By the end of my first Ottawa ER experience, I was so frazzled and upset, if I had blogged anymore it would have just been super super nasty– I would have had nothing nice to say…at all.

(If you’re reading this blog–and no one reads this blog, since I don’t tell anyone about it or advertise it, so if someone is actually reading this blog I apologize for my language sometimes–I write this blog for myself. 🙂

The verdict in the Ottawa ER: Bladder infection.
Their solution: Cipro 500mg for 7 days.

What this means is,

THEY DIDNT LISTEN TO A FUCKING WORD I SAID.

(See, I write this blog for myself 🙂

Since I just did Cipro for **3 weeks** for a bladder infection that either didn’t go away or came back with a vengeance in October,

How in the world now could 7 days of Cirpo possibly treat an infection that 3 weeks couldn’t solve??

They *didn’t* hear a *fucking* word I said.

They completely ignored the letter Dr. Chapman, dismissing it entirely.

In this case, I don’t think my situation is life threatening, because if I need it I have a few weeks worth of IV antibiotics in my emergency stash I brought with me from the United States.

But,

the entire experience scares the living shit out of me. Maybe this was meant to be as a trial run, in preparation for a big time emergency, because I got a taste of what is to come.

Canadian doctors are waaaaaay too dependent on test results and other ‘evidence based medicine’ bullshit.

It’s bullshit, because ‘evidence based medicine’ ignores the percentage that each test has of false positive/false negatives, and is especially dangerous for me, a patient who has a documented history of false negative test results, and then have a disease process going on.

Doctors who prescribe to the ‘evidence based medicine’ philosophy place test results above patient word and patient experience.

They wrap themselves around ‘we know more than you’, and completely dismiss whatever they feel interferes with their assumptions.

I can not, ever, go back to that ER alone. Ever. That was my first mistake. It’s a rookie mistake, I know better, I was just naively believing that things were so much better here in Canada, that I didn’t need a body guard.

And yes, while many things are better in Canada, there are few key things that are much, much worse in Canada.

1) Doctors are more arrogant in Canada.

I’ve been to some top hospitals in the U.S. (like the N.I.H., I’ve lived in Hollywood for years, etc and I thought I’d seen my share of arrogant doctors, but they’re actually worse in Canada. Doctors in Canada think that their science knowledge trumps whatever we patients feel is going on with our bodies.

(The day we have tests for all diseases and those tests are 100% accurate, doctors are more than welcome to adapt this approach. But until then, doctors should be listening their patients first.)

Some doctors (like Dr. Chapman) are exceptions to this, but I’m feeling he’s more of an exception than the rule.

2) Doctors are more resistant to investigate your health complaints here.

This is kind of related to my previous complaint, but I was blown away how fast every complaint I had was dismissed the moment my urine came back positive–as if that explained everything. (Remember–I didn’t even want to go to the ER–Dr. Chapman insisted I go–but now that I was there, I wanted to get to the bottom of whatever we could (if we could), and the way they dismissed my concerns was horrifying.

Then when I did try to explain certain things, I could see many people thought was just lying or over exagaratting. What happened to doctors listening to their patients? How can you possibly listen to your patient if your brain is wired not to trust them?

And that’s how it felt–everyone was wired not to trust the patient.

3) It was horrifying the lack of communication with the ER and the doctors who actually know me.

Here I’ve been building this nice relationship with a doctor who I like a lot, Dr. Chapman, and then when I really need it–when it’s important, when I’m really sick–there is absolutely no communication.

As I sat in Dr. Chapman’s office begging him to find another way to help me besides sending me to the ER,

I told him, point blank, my fears regarding being dismissed and my health concerns ignored. He assured me that wasn’t going to happen, because he was going to write a detailed note.

And then when I got to the ER, the note was thrown out, and exactly what I had feared, happened.

This time?

Not life threatening, because I brought a small pharmacy with me, prepared for this moment.

Next time?

I could end up dead, ‘oh, she really was as sick as she said she was’.

If you had listened, you would have known.

I hit this total stone wall, of arrogance and ‘we know more than you’, with a complete disregard of history and a lack of interest in the truth.

They saw a healthy woman with a bladder infection, so that’s all they wanted to see.

I only wish it was that simple. I’d give my left leg for it to be that simple.