Friday, October 13, 2006

MRI scheduled for next week

I have another MRI scheduled for October 18th, just over 90 days after the first MRI on July 5th. This MRI will be at the same facility as the July 5th MRI so I should be able to compare the two better than could be done with the MRI from a different facility, which resulted in an alarming report that characterized the lump as having almost doubled in size. In reality, the scale was just different and the interpreting doctor did not bother to look at the prior MRI pictures or he would have seen that it did not change at all in size in the 5 weeks since the first MRI.

What I have learned from all of this, more than ever, is that you really have to be in charge of your own health and treatment and ask lots of questions about test results. Don't take them at face value. You are just another number to most doctors and diagnostic facilities and they really don't have the time to truly evaluate your situation. They make a lot of decisions based on a small sample of tests and they assume that all test reports are correct, when that is not necessarily the case. Question everything.

No comments: