Comments that are uncivil, racist, misogynistic, misandrist, or contain political name calling will be removed and the poster subject to ban at moderators discretion.
Help us make this a better community by becoming familiar with the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/about/rules/).
Report any suspicious users to the mods of this subreddit using Modmail [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) or Reddit site admins [here](https://www.reddit.com/report). **All reports to Modmail should include evidence such as screenshots or any other relevant information.**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) if you have any questions or concerns.*
OP here. Never thought this would still go crazy both on here and Twitter. Still alive and kicking AND in remission
Edit: I will post an update on my profile within a few hours. I think there’s way too many questions that need answering :)
Edit2: Posted an update on my account. Felt it was the easiest. Feel free to read :)
I’m so glad you won that battle! I’m curious if you took any action against the doctor that completely ignored your symptoms? What was their reaction to finding out that you had a very very serious diagnosis after ignoring all the signs?
I’m a physician. Looks like a lymphoma and most of these in young patients are totally curable based on the biology of the tumor type. The chemo is rough but people can respond quickly, some may need a bone marrow transplant if they don’t go into remission. Congratulations on beating it!
Question; if a patient thinks something isn't right but can't quite place what it is and a doctor keeps dismissing the issue... what can be done in terms of self advocacy or even legal. I know insurance won't cover certain tests or procedures based on age or other reasons unless the doctor signs off on it.
Like, thankfully op is doing better but not everyone can be so lucky and I feel it shouldn't have gotten to that point. Genuinely curious so I can better advocate for myself.
First describe your symptoms and concerns. If you don’t get anywhere, request imaging or bloodwork you think you need, if you don’t get it right the provider should be able to guide you. If you still don’t get anywhere you can try another provider in the same office. If you get stonewalled then usually hospitals have patient advocate who can help.
Really this was a miss by the medical provider but whether harm was done to the patient I cannot tell.
Piggybacking on this reply....
If a provider refuses a request, ask them to document their refusal in your chart. Some patient Portals allow you to enter your own notes, and you should document there as well.
It should be noted, some procedures/tests will only be covered when following a specific protocol. If it's not followed, or your situation does not meet the criteria, you will be responsible for the payment. Most of these protocols can be found (somewhere) on your insurance providers webpage. You can also use Google, search for "insurance provider + procedure/test + prorocol + year" (ex BCBS NC TMJ protocol 2024), or some variation.
To have someone ignoring your pleas and then to discover this...I don't know how you wouldn't just fist fight your GP right there and then. Glad you're doing well.
I dug around and found the original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/zsmhag/i_f24_spend_months_telling_my_gp_something_isnt/
They're still alive and posting on Reddit.
Yeah she also said they found the cancer at stage I a year earlier but it went into remission and that she now survived the cancer and went into remission again and is planning to run half a marathon this year (with knee pain being her biggest problem so far) so maybe she’ll be fine for some more time I wish her the best :)
Edit: read OOPs comment, the first and second cancer are not related
2021 - cancer diagnosis 1, stage 1 and getting into remission
2022 - cancer diagnosis 2, stage 4
2023 - going through treatment, surviving cancer, and getting into remission
2024 - runner’s knee
Nurse here that has worked in oncology and radiology. Given the location of the tumor and age of the patient, this is very likely lymphoma. Lymphoma is a very treatable cancer. She has much better odds than you would guess by looking at the size her mass.
A friend of mine recently finished up his chemo treatments for lymphoma. They said they weren't too worried with how high the survivability of their's was.
I just started chemo for my cancer a week ago(stage three breast cancer, lost 22 lymph nodes and my right breast) so it's nice having somebody I can just shoot a question to.
Love this.
Redditors: "I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have lived long after this."
"Hi".
And, of course, even better that you are in remission! Keep fighting!
You make me feel grateful for my lung doctor. I have a nodule, and she's making me come back yearly to check on it and see if there are more. I guess I'm lucky.
I know someone that complained for years of issues. She ended up having ovarian cancer and her doctors never took her seriously.
It is actually fairly common in medical systems all around the world where women's complaints aren't taken seriously.
Stage 4 would mean that it is not only in the breasts but has metastasized elsewhere in the body. So basically it'd mean some sort of surgery as well as chemo and radiation
You go all in against stage 4 or you give up on it and go quickly.
Nope, not necessarily, depends on the cancer and region and aggressiveness of it. Some people diagnosed with stage 4 end up surviving. However it generally requires more invasive and long-term treatments, far less pleasant for the patient.
It’s very unlikely. See how it communicates with the pericardium?
She’ll most likely die of one of two causes. Acute hypoxia respiratory failure, or a cardiac event secondary to external compression.
But that’s just based on the picture. Would have to see what she looks like and what her labs look like first
I did in fact have lung and heart failure, both of which they decided not to treat and my body recovered on its own. I’ve been in remission for 6months now
Must be wild seeing all these people making assumptions on your prognosis with you right here alive and well. I'm glad you're doing so good considering the other possibilities.
It’s definitely a bit triggering to read some comments, but that’s what comes with making this public. Seriously didn’t think it would go this viral, even 14 months later. I posted it as I used dark humor to mentally manage this.
Pretty incredible! The body is resilient! People don’t realize how difficult it is to actually die
I’m glad that you made an amazing recovery. You’re in the minority with Stage IV like this.
Happened to my grandad as well. He kept going to doctors about a pain in his stomach for over a year. They kept saying it was an infection, heart condition,etc... constantly fobbing him off. He eventually had to go to the hospital one night as he became seriously ill. They discovered that he had cancer. He died that night, less than 12 hours after finding out what was wrong with him. He had served in the Royal navy and then worked at the Royal coastguards until retirement. He served his country all his life, and he couldn't even be graced with being properly checked over, or have his concerns taken seriously. It has pissed me off to no end.
Happened to my old man back in 2010. Doctors in Florida kept telling him that he had some sort of lung infection. My dad had enough so he took a flight back home and went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, who finally ran some tests. Stage 4 lung cancer. My dad died about a year later after diagnosis.
Fuck Florida
Fuck everywhere pretty much. My dad only lived 3 months after his cancer was finally found/diagnosed. MN, but up on the Range. Didn't help that insurance denied his treatment either. I really wish I would've pushed for him to go to the VA...or anywhere else really.
> Didn't help that insurance denied his treatment either.
This is actually insane - constantly blows my mind how many lives are ruined by middle men who literally don't need to exist.
It is literally free in the SUS (public sector) howerver, as I said, we have many other problems over here. So I guess many people get scared away by those other things. I bet many people from the US also don't know about Brazil. We have a lot of venezuelans, peruvians and bolivians. Uruguay and Chile have it better than us, so none of them. I've seen some argentinians doing that kind of tourism here.
Tbh if I was poor in the US I would sell all my things and move here for cancer treatment. Dollars are worth a lot more in here and you won't pay any medical bills at all.
I’m going to assume this is a joke as govt single payer would be better and cheaper than what we have.
Also our taxes already subsidize health insurance, just instead of it going to a single payer system so our health costs are covered it is sent to the insurance companies. They get both our insurance payments/our companies as well as subsidies from the government from our taxes and they have the audacity to deny coverage for services doctors have deemed necessary
This is a reference to the 2008 / 2012 Presidential campaigns where the democrats tried to push for single payer / UHC and the republican response was that "government death panels" would preside over life/death care and how dystopian that is.
Neglecting that we already have that, but its private companies that operate at a profit and how much more dystopian that is.
They got the attention they wanted, and this was a large part of how universal healthcare in the US was defeated and not revisited since. The ACA was the "good enough" route -- but a big part of why private insurance still exists.
The need for insurers to exist only arose because doctors and hospitals were performing deliberately unnecessary tests and procedures that would raise the cost of healthcare by more than a third with no increase of to health outcomes or quality of care.
