Friday, October 28, 2011

Labwork Debacle

1) Yesterday, I go to local hospital lab for prog. and estrogen labs.  The lab tech says they will fax to CCRM by lunchtime.
2) I call local hospital to confirm labs have been faxed.  They say yes. 
3) I email CCRM to confirm receipt of labs.  They email me at 4:00 and say no labs.
4) I call local hospital.  They say blood is being sent off to other location for testing and will not get results until Sat. WTF?!  
5) Husband and I decide to drive to Tupelo hospital lab because we know they can at least do testing in hospital, so I can get results Friday.
6) 3:00 pm today, I email CCRM to confirm they received labs from Tupelo hospital. 
7) Receive msg at 6:30 my time that they did not receive labs. 
8) Call Tupelo hospital and they say they sent results through computer.  I said, no, you have to fax them, CCRM is not in your computer.  She says get nurse to call me and I can release records.  Then she calls me back and says, it's ok, I found another time where we faxed the results to CCRM, so I can fax them without talking to your nurse.  
9) Thank god!  

If you have even bothered to read the above tedious litany, it is just outlining the all the bs and beaurocracy of hospital labs and their inability to execute a simple little thing as an out of state Lab order.  

Yesterday, I lost it on the local lab people. I will never step foot in there again.  Fortunately, Kathryn, my CCRM nurse, calmed me down and let me know that this labwork is not absolutely urgent.  

I have never had a problem with Tupelo hospital lab getting the results faxed, so I don't know what happened.  The lesson here is follow-up, follow-up and follow-up. 

CCRM doesn't really help matters in that they wait until 4:30 to tell me they haven't received my labs.  I guess since I am pregnant, I'm not top priority, which is understandable I suppose. 

I cannot wait to be off all these supplemental hormones, because that will mean not having to schlep myself over to Tupelo to get blood drawn and then worrying about my labs getting faxed to CCRM.  

I am definitely feeling "morning sickness" that lasts all day.  I am also experiencing some reflux.  I bought my box of Saltines yesterday and  I think they really do help.  All thought of food makes me feel nauseasted.  I hope this goes away soon. 

Well, thanks for letting me vent my frustrations that come with out-of-state FET.  I hope everyone has a very stress-free weekend!


8 comments:

  1. Oh man, that's aggravating - stuff like that has been happening to me a lot lately (not even just with IF) and it really drives you nuts. I totally agree that the only thing to do is not leave ANYTHING to chance - the second you relax things get screwed up!
    I'm glad you got it worked out in the end. And I most glad that you are "feeling" your pregnancy - as much as nausea sucks, just think about what it means!

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  2. Oh wow....so annoying! I have had my fair share of issues trying to get my local labs to get stuff done same day for CC.RM. They just don't seem to get it and it's super frustrating! And you are SOOO right...you have to be your own advocate and follow up, otherwise you'll get lost in the shuffle. I'm glad you got it all sorted out and I hope your nausea and reflux settle down soon.

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  3. ugh! how frustrating!!! so sorry you had to go to such lengths to get your testing done : (

    Mo

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  4. You're almost done with the lab nonsense! Yay! Sorry you're sick :(. I have severe reflux so I hope your getting it so early doesnt mean you'll end up like me! Vent anytime!

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  5. Unfortunately, I think the need to stay on top of things is the norm vs the exception. Good thing you followed up.

    Personally, I don't think you are lower priority because you are pregnant. I think that, like most businesses today, many employees are expected to maximize their productivity and handle more patients than they ever have in the past. Since CCRM has no shortage of clients, I wouldn't be surprised if the nurses and staff are overworked and don't get to things as quickly as they might have in the past.

    For the heartburn, my nurse started me on Zantac 150. When that didn't work, she put me on the generic for Protonix and it has been WONDERFUL! I take one pill each morning and have NO heartburn anymore! There is no reason fof you to suffer and I highly recommend looking into it.

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  6. Oh, the joys of hunting down your labs. It will be nice once you are done with this part. I hope the nausea doesn't get any worse, otherwise it sounds like things are progressing nicely for you.

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  7. Sorry for the frustrations. I dealt with a lot of the same stuff. It's so frustrating. I mean, why is it so hard? What I ended up doing was getting my labs drawn, then driving back to the lab a couple hours later, getting the results, scanning them in and emailing to my nurse at CCRM. It was a hassle but worth it to avoid the not knowing if/when my labs would get sent. But I think your lab's too far away to make that feasible?
    Hope the morning sickness isn't too bad. Glad everything seems to be progressing nicely. :)

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  8. I hear ya! We had the same problems with lab work. We suspected it might be that CCRM is so busy they don't keep very good track of lab work. Bc seriously I couldn't believe that EVERY week our hospital f'ed up faxing the results. But the lesson was the same regardless of who was to blame - follow-up, follow-up, follow-up. ugh! It's so frustrating but the time really does fly by!

    I too had m/s from all the meds. I thought the silver lining was that it was a reminder that I was preggers :) Hope yours is manageable!

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