Satomi’s Discomfort

We traveled to City of Hope again to start the battery of tests to begin the work on Satomi’s spine.  The passing of information the Oncology department to the Radiology department seemed to go smoothly until we actually arrived there.  As a matter of practice, I reminded the MRI technician that Satomi had metal in her body from a previous operation.  It is something that the Oncology department knew and we had discussed during our previous visit.

Someone forgot to tell the Radiologist.  The tech said they couldn’t do the MRI.

After many phone calls and an extra 45 minutes of waiting, they changed the test to a non-contrast CT.  The waiting continued and another 20 minutes past.  While all these plans were changing, the Doctor that ordered the test became “unavailable”.  The waiting was to continue.

Unfortunately, Satomi’s back pain just kept getting worse.  We couldn’t wait for the Doctor anymore and had to leave.  She was in a lot of pain as I rolled her across the “City” to the parking lot.

There is good and bad with dealing with such a large place but today was mostly bad.  I can understand why the Doctor became unavailable but the miscommunication between departments was quite upsetting.  The distance from our home is difficult for Satomi plus the inevitable waiting time.

We’ve reached out to our Orange County team to find a local doctor to perform the vertebroplasty.  Satomi and I both don’t want to return there unless we absolutely have to.

[Update:  As a backup to the local doctor plan, I made an appointment at City of Hope for Wednesday December 30th.  If for some reason the local doctor refuses to treat her, I want CoH to still be in-line.]