Me and Klippel-Trenaunay and other rare diseases and stuck in a state that is hell

New PCP

2011-09-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

I had an appointment with a new PCP and it was back to wear I was just over a year ago. This PCP would be great to treat diabetes, colds, high blood pressure any acute condition. As long as he is comfortable he is great, give him someone that can't be fit in a box and he is lost and does not want to learn or grow. He even said as much. My PCP three PCP's ago flat out told me that KT is not his area and he will not learn anything about it nor will.

The VA is terrible when it comes to running off good doctors or at least what I consider a good doctor.

My last two PCP's have left the VA health care system after 6 months of work in it. They were both new to the system and they both were in the field because they cared and wanted to help people, their words not mine.

This last PCP was the first one that actually helped me to get things done for the first time in over 12 years. I new that he would not last long because he actually talked to his patients and spent time with them. He actually updated records the way their were supposed to be done.

I even called and asked customer service if this doctor was leaving and they said no there is nothing that appears to be happening that might hint at this. I told them that I am seeing the exact same signs that I saw with my last PCP that left. This was just over a month ago, I got a call last week telling me that my current pcp was leaving the VA.

The problem I have with this is that every time I get a new PCP I have to explain what KT is and my problems related to it. Over the past 15 years I have had three doctors that have actually tried to help me and get me proper care. The other several doctors have not wanted to help at all.

I had one PCP tell me that he didn't care about KT and was not going to learn anything about it and refused to help.

I had a visit with a PCP last fall while I was between PCPs and this one told me that I "got the crap roll in life and you will just have to deal with it" the same doctor during the same visit said " you have been diagnosed and that is all we have to do"

I had the same doctor same visit look at my stage 2 lymph edema trunk and my stage 1 or two right arm and say it looks normal. A week or so later I was diagnosed with lymph edema by a different doctor of course.

In 2004 and again two years ago and then this last year I had problems with my right elbow and I was told that I have golfers elbow this year. This is even after I explained to every doctor that said this, that I don't use my right arm much because of the KT.

Most of the above is what the VA is hiring to treat our nations veterans and overwhelmingly this is the attitude of the doctors treating Disabled Veterans in the veterans health care system.

What's going on

2011-08-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

Today is a new day with new information and with new information brings new learning or at least a chance to learn.

I have not been updating at all for a long time and no matter what my intentions are it seems that I keep failing to update. I know that I just need to write something everyday even if it's just a small blurb.

Today's blurb is about my last appointment two days ago with neurology where it was confirmed again that I have an AVM on my spine. I first found out that I had one back in 2004 at this time it was never explained to me what an AVM was or how it could affect my life. It was just one of those things that hung out there and was like I have something wrong but since no one is making a big deal about it it must be okay.

I asked my doctors if this was a big deal or needed to be followed up and I never got a real answer they skirted the question and dodged it and I kept at it.

I keep saying that I am being treated at a VAMC as I am a disabled veteran, the AVM was found because when I had MRI/MRA done at the VA they messed it up and had to send me outside the VA system. This outside facility was the one that found my AVM back in 2004 and now 7 years later after hounding and my AVM being symptomatic they are actually paying attention.

enough for now have a great day

Just some more info about me and KT

2011-02-23T06:34:00.001-08:00

I am 42 and was diagnosed back in 2003. I had no problems until I went into the military and those were things like ulcer or blood blisters on my back where some of my birthmark was (yes I know vascular malformation :P). In a way it was a blessing not to be diagnosed as a kid. There were things that I did that probably helped a lot, like I lived at the local pool almost all year round and had no idea until I was diagnosed how good that was for me.

I played baseball from grade school all the way into high school. I lived on a 10 speed. My parents ran a lawn care service and I worked that from say 9 years old through high school and then went straight into the military. I was a cop in the Air force. I had no idea that spending so much time on my legs was so bad for my condition. I was stationed for much if my career standing in front of a plane or taxi gaps, to being the guy that waived people into the base.

