By Nanette, OMB reader
Hello Ms. Cecile and Ms. Annie,
When I saw the the hospital name (DLSU-UMC), all I said is oh oh.. i hope they did the right thing…why? It’s because early this year my 11 year old son was rushed to UMC due to severe stomach pain. At the ER after the interview and the usual procedure they gave enema to my son to clean his stomach then they gave pain reliever. They wanted to confine our son for further observation but we refused and promised them that if the pain recurred i’ll bring back my son again so i signed a waiver.
The next day before getting dark we went back to the hospital, he’s in pain again. This time at the ER, the assistant surgeons’ diagnosis is that he has an appendicitis that needs removal. Biglang me nagflash back na story from my officemate sa kin na tungkol sa junior surgeon nyang kaibigan…ang kwento..when the junior surgeon came across into a similar situation like this from one of his patient in the past he thought that the patient is suffering from constipation but his superior said that it was an appendicitis and need to be operated. So they did appendectomy procedure only to find out na hindi namamaga yung appendix nung patient but they still removed it kasi wala din namang silbi yun at mapapahiya lang sila…haist.. So what i did is i refused to my have my son undergo laparoscopic procedure. I asked the doctors how sure are they that it is indeed an acute appendicitis? They said, the symptoms are there. Then i told them, other than stomach pain i see no other symptoms…no fever, no unable to walk or legs hurting..and they said some patients are like that…still i refused. I asked them to do all other procedures like ultrasound and ct scan to make sure that it is really appendicitis. This time, my son was admitted to the hospital while waiting for schedule of ultrasound and ct scan the following day. He underwent two types of ultrasound and a ct scan.
Hallelujah! No appendicitis seen, only one big pupooh na nakabara sa intestine ang nakita. Lots of liquid, pampapupo at soft diet lang ang katapat! Imagine, if i gave that consent for the operation eh di walang kalaban laban ang anak ko at baka nabutas pa ang bulsa ko sa pinapahandang 80K to 100K. Only 50K lang covered ng health insurance nya. Nung mag rounds na yung surgeon nya ang sabi lang, nakaligtas ang 100 mo misis….Syetttt! gusto ko syang sakalin pero i smiled na lang…nye nye nye nyeee…bwiset.
Moral lesson….kayo na ang bahalang humusga.
Praying for your speedy recovery Ms. Annie!
#wrongmedicaldiagnosis #speedyrecovery #notappendicitis
Nanette, your story gave me stomach pains. What if they took out the wrong organ from my body? I am beginning to feel depressed.
Good morning Ms. Annie and Nanette!
Ms. Annie, if Kaiser did various tests po (CT, ultrasound, etc.) na SOP naman na po these days hindi naman siguro po sila nagkamali sa tinanggal na part ng inyong biliary system. I had similar thoughts/apprehensions before and after the operation. Kinailangan ko lang po ma-reassure na I made the right decision (to have it removed) lalo na habang nagpapagaling po ako. Like what I wrote in my FB comment (to OMB’s blog post) several tests were done. And those tests/examinations were presented by the doctors before they asked for my final decision. Besides the surgeon showed the gall bladder to my husband (I was still sleeping after the op), and there were crystallizations na, small pa lang pero those small stones may give me a bigger problem if di ko pinatanggal. I remember yong neighbor po namin kala ko me hepa yon pala jaundiced na sya because of her gall bladder problem din and she had it removed na last summer. Tinitiis lang daw nya yong sakit noon. Whew! Di ko kaya yon! Kawawa naman kids ko if ever, saka mahirap pong tiisin yong ganoong klase ng pain, di ko ma-explain sa tindi ng kirot.
Its good po Ms. Nanette na tulad ko basta pag sa anak mausisa. Ayoko rin pong ipinagbabakasakali ang buhay at kaligtasan ng mga anak ko.
Magandang araw po sa ating lahat! 🙂
Hi Cecile,
They tested my blood and scanned (ultrasound lang) my stomach.