So I have to start an appeals process to get a letter removed from my medical files.
Backstory:
In 2005, I was diagnosed with leukemia, received treatment at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, FL. After I was released and sent home, I made an appointment with a local oncologist to keep an eye on my counts and help me if I have to be admitted and things like that. He wasn't my primary oncologist, he always had to answer to my oncologist back in Gainesville. So in October, I was admitted to the hospital for low blood counts, stayed for a few days. I was given pain meds because of the severe pain I was in with counts being low. Not a big deal, got some when I was discharged, no problems. Then after my second chemo treatment, I was admitted with a severe neck/throat infection, which caused my neck to swell up very quickly and VERY painfully. I was in the hospital for almost a month, all the while given Diliatin (pain med) every 2 hours for pain. The last week I was in the hospital, I was put on a PCA pain pump, which gave me a small dose of pain meds every 15 minutes. A few days later, I was told that I could go home in about a day or so, so I had to be "weened" off the pain meds, which I understood and had no problem. Instead of doing the proper way, which is slowly bringing the dosage down, then taking me off, he dropped the dosage to almost nothing, then pulled me off right away. I had been on Diliatin for almost a month, given many many dosages in my time there, of course I am going to develop a dependence, it was natural, so that's why they SHOULD do it the proper way. Instead, he ripped me off it and watched me suffer from withdrawals and started accusing me of being a pain killer addict. He wouldn't send me home with pain meds, so I had to go to the ER and get pain meds until I could make an appointment with him. When the appointment came, I couldn't face him. I was sick and angry, so my dad went in with him. There, he told my dad that I was a pain killer addict and that all I was doing was looking for drugs. He even had the nerve to write me a prescription for METHADONE, which is something they give heroin addicts who are coming off. He then felt the need to tell my dad that he had another patient the same age as myself and watched her become addicted to pain meds and didn't want to see me go down the same road. Like he was doing something NOBLE for me. After that, I was admitted into the hospital again for what ended up being shingles in my right ear. When I went to the ER, I told them my doctor was my primary care physician and not my oncologist, because I didn't want to deal with him. So I saw my PCP for the first few days and had no problems getting the meds I needed. My ear was SO swollen that my doctor (not douchebag) couldn't get the children's ear scope in it. So again, I was on pain meds and was HOPING to avoid seeing the oncologist. No such luck. He comes in my room one morning and says to me (and I quote), "I see you are using an ear infection to get pain meds." I told him that instead of judging, how about you come over and actually LOOK at my ear. He never did and I told him that I didn't want him as my oncologist if he was going to be unsympathetic to my needs as a cancer patient. After the discharge, I never saw him again.
I found another oncologist in the area and started going to him and everything seemed to be okay, until I started having some water retention in my ankles, which is painful, but I was getting my pain meds through my oncologist in Gainesville, so I didn't have to ask my local doctor. I ended up asking him for Lasik, which helps your body get rid of the excess water. It doesn't give you a high, it doesn't become addictive, it's actually quite annoying because you have to constantly pee. So I didn't see the harm in asking for it because Shands gave it to me like water. When I asked him for it, it was like a switch was hit and he started giving me this lecture about how I am just looking for another pill and I need to stop asking for meds and just went on and on about it. Again, I was floored and suspected that my previous oncologist had something to do with it. So while I was checking out, I had my medical file with me, so I looked through it. There I found a letter from my former oncologist stating that I was a pain killer addict and that I shouldn't be given any medication unless needed. I was shocked, I had no idea that he even put that in there and I didn't know how to get it removed. I talked with my doctors in Gainesville and they were just as shocked as I was that he claimed I was a pain killer addict because I never hounded them for pain meds, I never went doctor shopping, I always stuck with the doctors I was given.
Even since then, I have been judged and it has been very hard to get the proper medications that I need. When I went through my car accidents, I was rarely given any medications and when I did receive it, it was a very little amount and nothing very strong. I have had to fight for everything, even when it was medically necessary. So now, I am finally going to appeal it. I found out what you can do and I'm going tomorrow to request my medical files, make sure that the letter is still there, and fill out the proper forms to get it removed. It's unfair that one doctor's opinion of your situation can alter what others think of you in the future. But again, like I have said before, you have to be your own advocate, because no one else is going to do it for you. I should have done this years ago and dealt with it at the time, but I didn't. Now, I'm ready.
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