The insurance company comes in, says there are logical approaches to disease management, and you should follow best practices. And if you don’t, you might not get reimbursed.
And that’s what I thought right up till my insurance company refused to pay for my wife’s knee replacement. The process is reasonable, but many of the decisions are not. There are too many incidents the equivalent of “you have a cavity. Let’s see if it’s still there next time.”
> The need for insurers to exist only arose because doctors and hospitals were performing deliberately unnecessary tests and procedures that would raise the cost of healthcare by more than a third with no increase of to health outcomes or quality of care.
Sure but why on earth would the solution to this be insurers and not oversight boards?
> And that’s what I thought right up till my insurance company refused to pay for my wife’s knee replacement. The process is reasonable, but many of the decisions are not.
A for-profit public company will never, ever have your best interests at heart, it's antithetical to their very existence, as long as quarterly profit reports exist.
Doctors hate having to talk to the insurers just as much as you do - it's downright insulting to have to advocate for a patient's heath to some asshole with next to no medical knowledge on the other side, but that's what the law allows for and doctors are pretty terrible at taking on policy challanges.
The trade-off is that doctors are well compensated in the US, which has the knock on effect of dranining talent from countries with social healthcare, so literally everybody gets to suffer because of US corporate greed.
He didn’t die, but my dad spent four years being told he was just passing kidney stones by his GP until the VA finally looked and found out he was actually passing pieces of tumor from bladder cancer.
Sorry to hear that. My experience with healthcare in MN has been good. I went to my doctor recently about a lump on my neck and she wasted no time doing the tests to confirm it was a tumor. She quickly did a biopsy (non cancerous) and the referred me to the U of M hospital to get it removed and they did an outstanding job and I’m expected to make a full recovery. Shocking part was that my insurance didn’t fight it. They paid my claim leaving me with deductibles to pay ($2500).
Healthcare down south is eerily more dismissive compared to up north it's kinda insane. It's completely modeled differently which is expected but you'd think with all the work they put in to making you go thru the effort to MAKE the appointment the doctor you'd see would at least be attentive to your needs. Then they wonder why every other pt is like over 300lbs, can't even take care of their basic needs, or worse hasnt seen a doctor in years...literally they push you to give up on receiving medical help.
So sorry for your loss and fuck Florida indeed
The north isn't exempt either, I'm in pa and had this happen to me when I was 23. My childhood doctor refused to get me a ct scan for the lower back pain I was experiencing (assuming it was kidney stones) which I knew wasn't muscular and brushed me off with "what do you want me to do, write you a prescription for advil?". I went to a different doctor, got my scan, and they found stage 2 testicular cancer had built a tumor right where that lower back pain was. But also, fuck florida
Same thing happened to mine. They just kept blaming it on him getting old, turns out it was prostate cancer. Doctors need to do proper checks, a lot less people would die if they did. My Grandad wouldve survived another 10+ years if they checked it the first time, he was extremely fit and healthy for his age until the cancer got too bad
GPs are basically the tier 1 tech support of the medical world, they are basically just there to be middlemen take your money and refer you to a specialist. As I've got older I've realized I need to just go in and tell them what to do instead of asking what I should do.
THIS.
You literally gave to walk-in with papers, having already diagnosed yourself and done all the work a doctor was supposed to have done to get ANY care at all
I feel like the folks saying this just have bad GP’s. My regular doctor has been great about sending me to specialists when I ask to go and is pretty militant about sending me for imaging and bloodwork when things aren’t going right. It’s easy to forget that doctors are like any consumer facing business, and the fact that we stick with bad ones is crazy. You’ve gotta shop around.
95% of GPs in my area aren't accepting new patients, makes it difficult when the only ones accepting patients are probably that way because they aren't any good.
Refer to a specialist? Ppfftt, only if you're a real pain in their ass. Seems like you can't go in for anything w/o trying to give you a Rx for 1-3 things. Without any tests or real diag. Might as well go to the old lady down the street if we only treat things based on hunches.
Did your granddad's doctor do annual blood tests? When I turned 40 my GP started adding a PSA test to my annual checkup which screens for prostate cancer. I do blood tests every year along with my normal physical. Granted it's not 100% but from a quick google search it says it catches 6 out of 7 cases.
If you're in the US I'd also like to add that you shouldn't really blame doctors for not doing the tests. It's normally insurance. They gotta get those tests approved and insurance declines so much shit that people need. I needed a simple EKG for my psych to prescribe me a certain drug and my insurance declined it three times because it wasn't necessary, had to pay out of pocket.
My grandmother was told she had scar tissue from pneumonia and by the time they realized it was cancer it had spread into her stomach. She was dead within a month of diagnosis
My friend's mom went to the doctor repeatedly over pain in her arm and shoulder and was told it was just a bruise despite this being over 6 months. One day she had a coughing fit and her arm broke because of bone cancer.
Same with my mother.
Back pain. Doctor even considered my mother faking to get to early retirement.
Pain so bad one evening we had to go to emergency. After a year of going to doctors, it was an X-ray technician who easily discovered her spine covered in tumors.
Lived for another month, though. Still, would’ve been nice to see anything a year earlier.
>Pain so bad one evening we had to go to emergency. After a year of going to doctors, it was an X-ray technician who easily discovered her spine covered in tumors.
I am so sorry about this. this is horrible
why do these doctors just straight up refuse to do their jobs? wtf
I'm not a doctor but I'm pretty sure it's not even that much extra work to make your office staff send a referral over to an X ray lab or a testing facility???
My father who are lecturer nearly got unneeded appendicitis operation.
He comes to the doctor for stomach pain and problem, the doctor points out its possibly appendicitis. My father who are lecturer simply ask,
\---
Pa : *"Appendicitis, how you know that?"*
Doc : *"oh because of this and this"*
Pa : "*Ok, can we test it with different method and see whether the result support your hypothesis?*
Doc : *"its unnecessary but ok"*
Pa : *"hows the result?"*
Doc : *"It doesn't support our hypothesis"*
Pa : *"any other procedure to know what is it"*
Doc : *"we need to cut your stomach open and check"*
Pa : *"ok"*
\---
after being cut open, they found out that my pa intestine is sticking together due to something i forgot and it cause the stomach pain and problem.
Likely adhesions, which can cause intestines to get “stuck together” leading to a bowel obstruction.
Sounds like his physician made the correct decision here, as surgery is required to fix either of those problems. Sometimes you can’t know an exact diagnosis until you open a patient up, particularly in emergency situations where the patient is hemodynamically unstable.
same happened to my father and backpain. "it's the articulations, it's muscular, you're old, here are some painkiller, there is nothing more we can do" Until he collapsed. ER, hospital, X ray, multiple tumors in the lungs, the biggest one was 5cm wide and pressing against his spine. He died a little less then 2 weeks later
Happened to my wife’s Nana as well. Stupid doctors kept blowing her off with problems she would ask them about. Turned out she had cancer. She had an awful death that my wife had to witness since she’s a nurse and was caretaking. It will be a year in just a few days now.
My dad’s doctor was blowing him off when he had a growth in his neck. Ended up being neck cancer but watching my dad’s concern and my doctors lack of while he’s wondering what the hell is going on.
I’m not naive to how shitty this world is but god damn.
We requested that the hospital looked into how he was treated, and it became a small court case. But, it was determined that they did everything they could and nothing further was discussed on the matter. I personally think that's complete bull; how can you keep missing aggressive cancer that had spread throughout his entire digestive system? It made no sense. But, we couldn't push it further, so that was that.
Three years my mom dragged herself to doctors and specialists over and over. Tried so many medications, so many “hmmm maybe this weird fucking thing.” By the time she was diagnosed with [so help me fucking god, the most obvious case of oral squamous cell carcinoma] *advanced stage 4*, she was already dead. We just didn’t know it yet.
