The afternoon I was released from the hospital, my doctors told me that I would need to return to the hospital in exactly one week (left on Thursday, need to return on Thursday) for another CAT scan to assess how the treatment was doing in regards to shrinking the abscess. The doctors were very clear that I needed to return in exactly one week (next Thursday), and then they sent me on my way.
As you read in my previous post, that week was anything but restful. The constant pain/ muscle spasms from the drain tube in my liver kept me exhausted. The IV antibiotics that I was being fed was not only very strong, but a very large dose. So large/strong, in fact, that every nurse that was charged with setting up my IV antibiotic in the hospital would stop just before starting the drip and and with a concerned look would ask, "What is wrong with you?!?". I would tell them a liver abscess, and they would respond, "Ohhhhh...". So, in addition to the muscle spasms from the drain, the IV antibiotics would make me nauseous and down right crappy. But the promise that the CAT scan on Thursday might bring the removal of the drain tube was a dim but welcome light at the and of the tunnel.
Thursday came. My Personal Choice health insurance ran out and my Keystone HMO kicked in on that day, Thursday November 1st. I stopped eating 3 hours before the CAT scan and drank my radioactive liquid 2 hours and 1 hour before the procedure exactly as directed. After the second dose of radioactive liquid, Sara and I set off to the hospital.
We went directly to Radiology to register for the CAT scan. Upon handing the doctor prescription for the CAT scan to the nurse, we hit the first snag.
"You are here the wrong day", stated the nurse plainly.
My surprised reaction, "What? We were told to come here today to have this procedure done"
The nurse replied, "Take a look at the prescription"
Sure enough, the date on the prescription showed Thursday November 1st as the date of the procedure, but the "1" was scribbled over with a darker "5". Yikes, I just drank a quart of radioactive fluid for nothing!
"I just drank the fluid, can you fit me in?" I asked.
The nurse replied, "Let me see what we can do."
I sat in the waiting room as the nurse called the scheduling supervisor. Then they found another problem.
"Mr, Duffey?"
"Yes?"
"What is your current health insurance?"
"Keystone HMO"
"This could be a problem"
After waiting another 2 hours, the supervisor came to talk to me and explained that having this CAT scan in this hospital would not be allowed by Keystone HMO, even though my entire illness was being dealt with at that hospital. The problem is that my primary doctor was not associated with Chester County hospital. This meant that I was going to have to go to another hospital to have the CAT scan done. In addition, the doctor who put the drain in my liver was not going to be able to remove the drain since he was not associated with the other hospital. YIKES!!!
They sent me home without doing the CAT scan. Their hands were tied. Sara and I discussed the financial advantages of staying with the HMO against the health advantages of returning to the Personal choice. We decided to immediately drop the HMO plan and go back to the Personal choice plan. Our agent and the regional supervisor were very helpful and did the paper work immediately. Within 24 hours, we were back on our old plan and could finish getting well with the doctors who had been working with me all along.
I returned on Monday to the hospital, 2 doses of radioactive liquid in my belly, and had the CAT scan. Doc C looked at the pictures and said that the abscess had reduced in size significantly.
I asked, "Is it half the original size?"
He replied, "Closer to a tenth"
Relieved, I said, "Will you be able to remove the drain?"
He smiled, "Definitely, we will remove it now"
I was sitting in an exam room next to Radiology. He told me to lean forward as I sat on the exam table.
"You are going to feel a little pressure"
Sheepishly, I asked, "Will it hurt"
"No."
True to his word, I felt a little pressure and then the tube was out. This was a huge step forward in my recovery.
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