Misdiagnosis by the Doctor

[janey99]

no doctor would tell a patient that. think your neighbor is exaggerating. even the worst doctor would never do that.

Hmmm, sorry to prove you wrong, but a doctor said that very thing to me about my son.

Our ped referred us to an orthopedist after she noticed a bump on my son's knee joint. The ortho did an ultrasound and an MRI, called us into the office a couple of days later and said "Your son has a cancerous tumor in his leg. Here is the name of the best doctor I know at Sloan Kettering." He gave us our films and a report where he detailed exactly why he made the "diagnosis." He forwarded his report also to SK.

After 3 of the most excruciating weeks waiting in my life, we went to see the doctor at SK, who is, in fact, one of the world's experts in pediatric cancers in long bones. The ortho's report had been so convincing (and SK did not have the films, we brought them with us) that the doctor started our visit by detailing his protocol for bone tumor biopsy and possible amputation during the same surgery should on the spot examination of the biopsy reveal cancer. I will never forget hearing "Then I write my name on the leg in ink, so we are certain to reduce the correct leg . . ." It was horrible.

After the intial discussion, the doctor looked at the films, and started faltering. He read the report again, looked at the films, back and forth. Finally, he said, these pictures are not matching up with this report - I'm not seeing this at all. He did a simple test on my son in the office, which he said made the bump look to him like a cyst. It was near the end of the day, but he called over to the hospital for Special Surgery and immediately scheduled my son for an ultrasound with the head of radiology over there. We ran up the east side of NYC, with my DH carrying my son, just so we could get there in time. The ultrasound at HSS revealed that the bump was a complicated cyst. None of the artifacts that the ortho described in his report were visible to any other doctor. He was totally out and out wrong.

So yes, a doctor would say that to a patient, and he doesn't have to be someone who's obvious as the "worst doctor in the world" - he can be a well respected and often referred doctor in a suburb of NYC!

Jane

 

[rainydayplay]

Turned out to be Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and she's suffered so long that her thyroid no longer functions. She's one sick kid (hopefully on the mend now).

I'd never heard of Hashimoto's before, but I'm finding out that quite a few people I know actually have it.

My grandmother is hypothyroid, and my dad had Graves' disease. When he was diagnosed with that (and it took forever before they realized what he had -- it was at the point he was shaking so badly he couldn't feed himself and the doctors thought he had Parkinson's), I'd read that Graves' can cause mitral valve prolapse (which I have). I went to my GP, told her my family hisotry and concerns about my MVP. The first test, my thyroid was over-active and I had "lupus antibodies". (Google that and see how you feel being told you might have lupus.) In a month, I went back to find my thyroid underproducing and the lupus antibodies were gone (and, I'd gained a whole 7 pounds for no good reason in that month...). I was on thyroid medication for a month or two, then quit my job and lost my insurance, and couldn't go back for all of the expensive blood work to stay on the thyroid medication. Three years passed before I could get back on it, and, so far, I seem okay. My endo doesn't understand why the GP that originally diagnosed me didn't tell me it was Hashimoto's, but that's okay.

It may take a while before your daughter's thyroid medication is perfect, but, if everything is right in that respect, she should feel better. I'd point you in the direction of the Thyroid Thread here on the Dis if you haven't found it already. Personally, it makes my problem feel pretty insignificant -- many of the regular posters there have had thyroid cancer, and my paltry little auto-immune disorder doesn't compare to that.

Good luck, and I hope she feels better soon!

 

[Heidict]

Yes, there are doctors out there who have no bed side manner and have no idea how to deliver bad news to a patient. I have worked in the medical field for over 15 years and I have seen both. Maybe that is what happened to my neighbor, however, I am more inclined to believe that he probably said "it might be cancer". Maybe he heard it wrong or maybe he was embellishing for drama's sake.

I think I was more in shock that the doctor couldn't diagnose a simple case of tonsillitis. Maybe it presented in some strange way, but generally that is something that is pretty obvious. At least you would think that he would see it and give him a course of antibiotics before mentioning cancer.

Sorry to hear the stories on this thread. Some of them where just heart wrenching.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Better than what happend to my BIL. He went to his ENT for 2 years with a raspy voice. The last thing that ENT told my sister (when they decided to get a second opinion) was "I don't know why you're so worried, it's not going to kill him." Two years later, it did. My sister found out later that the doctor billed the insurance company for scoping his throat. If the doctor had actually done that when he billed it, my BIL might be alive.

I am so sorry to hear this.

Another reminder that WE must be our own advocates, go with your gut!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

no doctor would tell a patient that. think your neighbor is exaggerating. even the worst doctor would never do that.

Oh yes they would.....

You know what they call the person that finished LAST in their medical school class...


DOCTOR!!!

Should be "the person that *graduated* last..." Just finishing last doesn't mean they graduated. (or, to make my brother's AP English class happy, "was graduated" and "were graduated" can be substituted in those sentences)



OP I was relating this story to DH, who has had some serious problems completely overlooked, ignored, and had refusals to look further, because they decided that the problems were caused because he's too heavy. THREE YEARS of MDs and NDs ignoring him. We like to say that he *had to* develop a sudden onset diabetes in order to get him to an endocrinologist who would FINALLY do the simple simple bloodwork (simple! and cheap! and our insurance paid almost all of what was charged for it!) that would diagnose the pituitary tumor. Changed his diet, no more diabetes, but he's still workin' on the tumor.