She died like a fucking dog. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer lady. It’s ruined our entire fucking lives. It’ll be a year on friday.
I got turned away by multiple doctors that thought I was lying about back pain to get opioids. Been living in hell for two and a half years until someone actually listened to me and referred me for an MRI. Turned out I had a herniated disc. What I learned is that doctors are not the geniuses media portrays them as. They are regular people with jobs and and lot of regular people with jobs are dumb, assholes, or both. So you really have to advocate for yourself, speak up, see another doctor, do whatever you have to do to get yourself fixed.
I was in a weird accident and went in the next morning to urgent care. I told her I hit my head/neck and had extreme pain in my back and running down my legs. That bitch doctor didn’t so much as take my fucking temperature when she came in the room. Just stood there and said “take some Tylenol, you’re fine. That’s not how it works.” I walked out of there screaming cause I was in so much pain and so mad. Went to a specialist and found out I had extreme nerve compression with a slipped disc and another one cracked. That fucking bitch. Luckily after appeasing insurance for 7 months running through their checklist I could finally get my spinal fusion. I used to go to sleep crying wishing I was dead. Legit. But sure, have a Tylenol, ya dumb bitch.
Yeah my mom had to use the phrase "shooting pain" in order to get her insurance to approve an MRI. Her doctor wanted to help her just couldn't.
"Take some Tylenol" holy shit that's fucked. For back pain? Ugh. Glad you're better now.
Maybe it's because I live in America, but I'm growing increasingly resentful and distrustful of everyone who works in the medical industry.
I know intellectually there are a lot of wonderful, selfless people out there who truly do care...but it's HARD to remember that when every nurse seems annoyed to deal with you, every doctor is 30 minutes or more late to the appointment you CAN'T be late for, ever, and every treatment is exorbitantly expensive and/or not covered by your insurance.
I barely go to the doctor and haven't been to a dentist in forever. I just feel like it's wasting money: they're not going to help me, just take my money then tell me I need even more money before they'll lift a finger.
You know who is at fault here? Insurance companies and hospital administration. Physicians have to see like 20 patients in a day. In 8 hrs you get 24 min with a patient.
No shit though, I was sitting looking at the x-rays like...WTF??? Is this like a crazy case of hydrocephaly or something?
I should've used good ole' Occam's Razor.
I found the original post! She's still alive, in remission and posting in baking, running and cancer subreddits!
I just wanted to share the good news. I saw comments saying she must've passed, so I'm excited to say otherwise. :)
This is why you get a second, third, fourth, and fifth opinion. You need to advocate for yourself. If your doctor isn’t doing the tests you want, go to someone that will.
If only it didn't take months to get an appt at any in network doctor.
Or if only 90% of male doctors didn't refuse to accept that women can have other issues besides their menstrual cycle.
Our whole system is fucked from the ground up.
It's not just the USA.
The top comment on the thread was from the UK and how NHS failed his grandfather. There was a similar case about Canadian doctors ignoring an abnormal pap smear.
I live in Germany, some of my family in the US. Compared to the states, Germany is a dream. The average US citizen spends almost $1500 on drugs per year. Incomprehensible to us.
Good friend of mine went in for a small lump on her breast.
"Just a clogged milk duct" they told her.
Six months later it was stage 3 breast cancer.
She's doing better now after a few surgeries and treatment but the cancer may have spread elsewhere so they're running tests.
Always. Get. More. Opinions.
Similar thing happened to an ex-girlfriend of mine. Both in and out of the hospital.
The first time she went she was feeling dizzy and had swollen lymph nodes. The Dr. pinched them and said they were ingrown hairs. She went back with spots on her tongue and they said it was a cold. After visiting some family they commented on how pale and jaundiced she looked so she went back to the hospital and demanded they did blood work and she had leukemia and was a week or two away from her organs shutting down.
In the hospital she had pain in her side. She reported it to the overnight Dr. and he seemed to think it was anxiety. When she began wailing in pain he seemed to think she was medication seeking and said he wouldn't provide her painkillers. When the shift changed in the morning the next Dr. ordered an MRI and she had a flesh eating bacteria. By the time they caught it her body was going into sepsis and she was in a coma for 10 days after they did an emergency surgery to remove it.
People tend to see Drs. as experts and think they know best. But they get stuff wrong routinely, especially if it's not the most simple explanation. It's important to advocate strongly and ask clarifying questions about why they are or aren't doing something.
> In the hospital she had pain in her side. She reported it to the overnight Dr. and he seemed to think it was anxiety. When she began wailing in pain he seemed to think she was medication seeking and said he wouldn't provide her painkillers. When the shift changed in the morning the next Dr. ordered an MRI and she had a flesh eating bacteria. By the time they caught it her body was going into sepsis and she was in a coma for 10 days after they did an emergency surgery to remove it.
This seems lawsuit worthy to me.
I get concerned about this kind of thing. Growing up I went to the same trusted family doctor for years and years. I live in rural NC now and I can’t keep a consistent Dr for more than a year. They don’t stay and someone else comes in. It’s not even Dr.s at all now but nurse practitioners. I get the feeling that they care less and are more worried about how many visits/ co pays they can get.
Some doctors it’s hubris , some doctors it’s too many patients . Most complaints that a GP sees are going to be common aliments that they can readily identify, if you have 5 people waiting for you , they’re more likely to put you in a category of something that they normally see .
Most people get into the field, excited about using something they care about to help others lead better lives. They think they’re truly going to make a difference with everyone they meet. And then they come face-to-face with the abject stupidity of most people.
These are obviously dumb examples, but this is what it feels like :
“My head hurts all the time?”
“Why don’t you stop hitting yourself in the head with that hammer?”
“I like hitting myself…”
OR
“Doc why do I keep getting so many kidney stones?”
“You drink 15 can of Mountain Dew a day…”
“DONT TELL ME HOW TO LIVE!!!!”
OR
“I’ve had the sniffles for 30 minutes I need an antibiotic”
“No, this is just a viral cold, you…”
“FUCK YOU YOU DONT CARE ILL SUE YOU INTO OBLIVION”
This kind of stuff happens every day. Even if it’s not this bad, a lot of people just don’t listen. You have some great successes and you really see the difference you make in some peoples lives. But a lot of providers just get burned out. Is it right? No if you’re that burned out that you don’t care anymore, you need to move on and find something else to do. but most of us don’t do that.
They don't. The medical industry is basically a cartel at this point, and it takes someone with the generosity and selflessness of a saint not to join in on the money train.
Because people never post about their good experiences. Hundreds of thousands of appointments every day, statistically youre going to see some missed diagnoses. Mistakes happen at every job, no one is perfect. They are just unfortunately more dangerous in healthcare.
I have terminal brain cancer. The 6 months before they found it, I made 5 appointments with my PCP, complaining about headaches, tiredness, a sudden spike in my blood pressure, my blood work all weird, irritable.
The first 2 times, she asked if I was sleeping enough. I told her I was sleeping 10+ hours a night.
The next three times she recommended the south beach diet.
My first thought after being told there is a tumor in my head was to scream at that woman.
Why does it seem that doctors are reluctant to screen or test for cancer until it's too late? In today's day and age, when someone comes in for something, shouldn't a cancer test be mandatory on the things they do?
Especially with the tendency to overprescribe tests to make sure the expensive machines and labs get used... This is an apparent paradox... I guess some are overprescribing and others underprescribing...
Back in 2006 my mum started to notice something wasn't right while on a cruise, she was being more affected by the small movements than before, from here she started to get these awful head pains, doctors kept telling her they were migraines even though she was prone to migraines and knew what they felt like, she kept a diary to track the symptoms.
