Seriously?!?!

Ever since walking thru the door of Altru in GF last Thursday, I feel like I have entered the "twilight zone" of the medical world. Absolutely every dealing I've had with them has left me dumbfounded. I'm hoping I've dealt with the last of such antics, but I have a feeling that is not the case.

They called this morning asking me to forward my Mammogram and Ultrasound films from Mayo to them. Sure, no problem... I contacted Mayo and had it taken care of in a matter of minutes. Then later, I started thinking, "Why do they need my breast mammograms and ultrasounds, if they are doing an axillary (arm pit) lymph node ultrasound and biopsy?". Oh well, no worries... they will have the films and that is what they wanted. Fast forward about 3 hours and I get another call from yet another department at Altru asking me to get them my mammogram and ultrasound films from Mayo. After explaining to them that I had already received a phone call requesting those films (they had no clue I'd already been contacted) and had already taken care of it, I proceeded to ask why they needed them. They said they wanted them for doing my left BREAST ultrasound and biopsy. Seriously?!?!

Ok, I wouldn't expect just everyone I talk to to know that I received a double mastectomy, but I do expect a medical facility that has had my medical records forwarded to them concerning my breast cancer treatment and that is taking over my medical care for breast cancer to know that I had a double mastectomy. So I proceeded to explain the fact to the caller that I was supposed to be getting an AXILLARY ultrasound and possible biopsy, and that I had just gotten a double mastectomy. They had no clue!

I have a feeling I know how this misunderstanding started. It started with our Oncologist's poor handwriting. He wrote down the orders for the axillary ultrasound and biopsy and then handed them off to a nurse to schedule. While we were standing there waiting for the nurse to schedule the appointments we overheard her setting up an appointment for a breast ultrasound and biopsy. We corrected her and said it was Axillary. She kind of gave us a funny look, stared at the docs handwriting and said "huh, is that what that says?" and continued on making our appointments. So apparently either, A) she didn't believe us (and didn't take the time to verify), or B) she didn't care enough to go back and change the mistake she had made.

So I have a feeling that when I show up for my Ultrasound on Thursday they will be expecting to ultrasound my nonexistent breast.