Today, I went to the doctor's for the third time in a week for a huge growth under my jaw. I have seen an urgent care doctor, an emergency room doctor and an ear, nose and throat specialist who all gave me different diagnoses. I've so far spent $300. FML
Collection
Halloween
A failed costume, stolen candy and a very real scare: Halloween, the one night when fear is allowed.
Today, I'd finally had enough of feeling awful and went to urgent care. As it turns out, the reason my throat was sore was because I have a sinus infection. The doctor explained my nose is producing pus, and that's what I'm swallowing and coughing up. Yuck. I also have pink eye on top of that. FML
Today, my dentist called and told me that the surgery to remove my wisdom teeth - which I desperately need and saved for a year to be able to afford - will actually cost nearly $2000 more than originally stated. The surgery is supposed to be in three days. FML
Today, I rushed to urgent care after suddenly developing a dark spot in the vision of one of my eyes. Long story short, I paid $110 for the doctor to remove an eyelash. FML
Today, it was the fourth time I've had major dental work done, because my dentist messed up my root canal. After almost a dozen needles, three missed work days, over $1,000, and 2 broken tools, I only have a tiny, barely-successful filling to show for it. FML
Today, after three months of wait, I expected to have a diagnosis and treatment plan from my doctor. Instead, I got an appointment with a surgeon "just to be sure", and an appointment with a GP to get referrals to two other doctors for more appointments. Meanwhile, my health gets worse and worse. FML
Today, I finally got insurance after months of paperwork, and so I went to the doctor. I was billed $873 for a "consultation" that pretty much consisted of being weighed and told to "Google it." FML
Today, and for the past 2 weeks, I've had a massive pain in my throat. It went down for a while with antibiotics, but when it came back I had to go to the hospital for an emergency surgery. There was a 3 cm abscess growing in my throat. Happy birthday to me! FML
Today, the gums around my wisdom teeth are so badly swollen that I can't talk. I called a dentist to find out if I could see them for a removal. They told me to contact a surgeon, or go to the hospital emergency room. I have no insurance. FML
Today, I woke up to the most excruciating pain in my jaw. No dentist that takes my insurance has any openings, and the one doctor I can see to get antibiotics isn’t in. FML
Today, after two root canal procedures done on the same tooth in last two years, the tooth had been acting up for a few days, so I went in to get it checked. Turns out, it got infected AGAIN and I gotta get a THIRD root canal done on the same tooth. FML
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Top comments
doggone456 0
hey your better safe than sorry, money can be replaced and gotten back, a person can't, u might wanna get a PET scan on it to see if it's cancerous or benine
ktbird 0
It seem obvious to me that you should trust the third doctor (the expert). ER and urgent doctors are adept at all medicine but only experts at emergencies like trauma.
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Comments (112)
katey280 0
that kinda.. sucks :•
caelrion 1
:D
El_patron 0
in Canada health care pays you
rockefoe 6
you need Dr. House
iSitt 0
is it lupus ?
jmcu 0
Wow, wouldn't it have been great if your government had pushed harder for universal healthcare?
tino9824 0
maybe you should live in canada!
Sikk33 0
I would like to know why, if your able to make all these appointments.. did you waste money on an emergency room visit??
ktbird 0
Scenario: "What is this bump? I should go get urgent care to look at it since I don't want to wait at the ER." "I don't feel confident about that Dr's diagnosis. I'm going to go ahead and go to the ER." Then the ER Dr would have given him a referral to the expert, as they always do:
hahaalolz 0
or a swollen lymphnoid, which is most likeyl the case if it's tender to touch and is off to the under side of your jaw. :D
DocBastard 40
"lymphnoid" made me chuckle. Any doctor should be able to diagnose lymphadenopathy or an abscess. My guess based on the location would be a branchial cleft cyst if it's been that hard to diagnose. Sorry about all the big words.
DocBastard 40
Chaos- it certainly could be mono, but that should be easily caught by any doctor worth his salt. It's also easily ruled in or out by a monospot test. Ayame- glad to help. It doesn't sound like gout- that usually presents as podagra, which is a painful inflammation of the hallux.
MissErikaHart 0
39 maybe I read this wrong but I hope ur not trying to become a nurse focusing on the knowledge u gain from fml.
tbfldftba 0
I was just about to Suggest it might be a cyst. OP, have you gotten an ultrasound done? They might be able to determine what it is that way.
jbuckets_404 39
Yea, duh; dem words polysyllabic....
FFML_314 12
It's called a zit.
Sikk33 0
More like a boil lol
sweetcheeksjvl 0
no a cyst
lrjlo 11
Maybe they went to the emergency room and then got referred to the others? I don't know how things work in the US. People complain about the NHS but the stories on this site make me feel so glad it's free in the UK.
queencitystoner 0
yupp Canada too :D being. very accident prone, I'm very grateful for it.