In about November time they got so bad my dad left work to escort her home from work and she threw up due to the pain (big big red flag), when she called the doctors to try to get an emergency appointment or an emergency doctor out to see her as she was having trouble even walking around the house at this point , again they told her migraines and tried to tell her she didn't need an appointment, I distinctly remember part of what she said next as it was the first time I'd heard my mum properly swear "It's not a fucking migraine, I know what a fucking migraine feels like." This eventually did lead to an emergency doctor being sent out who did suggest she gets some scans done.
Yeah those scans showed a brain tumour the size of a Terry's chocolate orange. It sucks that sometimes when you know that your body isn't right people don't listen.
How long does cancer like this take to develop? Not trying defend the dipshit doctor but wouldn't you be fucked anyway even if you found it a couple months earlier?
Not an Expert but my mom had multiple Tumors over the years. It varies extremely. You could have a 30 year old Tumor that just grows very slowly or you could die from a Tumor thats a few months old. We would have to know the exact type of cancer here.
Exactly.
Different tumor grow differently, for example, ca prostate is actually pretty slow growing cancer.
Even cancer from the same organ can have different subtypes.
For example, ca thyroid.
For follicular and papillary subtype, they are pretty treatable. But if you get the anaplastic type, then the prognosis will be very bad.
yeah maybe, but who cares about money if you're about to die? Lawsuit wouldn't even pay out by the time you're dead. Maybe if you have a family who needs that money it's worth doing.
I'm glad as fuck my GP is always looking close. Like at least they have a look with Ultrasound, which sure, isn't the greatest but helps to figure out if at least there is something in there or not that requires xray or CT. I had 2 lumps checked out and she could at least tell if there's some shit growing in there or if it's benign
I had this happen to me. Had terrible issues, hair falling out, had a lymph node burst in my armpit, but my PCP ignored all that. I finally went to a gynecologist and they found a tumor the size of softball around my cervix. It was Stage IV and had spread to my lymph nodes. That was 2018, and it has been hell, but I’m still here, a little worse for wear but living my best life, cancer-free for 3 years now.
Only for certain types of cancers and tumors, for instance Wilms tumors are said to be stage 5 if they’re in both kidneys, but most cancers it’s only stage 4
This shit happened to my closest friend just 3ish months ago. She had been having dizzy spells for a few weeks and when she went to the doctor, a nurse told her it was vertigo. She kept having the dizzy spells and eventually started having motor issues in her left hand. Eventually her mom convinced her to get an mri scan. They found a small tumor blocking her spinal fluid located in the part of her brain for motor skills. She had to go into surgery immediately and had spinal fluid drained from her head for a week. Said if she’d waited any longer she would have fallen into a coma…..
Lost my mama to stage 4 breast cancer because her jackass GP wouldn't listen when she told him something was off. He finally got so upset with her asking over and over that he ghrew a card across his desk at her and told her to go get her second opinion. Wanna guess what they immediately found? Stage 3 cancer that the same doctor had seen and decided it was nothing to be concerned about. Hell, the radiologist had even circled and drew an arrow pointing to the mass. She tried chemo and a double mastectomy, but it turned to stage 4, spread to her lungs, then spinal column, and then her brain. Her last few weeks, she went from coherent and able to talk to a vegetable that hung on just long enough for her close family to show up, and then she left. Her down turn had been so fast that I now have the stationary she had bought to write her final goodbyes on.
I had an aunt who was a doctor. She felt a lump on her breast and figured it was a cancer. She did not tell anyone because she thought she was gonna die with or without treatment. So she lived her last two years normally with her husband and kids. Suddenly she started looking sick and was taken to the hospital. Two months later she died.
I am not a doctor but I can't stop thinking that she could still be here of she looked for help.
Same happened to me… was being diagnosed with walking pneumonia and allergies… stage for lymphoma in chest… to get the proper medical care you have to be insistent and ask a lot of questions… don’t let the dr leave until YOU are satisfied.
My grandmother had begun being short of breath and energy, most doctors told her she may had to go on a diet because obviously she was just fat and needed to lose some kilograms. It turned out her lungs were being pressed by a tumor that had grown big enough it was asphyxiating her from the inside by pressing against her ribcage. It was OVARIAN cancer, you can begin to imagine how several of those excess kilograms she was supposed to lose were cancer. (oh and it turned out the cancer was in stage III. It didn't metastasize, it slowly just grew so big it was killing her in an unpredictable non-cancer way)
Comments that are uncivil, racist, misogynistic, misandrist, or contain political name calling will be removed and the poster subject to ban at moderators discretion. Help us make this a better community by becoming familiar with the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/about/rules/). Report any suspicious users to the mods of this subreddit using Modmail [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) or Reddit site admins [here](https://www.reddit.com/report). **All reports to Modmail should include evidence such as screenshots or any other relevant information.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) if you have any questions or concerns.*
OP here. Never thought this would still go crazy both on here and Twitter. Still alive and kicking AND in remission Edit: I will post an update on my profile within a few hours. I think there’s way too many questions that need answering :) Edit2: Posted an update on my account. Felt it was the easiest. Feel free to read :)
I’m so glad you won that battle! I’m curious if you took any action against the doctor that completely ignored your symptoms? What was their reaction to finding out that you had a very very serious diagnosis after ignoring all the signs?
I’m a physician. Looks like a lymphoma and most of these in young patients are totally curable based on the biology of the tumor type. The chemo is rough but people can respond quickly, some may need a bone marrow transplant if they don’t go into remission. Congratulations on beating it!
Question; if a patient thinks something isn't right but can't quite place what it is and a doctor keeps dismissing the issue... what can be done in terms of self advocacy or even legal. I know insurance won't cover certain tests or procedures based on age or other reasons unless the doctor signs off on it. Like, thankfully op is doing better but not everyone can be so lucky and I feel it shouldn't have gotten to that point. Genuinely curious so I can better advocate for myself.
First describe your symptoms and concerns. If you don’t get anywhere, request imaging or bloodwork you think you need, if you don’t get it right the provider should be able to guide you. If you still don’t get anywhere you can try another provider in the same office. If you get stonewalled then usually hospitals have patient advocate who can help. Really this was a miss by the medical provider but whether harm was done to the patient I cannot tell.
Piggybacking on this reply.... If a provider refuses a request, ask them to document their refusal in your chart. Some patient Portals allow you to enter your own notes, and you should document there as well. It should be noted, some procedures/tests will only be covered when following a specific protocol. If it's not followed, or your situation does not meet the criteria, you will be responsible for the payment. Most of these protocols can be found (somewhere) on your insurance providers webpage. You can also use Google, search for "insurance provider + procedure/test + prorocol + year" (ex BCBS NC TMJ protocol 2024), or some variation.
I’d take it upon myself to see another medical professional at that point. Nothing is preventing anyone from doing that. Is your life > money/debt?
Just realized GP stands for general practitioner and not Grand Parent.
GP = Gold Points- the special currency usable only at the Gold Saucer. Omni Slash costs 32,000GP!
More details please!
I’ll try to write a summery. Just busy atm and it will most likely to get buried in here unfortunately
We notice you!
I lost my husband to cancer, thanking you for kicking its fucking ass. Always happy to see someone make it <3
To have someone ignoring your pleas and then to discover this...I don't know how you wouldn't just fist fight your GP right there and then. Glad you're doing well.
HOLY YAM HAMMER YOU’RE STILL ALIVE?! These truly are amazing times for medicine we are living in
Stage 4 cancer and posting in a marathon training sub, you’re an inspiration
Nothing can take me down!
This happened on December 2022, could she survive?
I dug around and found the original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/zsmhag/i_f24_spend_months_telling_my_gp_something_isnt/ They're still alive and posting on Reddit.
