Can anyone tell me about this lab test?

Thanks, ladyjack51. I'd take her but she lives in Pennsylvania and I live  in NM. I'd call her doc but I think it's that whole patient privacy and hipaa that they won't give me any info on her condition or any of it. She'll be going to the doc on Wednesday I believe so I'll keep updated here. I would've at least liked the doc to have told her about having borderline emphysema the first time they saw it, even though it wasn't a concern. sigh. 

When she goes...tell her to tell them to add you as a proxy to your file and that they are allowed to speak to you about her condition at any time. This works...then you can call anytime you want to get some answers. Keep me posted.....ladyjack51

One more thought...have your mom write down the questions she/you have and she can ask them one by one or hand them to the nurse and ask her to write the answers by the time she has to leave...please. This works too and that way via phone u can help her with the questions before she goes and she can call you or skype/video chat maybe after? There are lots of ways you can be part of this...she just has to have permission in her file that they can speak with you.

If you mean "hype": in relation to patient privacy, it's not hype, it's about respect!  Wd you be happy to have your doctor give your health information to someone else? I'm sure any doctor would do so if your mother consented to it

No, I meant HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. I'm well aware of patient privacy and that's what HIPAA is for. That's why I stated I can't just call and ask about my mom's medical records. 

That sounds like a good idea! I totally forgot I can ask my mom to add me. Now just getting her to remember that is a different story, lol! I will def keep you posted. She's just been really depressed lately and no matter what I talk to her about, she seems OK, but I think after I hang up she's back to her funk. I hope the doc will give her more info.

Whoa Jude....she doesn't mean hype....she means exactly what she put...she's talking about HIPA laws that relate to patient privacy. Do you live in the States Jude ? If not, then I understand your confusion. But if you do live in the States...you have no reason to be so abrupt with her. I knew exactly what she was referring to......

Ladyjack51

If you know the time of her appt...call her while she is there and have her give the phone to the nurse so she can get permission and put it in her file. Or call the Dr office while she is there and tell them what you are wanting to do and they can get her to the phone and confirm it. You can get this done girl!!

As for Jude....she must live in the UK and maybe they don't have HIPA there. But even so....Jude has been known to be a bit abrupt at times....so I posted to her too...let's see what she says bc she was pretty sharp with you for no reason and we ain't having that on here! Lol...other than that, she tends to have pretty good info and tries to respond alot to people. So sorry for that.

Lol, it's been awhile since I've come on here for any type of advice/help and I felt like I just got jumped on. :P I know there's a difference with us and UK, even with doc reports! Quite confusing for me but I guess it's how it is. But anywho, ugh, my mom sees her family doc this Wednesday so I told her to write down a bunch of questions she wants to know and hand it to the nurse. I'll call her tmrw to see what time her appt is so maybe I CAN call while she's there. She's 2 hours ahead of me so I hope I'm not in class! But thanks girl, you're keepin me sane here lol. 

Aawwww...no problem. I'm blessed to help you if I can. Keep me posted!!

Sorry I misunderstood, I've never heard of it, but wouldn't have mistaken it for a word instead of intials except for the way you wrote it

Oh lay off me, will you?  Going to try & report me again, are you?   Or are you now the "we" who runs this forum?  I don't think so ...  

I'm not in the USA or the UK, I'm in Australia and it wasn't written as initials  or maybe I could've had an educated guess - it was written in lower case as a word and my reply wasn't to you anyway, and it wasn't abrupt, it just asked a sensible question in a clear way without any waffling around.  So sorry about that (not) .......

 

I you feel jumped it wuld be better to address the "jumper" direct, rather than add fuel to ridiculous little fires started by people with a personal axe to grind in relation to me.   

Yes I should've addressed you but I'm not on here to fight nor argue with anyone. I came here to look for advice and see if anyone else had any test results similar to my mom. The first comment you made in here was asking if my mom talked to the person that did the xray... No she didn't because usually an X-ray tech comes in and does the xray and you find out results later. You ask it's better to find that out better than asking a bunch of strangers on the Internet? True, but everyone has questions, no matter what they are, isn't that what these forums are for? For help and guidance, comfort?

She knows about the past 2 xrays showing borderline emphysema because she was finally able to go in her patient portal and read the last 2 xrays. No one has ever brought them up to her at all, most likely because she showed no symptoms to it until now.

My mother is 72yrs old; while that's not an excuse, she's not a health professional nor does she really know what to do when she feels certain ways. Sure it's important for her to take responsibility, and that's what's she's doing; going to a doc today to see what she can do about it. Unless you want me to come down hard on her like you are, she may not want my help anymore. Please don't comment here if you don't have anything comforting or helpful to me. I don't need someone coming down on me about why I'm here asking questions or what I should be doing. That's what we learn about first in healthcare, to have compassion and to understand our patients.

I'm not here to fight or argue or come down on hard on anyone and that's not what I was doing.   I'm not here to comfort anyone either and how do I know what's going to be helpful or not?   What I do try and do is pass on what I know from personal experience, which includes learning to take responsibility and ask questions of health workers who have the x-ray or other test results in front of them, which obviously forum contributors don't have.

My compassion for and empathy with others includes honesty:  I do a lot of writing other than on this forum and I don't apologise for my writing style being to the point without waffle.  

