sumi, glad to hear the scope went well. Diverticulosis can be owie, so glad you went to the ER to have it checked.

I just don't understand making a 70-year-old man with a history of 5 heart attacks wait TWO DAYS to find out what is wrong with the aforementioned (not-well-functioning) heart.

This is so clearly true that it might well be worth your while to go the hospital today to advocate for your dad and get someone to start the tests today. Ugh. I know it sucks. Cody and his family always tried to have a family member nearby when his mom was in the hospital in part to make sure she had an advocate there with her.

I just don't understand making a 70-year-old man with a history of 5 heart attacks wait TWO DAYS to find out what is wrong with the aforementioned (not-well-functioning) heart.

This is so clearly true that it might well be worth your while to go the hospital today to advocate for your dad and get someone to start the tests today.

I'm sure I will later, but I'm still very angry right now, both at the hospital for its fuckery, and also at Dad for passively accepting whatever they tell him. I know that advocating for one's *own* healthcare requires a certain level of healthcare "literacy," if you will, and not everyone possesses that. And my dad is, unfortunately, one of them. So he just accepts what the medical staff tells him, unquestioningly. (Which led to stomach bleeding when they prescribed a drug he was allergic to.)

And I realize that someone who has a low level of healthcare literacy needs MORE advocacy, not less. Which means I need to get over there and start advocating. But I have to get over the rage first.

I agree with Burrell- you may want to get over there and get some answers. Because it is so clearly insane.

ETA: Oops, xpost with your very smart reply, Tep.

I know that advocating for one's *own* healthcare requires a certain level of healthcare "literacy," if you will, and not everyone possesses that.

I think that's also generational, though. I watched it with my grandparents, and with my FiL -- if the person in the white coat says it, then you don't argue.

I wish more doctors would encourage patients to be their own advocates. I wouldn't be taking iron or getting the B12 shots right now if I hadn't asked to be tested.

What even made you ask about that, Amy? I know my grandmother used to get B12 shots and it made me start wondering if it was something to do with diabetes?

I didn't actually ask about the B12 -- I asked to have my iron tested when I had labs drawn, which the doctor wanted for my A1C, etc. (because of the diabetes). I've no energy, like, forever, and I have a bunch of other low-iron symptoms I had no idea *were* low-iron symptoms until I saw something on the Today Show. The low B12 just showed up on the results.

My dad got his low testosterone diagnosed the same way, and that's scary, because untreated it can lead to early-onset Alzheimer's and other things. He read something about it, put it together with the way he was feeling, and asked.

The doctor who failed for a year to diagnose my mother's cancer is presenting at a cancer convention thingamajiggy on diagnosing colon cancer. The plan is to get my mother seated in the front row, and to get up and walk out as soon as he starts to talk.

Talk about requiring a lot of advocacy--and my mother teaches in med school, for fuck's sake. And she's not a shy woman. But she's a bit stoic, so...it works against her. But my father and sister (and eventually her and some extended family) went into full onslaught mode with every doctor and nurse within arm's reach, and it was a thing of beauty.

Shouldn't have needed that much work, though.

It's really scary that it seems nearly impossible to do on your own. I get why she worries so constantly about me. I really do.

Ooh, man.

I think my grandmother would have liked the opportunity to do that to the doctor who misdiagnosed her glaucoma, causing her blindness.

Needing advocacy sucks, because the system should work for people, but it doesn't, and advocacy is super important.

It's really scary that it seems nearly impossible to do on your own.

It's especially hard when you're the patient and it's a crisis situation, not like me wondering why I was so low-energy and lethargic. I just happened to learn to question everything doctors told me through my mom, who had to learn to do that the hard way because of the lupus and its complications.

Anyway, Tep, I hope your dad's okay.

ita !, that's about the same thing that happened with my mom. They went for a hysterectomy before they even thought of a colonoscopy! WTF. Especially since her father had colon cancer in his 50s, successfully operated on, but still, family history. Yeesh.

Car is not done, turns out the front brake calipers are leaking and need replacing ($700) and the water pump is leaking ($400). I get to drive a loaner for a couple of days since the brakes make the car unsafe to drive. And, damn, my credit card is going to take quite a hit. I hope I get a decent amount back on my taxes this year.