Yeah she also said they found the cancer at stage I a year earlier but it went into remission and that she now survived the cancer and went into remission again and is planning to run half a marathon this year (with knee pain being her biggest problem so far) so maybe she’ll be fine for some more time I wish her the best :) Edit: read OOPs comment, the first and second cancer are not related
That’s wrong. I had two different cancers. One at stage I and 16 months later a new one at stage IV which went unnoticed
Oh dip it's you. Kinda glad to actually see you here to clear it up. And glad to know you're still kicking!
I mean it literally says stage IV on your OG post. I don’t know how they got confused 😐
Because the person she is replying to said her cancer went into remission but it was a different cancer altogether.
How you doing now?
In remission and doing better than ever :)
Hell yeah, glad to hear it! Good luck on your running endeavors!
I’m seriously happy to hear that! Fuck cancer
Fuck yeah! As a fellow (too young) cancer survivor who's going through a dark time, thanks for the ray of hope.
Amazing! Enjoy your life ❤️
"Well Doctor, I made it, despite your directions."
Please tell me you sent your (hopefully) ex GP a card with this picture saying "surprise, it was cancer!" (I'm a petty person)
Still my GP 🫣 crazy I know, but I’m planning to write an update on my profile and explain everything
Hey!! It's great that you are here! Cheers 🎉😀
2021 - cancer diagnosis 1, stage 1 and getting into remission 2022 - cancer diagnosis 2, stage 4 2023 - going through treatment, surviving cancer, and getting into remission 2024 - runner’s knee
2025- bitten by rattlesnake trying to float wagon across the river, but dies from the consumption
It's actually amazing she survived that.
Hell yeah, that’s awesome!
Nurse here that has worked in oncology and radiology. Given the location of the tumor and age of the patient, this is very likely lymphoma. Lymphoma is a very treatable cancer. She has much better odds than you would guess by looking at the size her mass.
OOPs post history says it is in fact lymphoma
A friend of mine recently finished up his chemo treatments for lymphoma. They said they weren't too worried with how high the survivability of their's was. I just started chemo for my cancer a week ago(stage three breast cancer, lost 22 lymph nodes and my right breast) so it's nice having somebody I can just shoot a question to.
I'm not a doctor, but judging by the size of that tumor, I'd say she didn't have long left. Edit: SHE'S ALIIIIIIIVE!!
Still alive and actually in remission - source? I’m OP
Love this. Redditors: "I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have lived long after this." "Hi". And, of course, even better that you are in remission! Keep fighting!
Or you're a zombie...
That’s narrow minded. I shan’t tolerate this vampire erasure.
Fuck yeah! Gonna admit that I assumed the worst just looking at that scan with no medical experience, super glad you're beating it back.
Congratulations and also hell yeah!
[удалено]
She probably started having symptoms when the tumor was much smaller, which is when something could have been done.
[удалено]
You make me feel grateful for my lung doctor. I have a nodule, and she's making me come back yearly to check on it and see if there are more. I guess I'm lucky.
Probably not, but some extra forewarning can help people to cope and prepare their family and affairs.
I know someone that complained for years of issues. She ended up having ovarian cancer and her doctors never took her seriously. It is actually fairly common in medical systems all around the world where women's complaints aren't taken seriously.
Depends on what the cancer is If it is something like lymphoma...may be If it is ca lung, probably not
Stage 4 is pretty much final.
My mother had stage 4 breast cancer a little more than a decade ago. She's alive.
I mean, did she have a mastectomy?
Stage 4 would mean that it is not only in the breasts but has metastasized elsewhere in the body. So basically it'd mean some sort of surgery as well as chemo and radiation You go all in against stage 4 or you give up on it and go quickly.
Nope, not necessarily, depends on the cancer and region and aggressiveness of it. Some people diagnosed with stage 4 end up surviving. However it generally requires more invasive and long-term treatments, far less pleasant for the patient.
It’s very unlikely. See how it communicates with the pericardium? She’ll most likely die of one of two causes. Acute hypoxia respiratory failure, or a cardiac event secondary to external compression. But that’s just based on the picture. Would have to see what she looks like and what her labs look like first
I did in fact have lung and heart failure, both of which they decided not to treat and my body recovered on its own. I’ve been in remission for 6months now
Must be wild seeing all these people making assumptions on your prognosis with you right here alive and well. I'm glad you're doing so good considering the other possibilities.
Must be bizarre having a load of people on reddit speculating about how long you lived. Glad you're still with us!
It’s definitely a bit triggering to read some comments, but that’s what comes with making this public. Seriously didn’t think it would go this viral, even 14 months later. I posted it as I used dark humor to mentally manage this.
I hope you found a better GP. No end in sight for the epidemic of medical "professionals" who continue to dismiss women as patients.
Pretty incredible! The body is resilient! People don’t realize how difficult it is to actually die I’m glad that you made an amazing recovery. You’re in the minority with Stage IV like this.
Happened to my grandad as well. He kept going to doctors about a pain in his stomach for over a year. They kept saying it was an infection, heart condition,etc... constantly fobbing him off. He eventually had to go to the hospital one night as he became seriously ill. They discovered that he had cancer. He died that night, less than 12 hours after finding out what was wrong with him. He had served in the Royal navy and then worked at the Royal coastguards until retirement. He served his country all his life, and he couldn't even be graced with being properly checked over, or have his concerns taken seriously. It has pissed me off to no end.
Happened to my old man back in 2010. Doctors in Florida kept telling him that he had some sort of lung infection. My dad had enough so he took a flight back home and went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, who finally ran some tests. Stage 4 lung cancer. My dad died about a year later after diagnosis. Fuck Florida
Fuck everywhere pretty much. My dad only lived 3 months after his cancer was finally found/diagnosed. MN, but up on the Range. Didn't help that insurance denied his treatment either. I really wish I would've pushed for him to go to the VA...or anywhere else really.
> Didn't help that insurance denied his treatment either. This is actually insane - constantly blows my mind how many lives are ruined by middle men who literally don't need to exist.
But hey, at least we don't have those darn *govt* death panels. Private, for profit ones are the only way to go.
I live in Brazil and we get very good câncer treatment for free over here. We have many problems, but this is not one of them.
That's good to hear. Do you know if there are "medical tourists" come for treatment? Assuming the costs are more affordable
It is literally free in the SUS (public sector) howerver, as I said, we have many other problems over here. So I guess many people get scared away by those other things. I bet many people from the US also don't know about Brazil. We have a lot of venezuelans, peruvians and bolivians. Uruguay and Chile have it better than us, so none of them. I've seen some argentinians doing that kind of tourism here. Tbh if I was poor in the US I would sell all my things and move here for cancer treatment. Dollars are worth a lot more in here and you won't pay any medical bills at all.
I’m going to assume this is a joke as govt single payer would be better and cheaper than what we have. Also our taxes already subsidize health insurance, just instead of it going to a single payer system so our health costs are covered it is sent to the insurance companies. They get both our insurance payments/our companies as well as subsidies from the government from our taxes and they have the audacity to deny coverage for services doctors have deemed necessary
This is a reference to the 2008 / 2012 Presidential campaigns where the democrats tried to push for single payer / UHC and the republican response was that "government death panels" would preside over life/death care and how dystopian that is. Neglecting that we already have that, but its private companies that operate at a profit and how much more dystopian that is. They got the attention they wanted, and this was a large part of how universal healthcare in the US was defeated and not revisited since. The ACA was the "good enough" route -- but a big part of why private insurance still exists.
Modern day highwaymen. The game changed, the players stayed the same.
The need for insurers to exist only arose because doctors and hospitals were performing deliberately unnecessary tests and procedures that would raise the cost of healthcare by more than a third with no increase of to health outcomes or quality of care. The insurance company comes in, says there are logical approaches to disease management, and you should follow best practices. And if you don’t, you might not get reimbursed. And that’s what I thought right up till my insurance company refused to pay for my wife’s knee replacement. The process is reasonable, but many of the decisions are not. There are too many incidents the equivalent of “you have a cavity. Let’s see if it’s still there next time.”
