencies. It came in handy when we were in a car accident. I was pretty rattled, and it was great to be able to hand the EMT a list instead of trying to recall my son’s ten meds while calming him down. When it’s something planned like a surgery I make a bunch of copies and hand them out when anyone asks.
Somebody upthread said they sometimes get a bad reaction from doctors. The worst reaction I’ve gotten is a neutral thank you. Mostly they’re thrilled.
You give one of those printed Rx lists to the ER folks, they practically WEEP with joy! And EMTs are overwhelmed with gratitude!
I take the printout to ALL my doctor visits, and the MTs doing vitals love it. Hint: list all medications by both brand name and generic name.
~VOW
And what condition you’re taking it for, if you have more than one. My first husband had numerous conditions and some of his drugs were not for obvious things, or were ambiguous. His beta-blocker was for his heart rate, not his blood pressure, for example.
Just to add to the party - I’ve noticed a much better reception to my allergy list when I started listing the symptoms:
Eat X, get hives
Eat Y, get stomach upset and rash within 48 hours
Eat Z, get stomach upset, vomiting, diarrhea, hives, difficulty breathing, wheezing and a trip to the ER.
I guess it lends some credibility. Also, I’m well aware that there are times, with extremely serious matters, when a mild allergic reaction might allow for a treatment whereas an extremely serious one will not.
I still occasionally get the stink-eye regarding The List but the world is imperfect. Sure, sure, sometimes I’m told “Y” isn’t a real allergy, it’s an intolerance (or whatever) but really, either way, I shouldn’t be eating it, right?
I also answered it itn the next line.
Point being that folks there to do their fellowships will not be there when I really do need the next stage.
All they can do is sit there, stare at my charts, ask dumb questions, and generally vamp until a permanent staff member can find 3 minutes to pop in and determine there is not reason for me to be there.
So sorry about your mother - this is not a fun situation, and I am still (sorta) functional).
Thanks for the term “fistula” - I had forgotten it, and didn’t want to spend another hour on Google to find an article which had reson to use the term.
Being on SS disability (osteoarthritis), maybe there will be fewer hoops to jump to get Medicare (attn GOP: Keep you’re damned hands off - not all of use have the money or the foresight to cover it).
I am beyond the age where I get asked The Pregnancy Question.
One sort of cool thing about being That Age: They get a clue and stop asking you ridiculous questions about your pregnancy status.
Yes!!
Link to original blog post. The rest of the post is just as funny.
When I went in for my knee replacement, I printed the chart and taped it to the hospital room wall, under the TV. The nurses loved it.
“Abstinence?” :dubious:
This thread is all over the place now but I thought I’d share my amusing “are you pregnant?” story.
I went to have a procedure (upper GI scope) that required anesthesia. They had asked me about pregnancy and knew I am on The Pill but they needed me to sign a paper that said I was taking responsibility for the fact that I wasn’t pregnant without giving me a test. They didn’t give me the paper to sign, and I was whisked into the procedure room.
The anesthesiologist was going over his checklist and noted I hadn’t signed the paper, but then also noted that my history said I have PCOS so he said “Oh, you have PCOS, so you probably can’t get pregnant anyway” or something sort of dismissive (but not entirely rude) like that, and told the nurse I didn’t need to sign the paper.
Now me, I have absolutely no plans to ever be pregnant and the thought repulses me, and most days would rather not have any girly bits at all. But for a minute there I got all indignant and was like “No, having PCOS doesn’t mean I can’t get pregnant! I can get pregnant any time I want!” and made them get me the paper to sign.
It was uncharacteristic of me and amusing.