Penguinman909 7
The NHS is great for me as in this year alone I have broken 6 different bones.
queencitystoner 0
no not sad at all, the healthcare system in the states is brutal. I really feel for you guys down there. It blows my mind that doctors can turn people away. this is why I love Canada. any hospital, in any province I'm in, I can go and seek medical attention(witch for me is great as I tend to break bones and need stitches quite frequently lol) if at all possible I suggest moving to Canada, France, or anywhere with universal healthcare.
rainbowpurple 0
Yea, it is sad that you hate your own country. Especially if it's because you disagree with US healthcare and you do have a lot of health problems. Why would you want to wait weeks for to get an MRI or to see a specialist, or to receive surgery? Socialized healthcare is great for people who live healthy lives with the occasional accident but from chronic conditions, and especially unstable chronic conditions, healthcare in Canada/UK/Japan really isn't as great as it sounds. Under socialized healthcare, you might not pay anything, but you're also deprived of your ability to immediately get a second opinion and immediately receive diagnostic procedures. Despite what people say from personal experience, wait time in socialized healthcare, as an average, are long. Even the ER (in Canada), which in the US is mostly filled with people without insurance, on average, is a 2 hour longer wait than in the US (data from the Commonwealth Fund)--I find it hard to believe Canada has that many emergencies to clog up it's ER. Maybe the emergency rooms in Canada are inefficient or maybe people unable to see their doctors go to the ER. If your health problems are something like you're a hypochondriac or get the flu a lot, then yes, you would hate the US healthcare system, but if it's something like cancer, or chronic pneumonia, or something that requires a rapid-response system, then socialized healthcare isn't going to help you out. If you're middle to slightly lower class and don't want to pay, go to a clinic and beyond that, if you have a chronic condition, talk to whoever is giving you treatment. (Most) Doctors aren't doing what they do for money and most wouldn't be averse to helping their patients with way to make payments easier. Sorry if this is long and you disagree, it just gets old seeing people base their opinions off information from a biased source when they've never looked at the statistics. I prefer to base myself on what Bill O'Reilly tells me.
Tadeusz_fml 5
The British/Canadian etc. model has free social healthcare, which is just as effective as private. But if you're really so behind privatised medicine, there's private healthcare here as well. But to reiterate, socail healthcare is just as good.
Tadeusz_fml 5
As I have said before, countries with social healthcare usually have a private option too.
TheIrishJaneDoe 9
47: Some of us in the US would be thrilled to wait for healthcare. Know why? It means WE'RE GETTING HEALTHCARE. For a very real group of Americans, that just can't happen under the current system. At least, not without sacrificing other frivolous things, like, y'know, the ability to buy food. I personally think the current system is borderline criminal. I agree with oc on this one. There's a middle ground, and the US needs to find it fast. I don't see Obamacare as a solution to the problem, but it's a step in the right direction. I just hope we don't wind up taking two steps back when it doesn't fix our issues, and that Americans don't give up on the idea altogether.
cradle6 13
Agreed completely
MagicMushrooms 0
Healthcare for you in the US.
Danny300 0
You got that right. ;)
TheIrishJaneDoe 9
I agree with you, SOMA, that this sounds pretty typical. Doctors aren't all-knowing, and anything out of the mainstream takes time to diagnose. Unfortunately, /my/ first thought after reading this FML was "Only $300? This OP's in for a rude awakening." That's not much compared to what it's likey to become, even if the whole $300 was for co-pays. I hope this OP can afford to be persistent.
sweetcheeksjvl 0
Ahh nothing like doctors making $$$ off of people's sickness.
TheIrishJaneDoe 9
87: The MDs aren't the problem, IMO. I have no issue with doctors being paid well for their work; they go through a lot to get where they are, and spend an assload on the way there. It's the insurance and drug industries I have a big problem with.
Shokz992 0
What's that about free healthcare? It's sure fun living in any country that's not the US.
TomPusslicker 21
Solution: marry a Canadian. Go Canada, eh
ktbird 0
It seem obvious to me that you should trust the third doctor (the expert). ER and urgent doctors are adept at all medicine but only experts at emergencies like trauma.
docscientist 10
Well, they recommended him to the specialist I'm guessing, and a specialist will be bias to his area of expertise if the symptoms match, but may not necessarily be the correct diagnosis.
beeffyboy 0
true the specialist is a more professional source.
cole86 0
well hopefully you'll get them fixed
ladybuuggy 0
just go to a highly specialized doctor...to find out what it is, it's worth the money!
TheIrishJaneDoe 9
That can take months, if your insurance is even good enough to get an appointment.
ladybuuggy 0
it's worth the time and money to find out what's wrong, dumbass
Jimboom 12
It's called a second chin. Stop eating cream cakes and exercise more. That will be £100 please. Should have come to me first, you would have saved money. ;-)
doggone456 0
hey your better safe than sorry, money can be replaced and gotten back, a person can't, u might wanna get a PET scan on it to see if it's cancerous or benine
Terpaxsten 0
*you're *you *want to
hairdreser0nfire 0
benign*
TheIrishJaneDoe 9
Holy shit! Oc's naziing now?! My mind is officially boggled.
DankNissan 11
Why not beneight? Or benseven?