I went skiing for the first time at age 19 and had a blast and did it a lot.

I didn't have my first blood vessel bleed through until about 1998. I had another episode in 2000. I have not had one since and I think that is do to the fact that I started wearing compression stocking for the first time in 1998.

I started getting the bad leg ulcers in the military in the last few years of my career. Side note here, Circaid for me seems to have helped a lot with the swelling and the ulcers. I still get them and have problems with swelling but not as bad.

I do have a leg length problem that is still growing now it is 6cm longer than my right but was only 2 cm difference in 1989.

I lifted weights starting in high school and did so say from 1984 until 1991 and I was blessed not to have had any problems then but who knows now.

In reflection I can't condone or say that some of the things I mentioned above were the smartest things to do but I will say that holding a child back from some things can do just as much harm in my opinion.

I have two teenagers and thanks to my mutant genes they appear to have some vascular problems and auto immune things going on.

I have an AVM in my spine and it scares the hell out of me to think that I had it all the time I was lifting weights and what could have happened.

Every case is unique and it breaks my heart to see these poor children to have all these problems that I never had and I hope that with awareness that it gets better. I am glad that my parents never had to try and make a decision like cutting off a toe or not, dealing with chemo like I have read here.

I have a whole lot of medical problems now and some if not all are related to KT.

A lot are auto immune and maybe I had them as a child but some like
lymph-edema
pernicious anemia
osteo penia

have been showing up in the last 10 to 15 years.

I can say that I was never teased as a kid because of my birthmark. Half my body is red and purple. The most teasing I got was when I was in the military when my hunch back became more apparent. I got called names and so forth. Seems adults to me can be more childish and cruel than kids can be.

I do get stares and questions like "was I burned" etc I am sure you all have or will be asked,

Who I am and what I have :)

2010-12-27T13:43:00.000-08:00

I am 42 and was diagnosed about 6 years ago. The doctor who diagnosed me was a vascular doctor working at a heart hospital.. He gave me the best advice so far from any doctor I have seen. He told me to do what I feel is best for me. He told me to research everything I can on KT and then told me to take horse chestnut which is a herb and it works for chronic venous insufficiency and vascular problems of the legs among other things.

I have kt down my entire right side and left leg and. My "Vascular malformation" :-P goes down my entire right side of my body. My entire right side body is larger than my left. My right leg is still growing and is 2+ inches longer than my left.

I have thyroid problems, I have battles with cholesterol. I also have sinus bradycardia I have.

Do I tire easily? yes
do I need naps yes and I take them and I am encouraged by my wife and kids to do so. I am tired for a reason so I don't ignore it.
Yes I use a cane and yes I have a wheel chair I have to use not all the time but use it as needed
I wear leg braces on both legs that support my ankles
I wear compression hose on both legs, right arm and chest

I also have been just been diagnosed with lymph-edema

I also have IBD

I also have a vaso constrictor disease.

I am fighting some type of animea. The reason I say some type is that at first it was iron then b12 and not both are fine and we are still in the process trying to get to the cause. I do have a spinal AVM which is symptomatic.

I can fall asleep in a heartbeat. I have been trying to get to the bottom of it. I have had a doctor suggest that since I already have an AVM that it's possible that I have more than one and that the most common place is the colon and they can bleed causing mild anemia and fatigue. Also my spinal AVM can cause fatigue also.

I say if you are tired rest if the weather affects you then it affects you. We are all different and don't let anyone especially a doctor tell you that you are crazy or that what you are going through is normal or not medical.

I have had doctors tell me I can walk as much as I want and I have had doctors tell me that my neurological pains/problems may not even be medical. I have had doctors tell me I have golfers elbow in my right arm when I don't or can't even use my right arm that much anymore. I have had doctors tell me that A septic cellulitis does not even exist and yet it does.