Anyway, I told DH, and he said "maybe the guy had never seen a tonsil before, and thought it was a tumor?" And ya know, it could be true. Or he could never have seen a truly inflamed tonsil, or a tonsil with gunk on it (as they'll do, when trying to stop illnesses from going further..tonsils are helpful things, sure am sad I had them ripped out!).

Anyway, that was Dh's gut instinct, when hearing your neighbor's story.

 

[lemondog]

Mother's Day weekend 2005. Friday night I developed an extremely high fever and it felt like every single muscle in my body had been pulled. I went to the walk-in clinic on Saturday morning and they drew blood, told me they had no idea, but if it got any worse to go to the ER. Sunday my extremities started tingling and feeling numb, so off we went to the ER. More blood was drawn, the doctor told me not to worry, they just had to rule out the very serious things like leukemia, potassium level issues, etc. While waiting on the bloodwork, the nurse came in, sat down, took my hand and said "I know what you've got. You've got lupus. I know because I have it and this is how is flares up." Well the doctor came back and said the bloodwork was normal, and I told her what the nurse said. She said the nurse should not have said that, but I needed to see my PCP that week to get more of a workup.

So I went to my internist on Monday. He looked at my bloodwork, did a quick exam, and said "You don't have lupus, you have a virus." He did run some more bloodwork just to rule out lupus, and sure enough it was all normal. I had gotten a virus from my 1yo that barely made a dent on her, but had me flat on my back in the hospital.

I still to this day hope that nurse was reprimanded for her on-the-fly diagnosis.

 

[phillmolly]

In Nov of 2004, I went to the Dr. complaining about a lump under my arm and some weird bumps in my neck, I spent about 10 min with my Dr, he was asking me how I had been feeling lately, was I sleeping more than usual, did I feel tired all the time, was I losing weight, ect. After a few minutes he said I needed to go get a chest x-ray and maybe a CT scan...I started to get nervous at that point and I asked what he thought might be wrong, he kinda side stepped my questions but I could tell he had something in mind, so I point blank asked if he thought I could have cancer. His answer was, yes, I think you might have lymphoma. Of course I freaked out, went home got my DH and we went and had the x-rays and scans done. The next day we went back to see the Dr. and I had multiple swollen lymph nodes in my chest and neck. The Dr. had already made the appt with the oncologist and the surgeon for the biopsy. I went to my PCP on Tue, had surgery on Fri and know by Fri afternoon that I had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I had my first chemo less than two weeks after my first Dr.'s visit.

I was very, very, very lucky! Most people with Hodgkin’s, especially a 30 year old woman, spend weeks if not months waiting to get the right diagnosis. And we all know the faster you can start fighting the cancer the better! I am so grateful to my Dr. that he thought zebra instead of horses, that he didn't just dismiss my swollen lymph nodes as an infection and send me away with antibiotics!

Of course, we will get upset with a incorrect diagnosis, and we feel angry that we may have spent a few days or even weeks thinking the worse, but really what would you rather happen, think it might be the worst, but the find out they were wrong and everything will be fine, or, be told everything is fine and then find out when it is too late that something is terribly wrong?

 

[ryanshana]

My uncle went for a prostate test (just his regular testing).....They came back w/ the bad news that it was cancerous. That he needed to have his prostate removed and undergo radiation. He goes for the surgury to get his prostate removed. Everything was going well. Calls to get the radiation appts start. They asked him to come in. Yep, the lab mixed up the blood work he didn't have cancer it was some other results. My uncle's first concern was for the guy that DID have the cancer and that he had been living w/ it w/o knowing for 6ish months.

 

[arminnie]

Of course, we will get upset with a incorrect diagnosis, and we feel angry that we may have spent a few days or even weeks thinking the worse, but really what would you rather happen, think it might be the worst, but the find out they were wrong and everything will be fine, or, be told everything is fine and then find out when it is too late that something is terribly wrong?

I'd so much rather have a doctor that tests for something that is not there than one who doesn't test for something that is there.

I made 3 trips to ER with gallbladder. It was classic symptoms. My hairdresser ended up diagnosing it. Lots of you on the boards could have told me it was my gallbladder. By the third day they wouldn't even give me pain relief. I was in AGONY for about 6-7 hours.

The doctor went out and told my father and sister that I must have mental problems as nothing was wrong with me. I kept begging for a sonogram to test the gallbladder. Finally I got one. Boy did they get me meds in quickly. But I ended up being hospitalized for 2 weeks for something that should have been outpatient surgery, and I ended up with 4 months of recuperation. (and yes you can die from a burst gallbladder just like an appendix).

 

[Debbie7452]

My PCP once called me after getting some wacky blood test results and told me he thought I had full blown leukemia. I was sent for an emergency visit to the oncologist. I could hear in my doctor's voice that he was VERY worried for me. He turned out to be wrong, thank goodness! I wasn't upset with him, mostly because I didn't believe him. Yes, I was very ill, but I didn't feel sick enough to be on death's doorstep.

It ended up that I was having a prolonged allergic immune reaction to some antibiotics I had taken. It was bizarre and not what allergic reactions normally look like so I don't fault the doctor's too much for not figuring it out.