Wild ghoose chase

Law of probability works well when it involves health issues. I was hit with pain in the lower abdomen or pelvis area on Saturday, August 1. Being deft in health issues equipped with Google, I was using all kind of defunct treatment plans on my own over the weekend. My wife was delineating how dangerous it was to self-medicate for such pain based on my Google search and asked me to do the most sensible action of fixing the appointment with our Family Physician on Monday morning. She being a good friend, we had considerable influence in her office to get an appointment right away. She carried out a urine test in the office to find out whether I had any renal stones but found no symptoms of it. She gave me antibiotic for three days suspecting that it was caused by some bladder infection.

The next night, I could not sleep due to intense pain and I gatecrashed into her office to tell her more intense action is needed. She fixed an appointment for me with an Urologist right away and asked me to go and meet him immediately. He conducted the same test and examined me but ruled out any stone or other renal issues but suspected that the pain was caused by an infection and extended the antibiotic by another 7 days. In the evening, my wife got a call from my Family Physician whether the pain was constant and when she responded affirmatively, she advised me to go to an emergency room right away. I was in an office meeting when my wife called about the advice from the physician but I couldn’t leave immediately. After returning home, upon considerable pressure from my wife, I decided to go to an emergency room.

Surprisingly, the emergency room was very low in occupied space and almost I received a grand welcome from the entire staff as though they were hungry for business. They carried out blood, urin tests and hooked me up to give antibiotic intravenously. Then, as advised by my physician, they scanned my pelvis and found out that my prostrate, kidney, lever, appendix, gallbladder, etc. are intact and functioning normally. Within two hours they released me with instructions to continue antibiotic as advised by the Urologist. I spent $12,000 dollars for that brief visit and thanks to Blue which has great negotiating power reducing the total cost to $ 3,000 with 50% payable directly by me. I ceremoniously took antibiotic as suggested only to realize the pain remained intact but with less intensity.

In the meantime, I met my friend, a Gastroenterologist who attends the same spiritual center I attend every Sunday. His wife is an Oncologist. After hearing my health issues casually, they both came to the conclusion that I was suffering from Prostatitis. I promised them I would mention that to my physicians during my follow up visit.

The follow up appointments with my Family Physician as well as the Urologist was on Thursday, August 20[SUP]th[/SUP]. After reviewing the blood report that came from the lab, she confirmed that all my vital measurements were within the range and as usual, she advised me to work on my weight. The afternoon session with the Urologist was uneventful as well. When I mentioned my friend’s view of my health issue to both of them, they changed their opinion from bladder infection to prostate infection and the Urologist said that I had to take 15 more days of antibiotic in order to eliminate the prostate infection completely. He asked me to come again in January 2016 unless I have more problems in which case he promised to conduct an ultrasound to probe more.

In the meantime, I am like a sitting duck praying everyday that my pain is due to whatever was diagnosed by all the physicians. I remembered the Tamil movie “Padikaddavan” in which Danush asks Vivek when he has two axes in his chest, the wound inflicted by the villains in the movie, “Why don’t you run when you know they are trying to hurt you?” Vivek replies, “The bolder ones are those who take those injuries on their stride and still don’t run away.” Then, Danush asks, “If that is the case, why are you crying?” for which Vivek replies, “That is pain, a different department”.

 

Dear Kaniths,

Thank you for your concern and first response to this post. I imagine myself as an automobile and the physicians as mechanics trying to fix the problem by scanning the problems by running some tests. Eventually, they would make the automobile road fit.
In order to make this post lighter, I mentioned Padikkadavan joke. Take it easy. I learned sweating this small stuff only increases the intensity of pain.

Viswa

 

Dear Neetu,

Yes, since the beginning of this month. Urologist didn't take the ultrasound because in his examination, he came to the conclusion that the pain was caused by infection. During the second visit, he had scan reports which clarified that I have no issues in kidney or bladder and therefore, he extended the antibiotic by another 15 days. In general, I drown my organs with a lot of water as a habit. I am hoping that the pain would subside after sometime. I checked with fellow sufferers of the same issue and they said it takes 3-6 months to disappear. I am keeping my fingers crossed. The pain has come down substantially but it is still there. I told the physicians that my pain tolerance level is high and I won't complain until it is unmanageable.

Thanks for stopping by and I will take rest as much as possible.

Viswa