Ultrasound and Prevention

I went in for an abdominal ultrasound yesterday.  I am starting to experience increased oesophageal pain, but with my costo-chondritis, it's really hard to pick the cause, and indeed this can easily be mistaken for oesophagitis in itself.

When I went into hospital in September 2006 I was showing gastro-intestinal symptoms.  My costo-chondritis (a rheumatic affliction) was actually diagnosed by a gastro-enterologist.  In February 2009 when I went into hospital and had a ruptured oesophagus, I actually thought the problem was a flare-up of the costo-chondritis.  (Fortunately this latter admission was diagnosed almost immediately and I was flown down to RNS hospital for emergency surgery within 8 hours - in 2006 it took twelve days to get a diagnosis, if it had've been a ruptured oesophagus then I would have been long dead).

Later today (9:30am) I am off to see Dr John Dowsett, who is a gastro-enterologist who will hopefully refer me for a gastroscopy.  An interesting piece of trivia is that back in 2006, it was Dr Dowsett himself who visited me in Gosford Hospital and diagnosed the costo-chondritis!

If I had had a gastroscopy in early 2009 I would have saved myself a hell of a lot of grief.  The rupture in the oesophagus was caused by an ulceration about 4cm long, which would have been festering for many months before it finally gave way and perforated the oesophagus.  It would have been picked up on a gastroscope quite easily and I could have started treatment BEFORE it ruptured.  So today we start using preventative techniques rather than reactive methods.

Mind you, the way Medicare works is strange.  Last year I spent 78 days in hospital, nearly four weeks of which in intensive care.  It would have cost tens of thousands of dollars for my treatment.  All of it was covered by Medicare.

What I'm trying to do now is prevent a similar occurence.  However I will have a bill for the gastroscopy and apart from the fact that Dr Dowsett is going to be generous and bulk bill my visits, I'd also have a bill for the specialist visit.  Medicare will cover part of these expenses, but nowhere near all of it.