How open are open appointments?

The last time I saw Dr J, we decided to leave a follow-up open until after the CT. After eventually having to go private to get the requested type of scan, I picked up the MRI report sent to my GP (for some unknown reason, they wouldn’t send me a copy directly even after I was the one who paid for the damn thing), which confirmed nothing unusual showing up on the abdominal scans.

I hand-delivered a copy of the MRI report plus a covering letter, requesting a follow-up appointment (as agreed in January) and attempts to explain my observations over the past couple of years (including my observations of the short-lived changes I experienced after the Dexamethasone test) and suggesting a trial treatment with a low dose of Dexamethasone or other similar corticosteroids to confirm whether or not the steroid actually had a positive effect as I suggest or if the benefits I saw were coincidence as Dr J maintains.

I’m not confident that Dr J will accept this suggestion, but given that my experience suggests a stress-related component to my abdominal pain I simply cannot rule out an adrenal cause to my condition – there are just too many symptoms that fit a pattern of possible adrenal dysfunction for me to let this one go.

Besides, I really don’t think I am depressed and I don’t accept that my weight is anything but a symptom of a greater problem, which really needs to be investigated. If I could find any photos of me as a 60kg student, I’d happily include them in the information I give doctors at a consultation. I want my views to be fully documented in my notes (call me paranoid, but at the moment, I don’t feel they are being taken seriously during the consultation, so I want to ensure that my discontent is properly noted now in case I am ever proved right)

The receptionist at Anytown hospital assures me I should receive a response to my letter within a week. Experience tells me not to believe a word. Three weeks and several phone calls to Dr J’s secretary later, I eventually get an appointment.

~ by me on 13 April 2005.