How NOT to go to the ER after parathyroid surgery

Thanks Claudette, I agree with you about the voice, my pastor, John Leach, said that when God talks to him that it does sound like him..John.. not like a big booming voice… I guess spiritual maturity comes when you know when it’s your voice vs when it’s God speaking to you. Thanks for your encouragement!

I had an idea while reading your post, since I am very familiar with the whole scene that you described (minus the actual thyroid situation). I think that there should be a poster on the wall in the ER cubicles, much like the ones that say “Are you in pain?”.

It should say “Are you starting to panic? Close your eyes, take a deep breath and say “Help me, God”".

PS – I love your blog and I found it through Tuesday Topics on Facebook. Thank you!

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oh gosh Joni… that would be so horrible to have finally found out WHAT the heck is wrong with me and then not be able to afford to fix it! I was actually surprised that the surgery itself was covered so well on our insurance… the trip in the ambulance and 4 hours in the emergency room cost us almost twice as much out of pocket as the entire day and half in the hospital and the surgery combined! Something is sure out of whack considering they didn’t even do ANYTHING for me in the E.R.

I think the problem with this particular condition is that each doctor is an expert in their area and just stays strictly within those confines. My Endo is just awesome! He’s from the older generation of doctors that would probably still make a house call if I asked him to. HE calls me personally to give me results of tests and to talk about how I’m doing, what he wants me to do next, what to expect next. When you go to his office he spends LOTS of time with you asking questions and then listening to the answers. This last visit I went in after my bone density scan and my husband was able to go with me.. so the doc not only asked me questions but asked my hubby how HE thought things had changed for me, health, attitude, pain.. not many doctors would take the time to do that or even care that much. His name is Dr. Peticia and he is the BEST! I will post soon about my test results and all of that. I’ve never heard of Osteopenia.. I will have to look that up! I too have arthritis in my hips so I understand the inability to exercise without being in pain.. and I just turned 50. We need to TALK! lol If anyone has any ideas for Joni on how to get the medical system to help her.. please post!

Wow. I sit and read your stories, and especially yours, Chrissy…and all the experiences told about by people in various stages and need of the parathyroid process…and it saddens me.
I have been through hell and back again with the hyperparathyroid illness. I also know what it is like to not have the money to secure the surgery to have yourself helped by the removal of the adenomas that are surely present in most of you, if you are writing on this forum.
I, too, am a patient of Dr. Norman and Politz in Tampa. I am three weeks post op, and all I can say is THANK GOD I had wonderful friends, an awesome Church, and caring strangers that were willing to help me. You see, when I had gone as far as I personally (and physically could), I knew I had two choices…to keep spending my 22 hrs a day in bed, weakened, fatigued like a person in their last hour with cancer, with all the other horrific symptoms that go with this disease….and probably just will myself to die, or I could do what I have been trained to do, and actually do it for ME, for once, and that is enlist friends, etc…to help me raise the funds for this surgery that, I so desperately needed, but without insurance would never get! My husband had lost his health insurance when his company was sold and then my “pre-existing” conditions were not covered…IF we could have even afforded the premiums, which were a joke!
So I set up a fund-raiser…first with a trusted man who happened to be my husband’s contact administrator, and we asked him to be our trustee. Simple, really…he would set up a bank account, with him as the sole person who could withdraw, (we also appointed an assistant administrator, in case he became unable) and she was the one who received funds, posted them and all donor information on a spread-sheet, and prepared deposits for the trustee to deposit.
Being as I was in the position of first, being too ill to help, if I had thought it ethical, (which I do not)..I did advice a friend that stepped in as our campaign manager and gave her a fast lesson on how to go about running an effective, speedy campaign.
This CAN be done, since the cost of this surgery is low in comparison to the campaigns I have administered and ran, that were for organ transplants and were in the six figure range.
My goal was roughly 13k, and I saw it as being a mere few weeks of waiting before I could get my surgery. I was right. It was hard on me, such as it was like the Doctor being the patient…but I did give assistance, advice and direction even on my worst of days, because I knew it was my only hope.
Although I had a local Dr. who “could” have performed the surgery, he was ignorant to the point that he actually thought surgery was only required when one’s numbers were through the roof. Damn symptomatic forms of this disease….He, like a lot of insurers believe that more and more should apply, for patients to be eligible. That is non-sense and if you will go to Dr. Norman’s website http://www.parathyroid.com you will see and learn more than any Doctor is granted in medical school, which after this long journey, and numerous visits to GP’s, internists, and ER’s…I have learned it may be one of the most UN-STUDIED (but increasingly fast growing) medical conditions around!
So, what to do if you have symptoms before? I would suggest the website mentioned….questions afterward are not quite so “clear cut”, and that pains me also….I feel too little discharge info is given, and each individual, as we know, having gotten the disease in the first place, WITHDRAWS and REGAINS their vitality and health, all on very very different levels, which seems to be overlooked by the actual surgeons (no matter how good). I mean, how can they expect you to go BACK to the Dr. who didn’t even understand the disease in the first place, to treat your body’s struggle back to normal calcium levels, etc…? I believe there are two areas that need MUCh work in the practice of the illness caused by, operated on, and symptoms left by…the ACTUAL SURGERY. Those two areas are education about symptom management and care (before and AFTER…neither the least important)…and financially insuring that every patient that suffers from this disease is helped secure the treatment/surgery they so desperately need.
Being as I am so close behind my actual surgery, I myself are questioning symptoms that I am experiencing after surgery. I long for a ….well even a small pamphlet, if you will..on what to expect, what to see as dangerous, and how long is too long to still be feeling ill, afterwards…!
By expertise, I endorse Dr. Norman’s practice, but I do feel that this illness is one of the most complicated for people who acquire it to understand. If general physicians have a hard time themselves knowing what to do, how to treat pre and post symptoms, and also misdiagnose or overlook a very large number of cases each year, one would summarize that in the end, this requires a foundation that will help address all the problems that the already confused patients (before and after) faces.
If I can offer any advice to anyone about how to set up a fund-raiser, please feel free to write me. I cannot personally consult on each one, but I do have an outline that I will give, and in the end, I see no reason that there should be ANYONE in America (or elsewhere) that goes without a cure. I also do not think that any patient, having HAD the surgery should not have very close guidance and THAT guidance be part of their care, from their surgeons. Most all other surgical conditions are followed up by the Physician who performs it, why should this one be any different?

Hi Mary… It is scary for sure, but the trip to the ER was costly and unnecessary… I wish the docs would tell you that it’s kinda normal for this to happen and NOT to panic but just up your calcium…. it takes your body time to adjust to all the changes for sure.. The other thing I would add is to get a better calcium supplement than TUMS… That has a very cheap source of calcium in it and is incomplete since it doesn’t have any magnesium or Vitamin D. Have you hubby go to the drug store and the pharmacist will usually point him to something worthwhile.

Angela, tell us more about the health care system in Canada… I’m in the terrified about the Obama insurance plan here in the US…. But as for the surgery, mine really went off without a hitch.. I had a calcium dip afterwards that if my doctors would have warned me about and just told me to take some additional calcium afterwards wouldn’t have even scared me. My guess is that even though you don’t think you have symptoms that after you have the surgery you’ll see all of the things that were affected that you didn’t even know about. I’m so happy I had mine and now almost exactly a year later you can barely see the scar… I really will post a photo of that soon. good luck and please post and let us know how it goes.

peggy, where did you have your surgery? thank you, ginger cribbs