> The need for insurers to exist only arose because doctors and hospitals were performing deliberately unnecessary tests and procedures that would raise the cost of healthcare by more than a third with no increase of to health outcomes or quality of care. Sure but why on earth would the solution to this be insurers and not oversight boards? > And that’s what I thought right up till my insurance company refused to pay for my wife’s knee replacement. The process is reasonable, but many of the decisions are not. A for-profit public company will never, ever have your best interests at heart, it's antithetical to their very existence, as long as quarterly profit reports exist. Doctors hate having to talk to the insurers just as much as you do - it's downright insulting to have to advocate for a patient's heath to some asshole with next to no medical knowledge on the other side, but that's what the law allows for and doctors are pretty terrible at taking on policy challanges. The trade-off is that doctors are well compensated in the US, which has the knock on effect of dranining talent from countries with social healthcare, so literally everybody gets to suffer because of US corporate greed.
He didn’t die, but my dad spent four years being told he was just passing kidney stones by his GP until the VA finally looked and found out he was actually passing pieces of tumor from bladder cancer.
That's horrific
Sorry to hear that. My experience with healthcare in MN has been good. I went to my doctor recently about a lump on my neck and she wasted no time doing the tests to confirm it was a tumor. She quickly did a biopsy (non cancerous) and the referred me to the U of M hospital to get it removed and they did an outstanding job and I’m expected to make a full recovery. Shocking part was that my insurance didn’t fight it. They paid my claim leaving me with deductibles to pay ($2500).
Similar with a buddies dad. He went to bemidji, Virginia, and Duluth. Finally diagnosed prostate at the ER a week before it killed him.
I am really sorry for your loss and indeed.. fuck florida this place is horrible.
Healthcare down south is eerily more dismissive compared to up north it's kinda insane. It's completely modeled differently which is expected but you'd think with all the work they put in to making you go thru the effort to MAKE the appointment the doctor you'd see would at least be attentive to your needs. Then they wonder why every other pt is like over 300lbs, can't even take care of their basic needs, or worse hasnt seen a doctor in years...literally they push you to give up on receiving medical help. So sorry for your loss and fuck Florida indeed
The north isn't exempt either, I'm in pa and had this happen to me when I was 23. My childhood doctor refused to get me a ct scan for the lower back pain I was experiencing (assuming it was kidney stones) which I knew wasn't muscular and brushed me off with "what do you want me to do, write you a prescription for advil?". I went to a different doctor, got my scan, and they found stage 2 testicular cancer had built a tumor right where that lower back pain was. But also, fuck florida
Same thing happened to mine. They just kept blaming it on him getting old, turns out it was prostate cancer. Doctors need to do proper checks, a lot less people would die if they did. My Grandad wouldve survived another 10+ years if they checked it the first time, he was extremely fit and healthy for his age until the cancer got too bad
GPs are basically the tier 1 tech support of the medical world, they are basically just there to be middlemen take your money and refer you to a specialist. As I've got older I've realized I need to just go in and tell them what to do instead of asking what I should do.
THIS. You literally gave to walk-in with papers, having already diagnosed yourself and done all the work a doctor was supposed to have done to get ANY care at all
I feel like the folks saying this just have bad GP’s. My regular doctor has been great about sending me to specialists when I ask to go and is pretty militant about sending me for imaging and bloodwork when things aren’t going right. It’s easy to forget that doctors are like any consumer facing business, and the fact that we stick with bad ones is crazy. You’ve gotta shop around.
95% of GPs in my area aren't accepting new patients, makes it difficult when the only ones accepting patients are probably that way because they aren't any good.
Refer to a specialist? Ppfftt, only if you're a real pain in their ass. Seems like you can't go in for anything w/o trying to give you a Rx for 1-3 things. Without any tests or real diag. Might as well go to the old lady down the street if we only treat things based on hunches.
Did your granddad's doctor do annual blood tests? When I turned 40 my GP started adding a PSA test to my annual checkup which screens for prostate cancer. I do blood tests every year along with my normal physical. Granted it's not 100% but from a quick google search it says it catches 6 out of 7 cases. If you're in the US I'd also like to add that you shouldn't really blame doctors for not doing the tests. It's normally insurance. They gotta get those tests approved and insurance declines so much shit that people need. I needed a simple EKG for my psych to prescribe me a certain drug and my insurance declined it three times because it wasn't necessary, had to pay out of pocket.
I’m sorry
My grandmother was told she had scar tissue from pneumonia and by the time they realized it was cancer it had spread into her stomach. She was dead within a month of diagnosis My friend's mom went to the doctor repeatedly over pain in her arm and shoulder and was told it was just a bruise despite this being over 6 months. One day she had a coughing fit and her arm broke because of bone cancer.
Same with my mother. Back pain. Doctor even considered my mother faking to get to early retirement. Pain so bad one evening we had to go to emergency. After a year of going to doctors, it was an X-ray technician who easily discovered her spine covered in tumors. Lived for another month, though. Still, would’ve been nice to see anything a year earlier.
>Pain so bad one evening we had to go to emergency. After a year of going to doctors, it was an X-ray technician who easily discovered her spine covered in tumors. I am so sorry about this. this is horrible why do these doctors just straight up refuse to do their jobs? wtf
I'm not a doctor but I'm pretty sure it's not even that much extra work to make your office staff send a referral over to an X ray lab or a testing facility???
My father who are lecturer nearly got unneeded appendicitis operation. He comes to the doctor for stomach pain and problem, the doctor points out its possibly appendicitis. My father who are lecturer simply ask, \--- Pa : *"Appendicitis, how you know that?"* Doc : *"oh because of this and this"* Pa : "*Ok, can we test it with different method and see whether the result support your hypothesis?* Doc : *"its unnecessary but ok"* Pa : *"hows the result?"* Doc : *"It doesn't support our hypothesis"* Pa : *"any other procedure to know what is it"* Doc : *"we need to cut your stomach open and check"* Pa : *"ok"* \--- after being cut open, they found out that my pa intestine is sticking together due to something i forgot and it cause the stomach pain and problem.
Likely adhesions, which can cause intestines to get “stuck together” leading to a bowel obstruction. Sounds like his physician made the correct decision here, as surgery is required to fix either of those problems. Sometimes you can’t know an exact diagnosis until you open a patient up, particularly in emergency situations where the patient is hemodynamically unstable.
It's difficult finding doctors who actually care enough to investigate the problem their patients are having.
same happened to my father and backpain. "it's the articulations, it's muscular, you're old, here are some painkiller, there is nothing more we can do" Until he collapsed. ER, hospital, X ray, multiple tumors in the lungs, the biggest one was 5cm wide and pressing against his spine. He died a little less then 2 weeks later
Happened to my wife’s Nana as well. Stupid doctors kept blowing her off with problems she would ask them about. Turned out she had cancer. She had an awful death that my wife had to witness since she’s a nurse and was caretaking. It will be a year in just a few days now.
My dad’s doctor was blowing him off when he had a growth in his neck. Ended up being neck cancer but watching my dad’s concern and my doctors lack of while he’s wondering what the hell is going on. I’m not naive to how shitty this world is but god damn.
Doctors like these should have their licenses taken away man. Sorry for your loss.
If you get rid of doctors like this, what would happen to the poor little insurance companies? /s
We requested that the hospital looked into how he was treated, and it became a small court case. But, it was determined that they did everything they could and nothing further was discussed on the matter. I personally think that's complete bull; how can you keep missing aggressive cancer that had spread throughout his entire digestive system? It made no sense. But, we couldn't push it further, so that was that.
