When I arrived at St. Mary's for the test, the nurse curtly told me that they would not be performing the treadmill, and that they would only perform the standard Doppler test, as they had done a number of times in the past. Taken aback, I said, “But the doctor ordered it!” The nurse rudely told me that it was not the protocol at St. Mary’s to do the treadmill test. I was so upset, that for probably the first time in all these years, I talked back. I told her, “The hell with protocol and if you’re not doing the treadmill I’m getting off this table without any Doppler, putting my clothes on, and walking out of this hospital.” Agitated, the nurse snapped, “I’m calling Dr. Cowgill right now!” before stomping out. When she came back, she was very quiet and stern. She told me that she would be doing the test. As before, it was evident to me that they were not used to doing this treadmill test. Once again, after my time on the treadmill, she took too long to get me on the table and get the BP cuffs on. Worse still, she put the leg cuff on my arm, and by the time she got them switched, the pain in my leg had lessened as the blood began to flow back into my legs. This likely skewed the reading, as had been the case with the delay in my last treadmill test. Fortunately, the results were still useful in indicating my real problem, even if they were not as extreme as they might have been.
Dr. Cowgill signed off on the report, so he was the doctor that read the results. I'm not sure how he felt after the simple treadmill test showed what the wonderful machine he had been so excited about had failed to detect. I never learned what Dr. Cowgill's actual reactions were. Dr. Cowgill had his nurse call me to set up another angiogram, but she could not tell me anything about the results, perhaps because Dr. Cowgill had not talked to her about the tests. That he wanted an angiogram was a clear indicator that the tests had shown SOMETHING was wrong, even though he wouldn’t talk to me. The angiogram after the fem fem bypass was supposed to fix the problem, and I felt like I was starting over.
Having grown tired of being kept in the dark, and wanting to know more about what was shaping the decisions about my body, I had begun going to the patient records department at the hospital to get copies of my medical reports. I had seen the test results and knew what they showed. Despite the nurse's mix-ups during the procedure, the tests had given an important and dramatic reading. The results were very bad: 0.41R/0.40L. A reading of .50 is considered serious. Somehow I was now having blood flow problems in both legs. I was left to speculate about Cowgill's reaction to the tests, as he never discussed the test with me beyond his nurse saying that the test “warranted” an angiogram.
Dr. Cowgill signed off on the report, so he was the doctor that read the results. I'm not sure how he felt after the simple treadmill test showed what the wonderful machine he had been so excited about had failed to detect. I never learned what Dr. Cowgill's actual reactions were. Dr. Cowgill had his nurse call me to set up another angiogram, but she could not tell me anything about the results, perhaps because Dr. Cowgill had not talked to her about the tests. That he wanted an angiogram was a clear indicator that the tests had shown SOMETHING was wrong, even though he wouldn’t talk to me. The angiogram after the fem fem bypass was supposed to fix the problem, and I felt like I was starting over.
Having grown tired of being kept in the dark, and wanting to know more about what was shaping the decisions about my body, I had begun going to the patient records department at the hospital to get copies of my medical reports. I had seen the test results and knew what they showed. Despite the nurse's mix-ups during the procedure, the tests had given an important and dramatic reading. The results were very bad: 0.41R/0.40L. A reading of .50 is considered serious. Somehow I was now having blood flow problems in both legs. I was left to speculate about Cowgill's reaction to the tests, as he never discussed the test with me beyond his nurse saying that the test “warranted” an angiogram.
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