Hepatitis C Support Group
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.
So today, I go in for my BIG BLOOD DRAW -- the one I have been anxiously waiting for for 3 months, and have had scheduled for that same amount of time. The lab tells me they have no idea what Heptamax for Quest even is. They pulled in the other techs and looked it up in the coding on Quest website, the physical "Quest Dictionary" and still had no idea. Called my doctor and they said that since Quest could not do the Heptamax for Quest blood work, we'd find another lab... and they will call me. Soooo... I am so upset. The incompetence is astounding. I sit in my car in the parkign lot in another City (where i had ot drive to) and cry. and wait. So, no one calls back for an hour. I call the doc back and they ask me if I have to get this done right now and am I on a time schedule. Um YEAH! So I try to be calm, but I'm not. I railed them politely, but with obvious broken voice form tears. I have no choice, so I go shopping to try and feel better. And get lunch. MY nurse finally calls me back right as I am eating, and apologizes profusely and blames Quest for not updating their coding, and tells me to go back to Quest that the correct code is on my orders now. So I drive back, go in and the Quest people are PISSED that their head office called them because my doctor filed a complaint against them, and then they blamed it on MY DOC for not having the updated codes that have been in place since 2011!!! My doc has not ordered a VLT since 2011??? So does that mean he hasn't TREATED anyone for HepC since then?? Good God. The lab techs asked me how he coded the other VL tests I had during treatment and I told them he did not order any. They were completely stunned. They said they had never seen a doctor do that to a patient on chemo therapy for HepC. So, I finally got my blood draw. By then, I was dehydrated from walking back and forth, and sitting in 90 degree heat waiting around, so I was a difficult stick, the vials wouldn't fill and I am bruised, battered and I figure it was the LAST... seriously folks??? ... the LAST piece of BS I have to deal with.
I am now home, it's almost 5 o'clock... and I am having a ice cold glass of Sangria with floating frozen grapes as soon as the 5 o'clock bell rings!!
Stick a fork in me, I AM DONE.
I am now home, it's almost 5 o'clock... and I am having a ice cold glass of Sangria with floating frozen grapes as soon as the 5 o'clock bell rings!!
Stick a fork in me, I AM DONE.
I have enough stories of insane incompetence, stupidity, outright lies
and even had my former gastroenterologist falsify records to cover up careless errors involving prescriptions made by her staff after I brought them to her attention,
appointments that were changed to another day without ever notifying me and being billed for appointments that never even took place.
when I talked to my primary about the errors and lies I encountered during my treatment she said to me " I have the gi doc's notes right here and she said that (thus and such) is in my records, so that is the facts."
I told my primary that the g.i. and her staff lied and falsified the records to cover up the lies and errors that were made because they sure could not have written the truth in my records without confessing to their own incompetence and (in my opinion) criminal behavior.
I dealt with having my blood drawn by abusive lab people with bad attitudes that intentionally hurt me sometimes and other times it was just a case of a newbie lab tech that lacked skill.
I learned to only allow my blood to be drawn by certain people and I would go on days when I knew the " good ones" were on duty.
It is not just within the v.a. that medical treatment records are falsified and patients suffer additionally and needlessly, it happens in the private sector as well.
Enjoy your cocktail and may you truly be done with any and all medical b.s.
FOREVER !
Then you get blamed for just doing what you were told to do.
So sorry -
Out to you. Enjoy your sangria.
You raise a good question: When was the last time your doctor order a VL test for ANYONE?
Well, you're on TX and on your way to SVR, despite the incompetence!
Can anyone tell me when you are supposed to test again to show that the undetected VL is sustained? I doubt a VL test will be ordered without me asking about it... :-/
You have been through hell and back on this tx.
I don't blame you for being VERY upset.
But - ya gots to carry on, you know that.
This seems to be pretty standard from what I've read.
And congrats - YOU ARE DONE - yeah, stick a fork in ya - lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfLQlP8lk1I&list=LLDfxGtpOpc2INxme_zZzvdg&feature=mh_lolz
J
Fortunately, I have no complaints about my lab staff. I use Quest because its 5 minutes away, instead of Lab Corp that my Dr wants me to use in a different county.
Always, carry extra fluid in my cooler pouch.
If you feel as I do, I'm too tired to have to double check every detail that is someone's job to do correctly in the first place. However, incompetence is the new standard.
Very happy for you that tx is over. Over!