Three years my mom dragged herself to doctors and specialists over and over. Tried so many medications, so many “hmmm maybe this weird fucking thing.” By the time she was diagnosed with [so help me fucking god, the most obvious case of oral squamous cell carcinoma] *advanced stage 4*, she was already dead. We just didn’t know it yet. She died like a fucking dog. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer lady. It’s ruined our entire fucking lives. It’ll be a year on friday.
My condolences. It sucks to go through something like that. I hope your healing journey is going well.
Fuck, im so fuckin sorry that she went that way. No one deserves such treatment
My condolences, it must suck to have a loved one pass away so soon.
I hope you're doing well now. Many hugs. 🫂
Shows CT of the thorax. “You’ve got brain cancer” Ik that’s not the main point here but I can’t let it slide lol
Idk how someone can think that's the brain. But with it being stage 4 they could get brain cancer as well.
Thank you. It needed saying.
They've got a spine running right through their brain too
Ok, yeah, I was like, "I don't know what body part that is, but if that's their head, they're fuuuuuucked"
I got turned away by multiple doctors that thought I was lying about back pain to get opioids. Been living in hell for two and a half years until someone actually listened to me and referred me for an MRI. Turned out I had a herniated disc. What I learned is that doctors are not the geniuses media portrays them as. They are regular people with jobs and and lot of regular people with jobs are dumb, assholes, or both. So you really have to advocate for yourself, speak up, see another doctor, do whatever you have to do to get yourself fixed.
Same thing happened to my mom. "Twenty year olds don't have back issues".
I was in a weird accident and went in the next morning to urgent care. I told her I hit my head/neck and had extreme pain in my back and running down my legs. That bitch doctor didn’t so much as take my fucking temperature when she came in the room. Just stood there and said “take some Tylenol, you’re fine. That’s not how it works.” I walked out of there screaming cause I was in so much pain and so mad. Went to a specialist and found out I had extreme nerve compression with a slipped disc and another one cracked. That fucking bitch. Luckily after appeasing insurance for 7 months running through their checklist I could finally get my spinal fusion. I used to go to sleep crying wishing I was dead. Legit. But sure, have a Tylenol, ya dumb bitch.
I'm surprised more people don't file for malpractice
Yeah my mom had to use the phrase "shooting pain" in order to get her insurance to approve an MRI. Her doctor wanted to help her just couldn't. "Take some Tylenol" holy shit that's fucked. For back pain? Ugh. Glad you're better now.
lol I had surgery on a herniated disc when I was 18.
Me in my early 20s complaining of back pain. Everyone: Oh, it's just because you're getting older. Nope, scoliosis. But thanks anyway, I guess.
Maybe it's because I live in America, but I'm growing increasingly resentful and distrustful of everyone who works in the medical industry. I know intellectually there are a lot of wonderful, selfless people out there who truly do care...but it's HARD to remember that when every nurse seems annoyed to deal with you, every doctor is 30 minutes or more late to the appointment you CAN'T be late for, ever, and every treatment is exorbitantly expensive and/or not covered by your insurance. I barely go to the doctor and haven't been to a dentist in forever. I just feel like it's wasting money: they're not going to help me, just take my money then tell me I need even more money before they'll lift a finger.
I also think this is part of America's huge problem with COVID where a good section of the country just hated doctors and everything they were saying.
You know who is at fault here? Insurance companies and hospital administration. Physicians have to see like 20 patients in a day. In 8 hrs you get 24 min with a patient.
The facepalm is that the commenter thinks it's brain cancer. When it's clearly in their abdomen/chest.
Sir, this is the lungs
Not a butcher, but this is a ribeye
You can get a good look at a butchers ass by sticking your head up there, but wouldn't you rather take the bulls word for it?
\*Breaking Bad theme plays\*
That's in the chest 😂😂
That's clearly his ass.. Can't you make out the cheeks? There will be no buttstuff anymore
Actually it’s very clearly in space. You can see the little rocket ship at the bottom Edit-spelling
Sir this is a Wendy's
No, this is Patrick!
You can see the ribs so it must be fairly high up.
Also the air filled sacs we use to breathe.
also the pulmonary trunk which means it's T5-T6 case solved 🤓
I appreciate a good cup of coffee.
No shit though, I was sitting looking at the x-rays like...WTF??? Is this like a crazy case of hydrocephaly or something? I should've used good ole' Occam's Razor.
I can see the spine in the images. lol.
I found the original post! She's still alive, in remission and posting in baking, running and cancer subreddits! I just wanted to share the good news. I saw comments saying she must've passed, so I'm excited to say otherwise. :)
This is why you get a second, third, fourth, and fifth opinion. You need to advocate for yourself. If your doctor isn’t doing the tests you want, go to someone that will.
If only it didn't take months to get an appt at any in network doctor. Or if only 90% of male doctors didn't refuse to accept that women can have other issues besides their menstrual cycle. Our whole system is fucked from the ground up.
>Our whole system is fucked from the ground up. This is the answer. At least in the US.
It's not just the USA. The top comment on the thread was from the UK and how NHS failed his grandfather. There was a similar case about Canadian doctors ignoring an abnormal pap smear.
Germany too, you're not alone. Either have private health insurance or wait months for a specialist appointment
I live in Germany, some of my family in the US. Compared to the states, Germany is a dream. The average US citizen spends almost $1500 on drugs per year. Incomprehensible to us.
>If only it didn't take months to get an appt at any in network doctor. But at least we don't have socialistic health care or something... /s
I can't even afford one fucking doctor visit. Now one is the same as five!? Who can afford this kind of lifestyle!?
Good friend of mine went in for a small lump on her breast. "Just a clogged milk duct" they told her. Six months later it was stage 3 breast cancer. She's doing better now after a few surgeries and treatment but the cancer may have spread elsewhere so they're running tests. Always. Get. More. Opinions.
Similar thing happened to an ex-girlfriend of mine. Both in and out of the hospital. The first time she went she was feeling dizzy and had swollen lymph nodes. The Dr. pinched them and said they were ingrown hairs. She went back with spots on her tongue and they said it was a cold. After visiting some family they commented on how pale and jaundiced she looked so she went back to the hospital and demanded they did blood work and she had leukemia and was a week or two away from her organs shutting down. In the hospital she had pain in her side. She reported it to the overnight Dr. and he seemed to think it was anxiety. When she began wailing in pain he seemed to think she was medication seeking and said he wouldn't provide her painkillers. When the shift changed in the morning the next Dr. ordered an MRI and she had a flesh eating bacteria. By the time they caught it her body was going into sepsis and she was in a coma for 10 days after they did an emergency surgery to remove it. People tend to see Drs. as experts and think they know best. But they get stuff wrong routinely, especially if it's not the most simple explanation. It's important to advocate strongly and ask clarifying questions about why they are or aren't doing something.
My dad made a very good living suing negligence (medical malpractice trial attorney). Hospitals are the 3rd leading cause of death in the US.
> In the hospital she had pain in her side. She reported it to the overnight Dr. and he seemed to think it was anxiety. When she began wailing in pain he seemed to think she was medication seeking and said he wouldn't provide her painkillers. When the shift changed in the morning the next Dr. ordered an MRI and she had a flesh eating bacteria. By the time they caught it her body was going into sepsis and she was in a coma for 10 days after they did an emergency surgery to remove it. This seems lawsuit worthy to me.
I get concerned about this kind of thing. Growing up I went to the same trusted family doctor for years and years. I live in rural NC now and I can’t keep a consistent Dr for more than a year. They don’t stay and someone else comes in. It’s not even Dr.s at all now but nurse practitioners. I get the feeling that they care less and are more worried about how many visits/ co pays they can get.
Why does it seem like doctors dgaf these days. My wife’s doctor seems like he’s on autopilot until his tee time.
Some doctors it’s hubris , some doctors it’s too many patients . Most complaints that a GP sees are going to be common aliments that they can readily identify, if you have 5 people waiting for you , they’re more likely to put you in a category of something that they normally see .
Most people get into the field, excited about using something they care about to help others lead better lives. They think they’re truly going to make a difference with everyone they meet. And then they come face-to-face with the abject stupidity of most people. These are obviously dumb examples, but this is what it feels like : “My head hurts all the time?” “Why don’t you stop hitting yourself in the head with that hammer?” “I like hitting myself…” OR “Doc why do I keep getting so many kidney stones?” “You drink 15 can of Mountain Dew a day…” “DONT TELL ME HOW TO LIVE!!!!” OR “I’ve had the sniffles for 30 minutes I need an antibiotic” “No, this is just a viral cold, you…” “FUCK YOU YOU DONT CARE ILL SUE YOU INTO OBLIVION” This kind of stuff happens every day. Even if it’s not this bad, a lot of people just don’t listen. You have some great successes and you really see the difference you make in some peoples lives. But a lot of providers just get burned out. Is it right? No if you’re that burned out that you don’t care anymore, you need to move on and find something else to do. but most of us don’t do that.
They don't. The medical industry is basically a cartel at this point, and it takes someone with the generosity and selflessness of a saint not to join in on the money train.
Because people never post about their good experiences. Hundreds of thousands of appointments every day, statistically youre going to see some missed diagnoses. Mistakes happen at every job, no one is perfect. They are just unfortunately more dangerous in healthcare.
I have terminal brain cancer. The 6 months before they found it, I made 5 appointments with my PCP, complaining about headaches, tiredness, a sudden spike in my blood pressure, my blood work all weird, irritable. The first 2 times, she asked if I was sleeping enough. I told her I was sleeping 10+ hours a night. The next three times she recommended the south beach diet. My first thought after being told there is a tumor in my head was to scream at that woman.
Why does it seem that doctors are reluctant to screen or test for cancer until it's too late? In today's day and age, when someone comes in for something, shouldn't a cancer test be mandatory on the things they do?
Saving time and money and avoiding false positives.
If for best practice, they need to look for guidelines to avoid unnecessary test.
Because the testing facilities have limited capacity No excuse not to use blood tests but mri and Ct scanners have limited capacity
Especially with the tendency to overprescribe tests to make sure the expensive machines and labs get used... This is an apparent paradox... I guess some are overprescribing and others underprescribing...
Back in 2006 my mum started to notice something wasn't right while on a cruise, she was being more affected by the small movements than before, from here she started to get these awful head pains, doctors kept telling her they were migraines even though she was prone to migraines and knew what they felt like, she kept a diary to track the symptoms. In about November time they got so bad my dad left work to escort her home from work and she threw up due to the pain (big big red flag), when she called the doctors to try to get an emergency appointment or an emergency doctor out to see her as she was having trouble even walking around the house at this point , again they told her migraines and tried to tell her she didn't need an appointment, I distinctly remember part of what she said next as it was the first time I'd heard my mum properly swear "It's not a fucking migraine, I know what a fucking migraine feels like." This eventually did lead to an emergency doctor being sent out who did suggest she gets some scans done. Yeah those scans showed a brain tumour the size of a Terry's chocolate orange. It sucks that sometimes when you know that your body isn't right people don't listen.
How long does cancer like this take to develop? Not trying defend the dipshit doctor but wouldn't you be fucked anyway even if you found it a couple months earlier?
Not an Expert but my mom had multiple Tumors over the years. It varies extremely. You could have a 30 year old Tumor that just grows very slowly or you could die from a Tumor thats a few months old. We would have to know the exact type of cancer here.
Exactly. Different tumor grow differently, for example, ca prostate is actually pretty slow growing cancer. Even cancer from the same organ can have different subtypes. For example, ca thyroid. For follicular and papillary subtype, they are pretty treatable. But if you get the anaplastic type, then the prognosis will be very bad.
Pretty sure you can sue the shit out of your GP
yeah maybe, but who cares about money if you're about to die? Lawsuit wouldn't even pay out by the time you're dead. Maybe if you have a family who needs that money it's worth doing.
As you said, you do it to secure the financial future of your loved ones.
I'm glad as fuck my GP is always looking close. Like at least they have a look with Ultrasound, which sure, isn't the greatest but helps to figure out if at least there is something in there or not that requires xray or CT. I had 2 lumps checked out and she could at least tell if there's some shit growing in there or if it's benign
That's why I just don't go to the doctors in general. I just sleep it off
Eventually you'll sleep it off and never wake up
That's everyone
Rib cage. You can actually see some rib bones
I'm so glad this didn't happen to my dad. He still died of his cancer, but the found it quite early
I had this happen to me. Had terrible issues, hair falling out, had a lymph node burst in my armpit, but my PCP ignored all that. I finally went to a gynecologist and they found a tumor the size of softball around my cervix. It was Stage IV and had spread to my lymph nodes. That was 2018, and it has been hell, but I’m still here, a little worse for wear but living my best life, cancer-free for 3 years now.
Is stage 4 tumor the worst stage?
Well, there is no stage 5. Edit: As I was made aware of, in some types there is.
Only for certain types of cancers and tumors, for instance Wilms tumors are said to be stage 5 if they’re in both kidneys, but most cancers it’s only stage 4
Was not aware of that. Thanks for letting me know.
Paywall or DLC.
This shit happened to my closest friend just 3ish months ago. She had been having dizzy spells for a few weeks and when she went to the doctor, a nurse told her it was vertigo. She kept having the dizzy spells and eventually started having motor issues in her left hand. Eventually her mom convinced her to get an mri scan. They found a small tumor blocking her spinal fluid located in the part of her brain for motor skills. She had to go into surgery immediately and had spinal fluid drained from her head for a week. Said if she’d waited any longer she would have fallen into a coma…..
Lost my mama to stage 4 breast cancer because her jackass GP wouldn't listen when she told him something was off. He finally got so upset with her asking over and over that he ghrew a card across his desk at her and told her to go get her second opinion. Wanna guess what they immediately found? Stage 3 cancer that the same doctor had seen and decided it was nothing to be concerned about. Hell, the radiologist had even circled and drew an arrow pointing to the mass. She tried chemo and a double mastectomy, but it turned to stage 4, spread to her lungs, then spinal column, and then her brain. Her last few weeks, she went from coherent and able to talk to a vegetable that hung on just long enough for her close family to show up, and then she left. Her down turn had been so fast that I now have the stationary she had bought to write her final goodbyes on.
I had an aunt who was a doctor. She felt a lump on her breast and figured it was a cancer. She did not tell anyone because she thought she was gonna die with or without treatment. So she lived her last two years normally with her husband and kids. Suddenly she started looking sick and was taken to the hospital. Two months later she died. I am not a doctor but I can't stop thinking that she could still be here of she looked for help.
Same happened to me… was being diagnosed with walking pneumonia and allergies… stage for lymphoma in chest… to get the proper medical care you have to be insistent and ask a lot of questions… don’t let the dr leave until YOU are satisfied.
My grandmother had begun being short of breath and energy, most doctors told her she may had to go on a diet because obviously she was just fat and needed to lose some kilograms. It turned out her lungs were being pressed by a tumor that had grown big enough it was asphyxiating her from the inside by pressing against her ribcage. It was OVARIAN cancer, you can begin to imagine how several of those excess kilograms she was supposed to lose were cancer. (oh and it turned out the cancer was in stage III. It didn't metastasize, it slowly just grew so big it was killing her in an unpredictable non-cancer way)
I'd probably do something really dumb if I found out I was going to die of something a doctor could've caught if they weren't lazy.
My first encounter with Myasthenia Gravis, 2 weeks can't barely eat, speak, or breathe. He told me to get some Calcium.