Chasing The Diagnosis

So I apparently got my AARP card this week but I couldn’t find it since my bride put it on the fridge near our 15-year-old’s B+ English paper, just below a copy of our daughter’s college tuition bill, above a list of chores like “fix the wobbly bathroom door hinge - you know the one, you walk by it every morning,” and next to the bill I owe for the colonoscopy I skipped over the summer. Putting it on the fridge is a big deal but I’m not sure if she thinks I’ve accomplished something turning 50, or if she’s giving me not-so-subtle hints. Probably that.

68-year-old RN Wendy Abraham from Maryland has long since hinted that healthcare is not for the faint of heart, particularly when you start getting older, and her story about the difficulty getting appointments after a hard-to-hear diagnosis is a great example. Wendy was advised to get a Cologuard test last fall even though she was not scheduled for a colonoscopy until 2024. The test came back positive, but her GI first required a tele consult the day after Christmas and asked her if anything new had happened medically in recent memory. It had. About 3 months earlier Wendy had a mini stroke called a TIA, was put on Clopidrogel for 21 days and a baby aspirin that she now takes daily. The GI decided the colonoscopy couldn’t be scheduled until a neurologist gave clearance to allow her to have anesthesia but getting that appointment has been harder to deal with than the colonoscopy prep drink. The neuro consult wasn’t going to be until the end of April – not ideal with that positive Cologuard test lingering out there – so using her inside healthcare know-how, Wendy got in at a neurologist she called who had a cancellation. “The doc asked me why I was there and I said ‘I need a colonoscopy’,” Wendy told me this morning. He laughed and said, “You know I don’t do those,” so the meeting started off on a pretty hilarious note and ended well, since he cleared Wendy for the colonoscopy. All this for an RN who knows how to navigate healthcare. Imagine the 68 year old who doesn’t? Take it from an old man, it’s already no picnic. Like when I finally found that AARP card, Tommy happened into the kitchen. “So dad – did you see my B+? Not too shabby eh – right next to that thing mom says you got for turning 60.”