Weather does effect me. in the summer my arm and hand swell and is painful. All year round if I get cold my hands and toes on my right side go numb. Now I am finding out that it appears this is all from my lymph-edema.

My hands and toes are always colder than average body temp

My entire birth mark goes purple when I am cold.

I have osteo perosis

I have a tilted pelvis

I have scoliosi

I have terrible cramping in my hand, legs, feet, arms and back.

In my experience doctors tend to be very PC and will tell you that you can do anything ETC.

As a child I was told to work and push through and no pain no gain, to me as a parent that is cruel as it does not allow for a person or me to put limitations on ones self and to learn balance and moderation and to stop and also it causes one to work way more/harder and beyond ones limitations. Following the "push through it/suck it up" attitude landed me with a wheel chair and cane at age 35 and I have two teenage kids that now have a dad who can't do as much with them as they would like.

From a very young age like 7 I worked various businesses which included a lawn care business, during that time we also owned a do-nut shop and I worked that at night in Jr high and mowed lawns during the day. I also worked as a bus boy my senior year before I went into the military at 19.

All I knew as a kid was that I had a birth mark and had no idea what I had. I was not even symptomatic. I went into the military and with in weeks of basic I started having ulcers, cramps, varicose veins and other problems.

I was a part of the first golf war (gulf war vet) and got out after 12 years of service and while I was in I held other jobs outside the military like off base jobs and even worked on base doing NCO club work.

When I got out I went straight to work and at one time had two jobs and was going to college. I was married about my third year into my military service and got out of the military with two kids. All this time suck it up and push through it were all that went through my mind.

A year after being out of the military while working a night shift I had a blood vessel break through my leg, and within a few days I was back to work. I still had no idea what was going on.

So yeah I have been the whole work thing and pushing through. I wish I had done it differently, I wish I had taken easier jobs in the military and even in the civilian world. I had other friends who had diseases in the military cross trained to help with their health

My wife gave up an outstanding federal job to go overseas with me so that I would have a stable home and that our children would have at least one parent to take care of them. She is now taking care of me and fighting for her life with cancer. I wish I would have learned to take it easier sooner.

Please, if there is one thing I have learned that from other people that feel they are failures if they take disability or that your are not successful if you are not a working part of society,or that you are being a leech. I have heard all of this from other people who are dying with cancer and have kids younger than me and they feel that if they stop working or don't rest when they feel they need to they are failures.

I have had to take a huge cut in money and make huge life changes to adjust and it was hard to even except the fact that I was disabled and still I fight it all the time.

what I don't understand is how people think those who are on SSDI are leeches when the money is not even that much.

Even in the military most lower grades to mid range grades are drawing wick and food stamps because the pay for military is so low that you qualify for federal aid, and yet, they are some of the most productive parts of society

On the medical front I come at this from a very different view. My wife is Asian and so she also has a different view and is part of a medical system that has worked for thousands of years. I am part of the Veterans medical system and so they do take blood tests all the time and that is how we monitor my thyroid, anemia and cholesterol

Do I take pain meds NO, there is a good reason for this. I don't like taking drugs just so I can mask the pain and "suck it up and work through it" I changed my diet to deal with my cholesterol and it works, one of the side effects of the cholesterol drugs is leg cramping, so I am worried that the cramps I get from KT could also be from the drugs and my doctor could not even tell me how to tell the difference from the kt leg cramps or the drug causing cramps and he could not tell me.

I can't take aspirin due to blood thinning esp since I bleed real easy from my birth mark and I have to worry about my AVM

for my thyroid I have changed my diet and taken supplements and well my blood test results show that my TSH etc is right where the doctor wants it.

I drink nettle tea about a qt a day to help with a lot of problems. I am taking horse chest nut for my veins

We do our own milk kefir, water kefir , and SCOBY.

we make our own tofu, kimichi and other foods.

we shop at local farmer markets

we grow what we can so we know where it comes from.

It's cheap to live this way and we as a family are healthier. My kids are hardly ever sick with colds or flus. It saves a ton on medical bills also

I also don't eat fast food. I am blessed to have a wife that makes everything homemade.

We kinda take it as a badge of honour that we have no pantry full of tin cans of food. The most we might have is a few glass jars of tomato paste.

I was a fast food maniac until I found out what i had and then I made the changes and I am sorry that it took me so long. I would be doing better now had I listened to my body.

klippel trenaunay and today and the last few days

2009-07-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

I have been having more and more back pain again. I have to say that it's really bothersome and painful :P

My back locks up on the left side and I am guessing that it's my leg length difference. When it does lock up I can't even walk. I wear a knee brace on my right leg because of he arthritis that I have in my knee. Again I think the arthritis is related to the KT but I have to keep saying I think because the VA has yet to supply me with a doctor that is willing to actually have these things looked into and say if they are related or not.

I have this spot on my left back that seems to be more and more bothersome that anything else. I have a small birth mark that crosses over to my left upper back and when it acts up it feels like I have something walking on my skin. I have had episodes where pain will radiate down my left arm. My doctor did touch and manipulate it a bit to see of the spot and the pain are related and it seems to be.

I was also fitted for ankle supports for both legs. They had to take casts and had them made for me. I feel like a walking prosthetic advertisement because of all the items I wear.

I do tire out fast from having to wear everything on my lower limbs

I also just started having sores appear on my back that just kind of peel off like a blister but they itch. They are like a cross between an ulcer and a blister.

This last week seems to have been a very bad one when it comes to pain and lack of energy. I hurt my right ankle just by squatting down and having my left foot flat and my right foot with the heel off the ground. It seems that I did something to the front joint where you foot bends up and down. I could not walk on it for the rest of the day.

right now as I am typing I have a lot of pain in my left arm and my back so I am going to close for now and get to bed

what it's like for me at 41 years old and Klippel or what ever I have

2009-07-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

When I say what ever I have, I mean that. I have be told by a doctor/s that I have klippel trenaunay, Parks Weber and even possible Sturge Weber or a little of each

I have had doctors have told me that I have parks weber. I have concerns that I have parks weber as I have an AVM that is connected to my thoracic artery.

Wow where do I start? I have a lot of pain, I have a lot of cramping in my right leg and right arm. When I sleep at night I have a lot of cramping in my right and left leg. I just have to move a little the wrong way (what ever the wrong way seems to be for the night) and a huge cramp will hit me. I just have to try and stretch out and I get a very painful cramp. My right hand will cramp if I grab something IE: I can try and close my dishwasher and my fingers will just cramp. Days will go by and no cramping and then all the sudden my fingers will cramp, I can even be doing the same thing I have done for the last several days.

To describe my symptoms/look hmmm

1. I have a birth mark that goes down my entire right side of my body. I also have a bit of a birthmark on my left back shoulder. I have a small birth mark on my head and back of neck. The birth mark looks pink in some areas red in others and dark purple in others. When I have a fever it turns bright red to pink and when I am cold it turns purple.

2. My right leg is about 5cm longer than my left leg. About every part of my right side is larger than my left IE: My right arm is longer and larger than my left, my right butt check is larger and my right breast is larger than my left. My right leg has grown about 2cm in the last year and appears to still be growing

3. I have at least one AVM that is connected to my thoracic artery.

4. I have chronic venous insufficiency in my right leg

5. I have swelling bad enough in my limbs that I wear compression hose on both legs and chest and right arm.

6. I have a vaso constrictor disease affecting my right foot/toes and my right hand/fingers.

7. I have chronic eczema on my right leg I also just started getting eczema on my right arm.

8. I get ulcers on my right back, right arm and right leg. I just started getting multiple ulcers on my right leg and they feel like they will make my leg explode.

Now to things I have been diagnosed but I am trying to find a doctor at the VA hospital that will tell me whether these items are caused or related to KT.

1. Anemia
2. Ostio penia
3. sinus bradycardia
4. Sinus Arrhythmia
5. 21 degree curve in my spine (scoliosis)
6. hiatal hernia
7. inguinal hernia

I am sure there is more but I can't think of it right now.

I just got what I call my "man bra" last week. My right breast is larger and swells. They had me go for a ultra sound and it appears have thickening skin and a lot of blood vessels.

Well I am stopping for now and going to eat and call a night

my trip to the dermatologist

2009-07-13T21:38:00.001-07:00

Well I went :P and gee what surprise I had atopic dermatitis. It took about two to three months and about 5 trips to the VA hospital and three different docs to figure this out.

My Vascular doc was the one that supposedly knows about my syndrome/klippel trenaunay. Last time I saw her I asked if she treats anyone else with this syndrome and she with a very happy enthusiastic attitude that would shame the Beav replies I saw someone last week!!!!!!

Now to me seeing someone and actually treating someone is totally different. My wife's GP saw me and then sent me to a vascular doc and the vascular doc treated me.

This same vascular doc is supposed to be starting a new career at the best heart hospital in the state. I found this out as I was trying to get seen there, as they were the ones that actually diagnosed me with KT even though I had been seen for the past 5 years at the VA hospital with no diagnoses, in fact two years prior there was a very small note on a bottom of a page that showed klippel trenaunay with a ? and this was never followed up. Anyway I called and they said I would be a prime candidate for their new doctor and they gave me the name. I had to verify that this person they are hiring is the same one from the VA hospital and well guess what it was the same Doc.

I explained to the Vascular department at this heart hospital that this new doc they were going to hire was not the greatest and that she was one of the main reasons I contacted the directors\office at the VA hospital. I explained that she when she tells her patients to call if a condition worsens that she will not return phone calls. I also explained that this doc blew off my right side pain that had been getting worse over the past three days was actually a gall bladder attack this was confirmed after I left her and went to the emergency room.

I did tell this hospital that if they hire this person I will never go back to them again.

This was the last appointment I had. I did see a neurologist before this appointment and it went a little better. The doc actually got up in the middle of the appointment and went and looked up my condition. I was surprised as this has never happened before. Most docs when asked if they know anything about klippel trenaunay they say no or that they just looked up a few minutes before I cam in.

Well I will close for now and blog to you later

Klippel and new things

2009-07-13T13:19:00.000-07:00

What is happening in my life with klippel the last few weeks?

I have had a few appointments at the Veterans Hospital the last few weeks.

I think I mentioned before that I had a rash on my right arm, which there is also a birth mark. I have had it few months and I have been up to my vascular doctor now three times. My doc has no clue what it is and in my records she has it down as bug bites and other things.

Side note here, my doc put in the records that the rash could be a bug bite. I would think that if I had a bug bite for three or four months that didn't heal and was raised and itchy and hot to the touch that I would think that the time for taking anti-itch cream and motrin had long passed

So I had to see my primary care doctor first to get into dermatology. This was a walk in appointment. While I was sitting the waiting room an older veteran came in for a walk in appointment also and he seemed like he was quite uncomfortable, after he had been waiting for an hour someone asked him if he was okay. I overheard that he just came from another clinic that sent him here to his primary care doc to have his blood pressure checked. His current blood pressure was "189 over 111". One of the other men in the room went and talked to the person at the counter and told her about this other guys blood pressure and it needing to be checked and how high it was. The response from her was don't worry about it and asked for the next person in line. So this person had to wait about an hour and a half just to have his blood pressure checked.

I got called back by a nurse to check me in and take my blood pressure and other things and I also told her that this guy had been waiting for over an hour and a half to get his blood pressure checked and she blew me off. After taking my vitals she sent me back out to the waiting room and there I sat until she came out and told me that the doc would do a consult to dermatology. He didn't even look at it or anything. The only reason I was there waiting to see my doctor was that I had been told that in order to get to dermatology was that my PCP had to see my rash.

So that was like three weeks ago and well I had my dermatoglogy appointment last week and I will blog about that later

How abominable my VA hospital treat Veterans

2009-06-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

I have seen how badly my VA hospital treat our wonderful veterans, who have and still are putting their lives on the line for these so-called doctors and various staff that work with these heroes everyday.

My VA hospital treats its veterans like they are second class citizens or even like scum of the earth. They might as well call us citizens and not even go by our first names. I compare being called "citizen" as being called a walking dead moron that has no brain and could be lumped in with lemmings. The government has a way of using the word citizen as if it was supposed to be a nice thing but in reality it's a very patronizing.

One day I was sitting in an office waiting for the doctor to see me and in the next room I hear the doctor I was supposed to be seeing start yelling at a patient because he was 10 minutes late for his appointment. I hear the poor veteran apologize in a tone that one might think he was on the verge of getting a good beating.

I was in the emergency room waiting for a doctor and I saw what appeared to be two doctors come from a patients room and tell a nurse that he (the doctor) made a mess and it needed to be cleaned up. About a half hour went by and the same doctor told another nurse that just came on duty that the patient in room such and such messed himself and it needed to be cleaned up, the nurse acknowledged it and then the doctor walked out and left. At this time the nurse went and sat down and did nothing. I was there at least another hour in the hall waiting to be discharged and nothing was done. That makes this at least an hour and a half that this poor person was lying in their own mess for that time.

Another time I was there at the hospital to have an operation done. After the operation they left me with my family in the hall as they had no room for me to recover in. I was there waiting in the hall with my family for about two hours and when they did kind of have a room I had to sit on the edge of the bed as hey had not cleaned the room yet. When I was at the nurses desk waiting for paperwork, a patient kept hitting the call button and the nurses kept shutting it off and complaining about the very same patient hitting the call button. We were there at the desk for a good 15 minutes while this went on, of the call button being shut off the and patient being ignored. finally the patient actually started yelling out of the room for help. Another patient was yelling out of their room for a nurse and that they needed a blanket because they were cold. There was trash on the floors and counters. I told my wife that there was no way I was staying here over night and that I will get discharged and leave.

There are stories of veterans waiting 4-6 hours later than scheduled appointment times(this is the norm in some parts of the hospital)

enough for now

My KT today

2009-06-15T15:32:00.000-07:00

So for my first blog about my Klippel-Trenaunay I am going to talk about today and my visit to my Veterans Hospital and about how I have been treated today and over the last couple of weeks.

I went today to get measured for a chest compression vest, compression hose for my left arm and compression chaps for my legs and my wonderful swelling larger than normal right buttocks.

I also went and got copies of my bone density scan and my ultra sound of my spleen and some blood work up. I had no idea that I had switched sexes and that I was "post menopausal"!!!!! That is what my bone density scan stated. This is a normal snafu for my VA hospital.

Where to start!!!! People might say the beginning but that is just to obvious so I will start at a place that is somewhere near the present.

I had an appointment or should I say a walk in appointment at my vascular clinic. At my veterans hospital

(please note that to see a vascular doctor can only happen once a week on a Monday between the hours of 1 and 3 maybe 4 pm. now if a holiday is on that day your screwed because they don't make it up. If you have not been seen in the clinic for six months then you have to go back to your "primary care" doctor to get a referral and it can take weeks to get an appointment.)

This appointment was not planned, on the previous Friday I had a ultrasound of my spleen and two days later I had terrible pain on my right side. It was not until I thought about it, that to me and as I am a layman and not to medical trained :P but why would my right side hurt if my spleen is on my left side and then I remembered that he did all the ultrasound on my right side and nothing on my left. Maybe they can see everything on my right side and still get a good picture of my spleen. I have had an ultra sound of my spleen before and I thought it was all done on my left side. Well back to the story as it were, I went to the vascular clinic to see them about the pain on my right side and I was concerned that it could be problems with my KT as the whole right side of my chest has a birthmark and I also have vascular malformations in my right chest.

I get to the clinic and they check me and the nurse tells me that this will be the last time I can do a walk in and that I will now have to schedule appointments from now on. This would not be a problem if, like any normal doctor I could call and make a same day appointment or even get seen a day or so later and even speak to a nurse and have the doctor call me back. At this veterans hospital getting calls back is like pulling teeth out of an anteater. Unlike most doctor offices to make an appointment you have to wait some times hours on the phone or try and wait for a call back which only happens 1/4 of the time. The phone system sucks and they no it and well it seems they don't care. There was a time when you called that you would at least be told how many people are in front of you now you just have to wait and no estimated time is given.

I am also at this appointment because I have a small patch on my right arm near the elbow that might be cellulitis or eczema or something.

To give some back ground on this I had an appointment a few weeks prior to show this rash/thing to my vascular doctors. I say doctors because it's rare to see the same doctor when I visit the clinic. The doctor I did see looked at it and then had me do blood tests to check my white blood count, she told me that she would call me the following day with the results. She did call and said that my white blood count was fine and just give it a few days and it should disappear. When I asked her if she knew what it was she said she had no idea and told me to call back if it does not go away after a few days.I had doubts that it would go away because I had already had it for a few weeks now. It was raised and did burn and was warm to the touch and looked weird. The doctor put in my records that there seemed to be no swelling or redness.

The patch never did go away and I did make that call and guess what the doctor never called me back, gee what a surprise.

Now that I can get off the back ground and get back to the present appointment

So I get checked in and put in a room and had a good laugh about being told that I would not be allowed to do walk ins again, the doctor comes in and it would happen to be the very same doctor that told me to call back if the rash didn't disappear. So I told her about the chest pain and she tells me to give another few days and call back if the pain is still there, again the great big blow off and when I tell her that the rash is still there she tells me to go home and put some anti itch cream on it. She tried to blame it on a bug bite or a sting from bees I raise or did raise. I lost both hives long before this rash. I explained that I was worried because it was on my birth mark and that the rash has been there now for three weeks that it could be more than a rash on my birth mark and again she blows me off. I also explain that I am worried that the chest pain is more than just pain as it is on the same side as my birth mark and again she blows me off.

So I then proceed from her office which by the way was the end of the day and I have to wonder if that might have been the reason for blowing me off then reality hit and said gee it makes no difference what time of day it is, they always blow me off.

I went to the emergency room to check in and have the right side pain. while I was there they did an EKG which did show "sinus arrhythmia". I do have sinus bradycardia which I am worried about because it is symptomatic. It's my understanding that with KTW sinus bradycardia can occur. The nurse there was the first person in 10 years at this VA hospital the agreed with me the sinus bradycardia can and will cause dizzyness. Everyone at this hospital is like you should be happy with a low heart rate. The problem with this is that I am not a marathon runner and I am also not over weight and so as I am not that overly fit and I have dizzyness and other problems that show me as symtonmatic, then one would think the doctors might take this a little more serious.

After being in there for two hours and blood test, x rays and urine tests, the doctor tells me that I have gallstones. The says that if I continue to have pain or fever you know all the signs of urgent care needed now then I need to come in and they will yank out my gall bladder. He also tells me to stay away from fried and fatty foods. I did tell the doctor that I was vegeterian and did not eat out and was away from fried foods it didn't seem to matter as I saw him again about 20 minutes later and asked how he knew that I had gall stones and he said he read it off my ultra sound I had done the prior week, and at this time again he stated to stay away from fried food ETC again blown off.

I do have concerns that I was just blown off and given a off the cuff reason for the pain as I am asymptonmatic for gall stones.

well enough for now and I will try and do another one today