If I were being offensive the mod's would do something about it, it's not up to other contributors to decide or request that anyone else not post comments on here.   However, ouot of common courtesy I'll try and remember not to reply to any of your future posts if that's your wish.

Oh by the way, your mum's age has nothing to do with anything:  I'm nearly 68 and I can still stick up for myself when necessary - she's lucky you're there to support her in this, I do it completely by myself.

Well kudos to you being that age and doing things completely on your own. Every person is different; we're all not like you or other people that do things all on their own. My dad did looked up everything and did all his research for his disease on his own all the way up to the day he couldn't do things for himself and passed away. I'm 36 and I do a lot of things on my own, including looking things up, which is why I decided to post on here to see if anyone else had an xray that may have been similar to my mom's. So I'm saying that my mom is the way she is and so are you. She's not a savvy internet person nor does she know what kind of questions to ask her doctors because for the most part of her life, she's been well with no health issues at all up until they found her breast cancer. It doesn't help that none of her doctors bothered to mention her copd the first time around and the only way she found out she even had borderline was by looking at it herself and being completely shocked about it because no one said anything. Again, everyone is different and dont' view the world the same way as you. I can't help my mom physically; I don't live in the same state as she does so I try to comfort her the best way I can over the phone. 

No one's asking you to apologize for anything or the way you write or are. I'm well aware it's not any of the contributors to decide if you can post here or not. I didn't come to the forums for someone to interpret my mom's xrays, I simply asked if anyone had an idea or a more in depth idea of what my mom's xrays meant. 

I think it's terrible that your mum wasn't told about the copd and it must be hard for you not living close by.

I wasn't looking for kudos for anything, merely stating a fact:  I'd like to have family support with my health problems but it just isn't there, so your mum is at least lucky in that respect.

 

Hey girl, didn't get a chance to call my mom while she was at the doc today, but the doc scheduled for her to go in on the 25th for a stress test and a few lung function tests (which I had done for myself yesterday for my asthma). Doc wants to make sure it isn't a heart related problem so that he can prescribe her the right nebulizer. I told my mom on the phone, well now Iike THIS doc that you're seeing! He's actually helping you!

I just saw your reply to me tho a bit late....are you freakin serious? I never reported you or anyone on here although OTHER people have told me they have...so what the hell are you talking about? Everyone knows you can be rude and ugly as hell, which is embarrassing to those of us who welcome new folks on here. I was being nice and very light hearted by saying you can be abrupt but often have good info. I was never ugly to you. Once again you have been rude and crappy to me so my opinion stands. If you got reported I'm sure it was by someone you were hateful to, which is crazy bc people come here for help. Yes, I'm mad bc me and no one else on here deserves your stank attitude Jude.

Lol...glad this Dr is trying to help her. But I cringe to hear she has to have a stress test. I hated that really bad...I had one laying down and I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest when they speeded it up!! Has she ever had one? Just tell your mom to put in her file (hopefully she will remember) to talk to you. Keep trying! And....I'm so sorry you are seeing me lose my cool on here with Jude but shes accusing me of something I didn't do and she tried to get attitude with me for no reason. She and I went at it once before bc of her being rude to someone but we got past it and I never got really mad then. This time I'm mad bc she's wrong and bc she should NEVER get rude with anyone on here. Uugghh...enough about her! Lol

There are a lot of abusive terms in there, none of which I've ever used on this forum.   If it wasn't you who ATTEMPTED to report me (the mods were fortunately too sensible to take any notice and reassured me in a private email) you are, as just proved by that post, one of 2 or 3 people on here who have a go at me at every opportunity and who supported whoever it was who tried unsuccessfully to report me.

Sorry if I mistook you for some other member of the anti-Jude brigade, you all sound the same to me, boringly petty, illogical and well, boring....  I just wish you'd all find another more constructive hobby and leave me alone.   "Everyone" knoiws what? That wd include the many people who thank me for my clear information and support?  Everyone?   

What does "stank" mean?  Are you from the backblocks of Appalachia or Harlem or where?   Never heard of it, but for someone accusing me of being rud,:   you've used a lot of insulting terms in one short post.

 

Stank means exactly what I've said your attitude is and I think you can tell it's not a compliment. But its not a curse word...google it smart girl. But you probably ought to shut your mouth about Harlem before you start some racist crap on here as well. I'm not sure why you even brought that up.... just because you didn't understand the meaning of a word ? And trust me I haven't used nearly the amount of insulting terms that I'd like to or even as many as you have towards me but it's not a competition to me . Who's counting ? I just say what I mean and mean what I say . Again, you are wrong... the only time I've said anything to you about how you talk to people was when you attacked somebody new who came on here. I believe this is the second time. And for your information the only reason I even know that you may have gotten reported was somebody private messaged me who also didn't like how you were talking and said they had reported you before and was going to again. They did actually encourage me to report you as well but I didn't. I have a great idea...why don't you be kind to others then there won't be an anti-jude brigade!! I have nothing to say to you unless...you are rude to people. I can't promise I won't step in then.

I've heard the term used by black rappers, so I wasn't being racist.   Disagreeing with someone isn't attacking them.   I wasn't reported, someone TRIED to report me and was put back in her box & a moderator private messaged me to say I should've reported her!  

Disagreeing with someone isn't rude either, but I do find this post and your last one rude:  however, I can take it but I'm sure it's all very boring for normal grownups on here who are after information and honest comment, which is what I attempt to do and have frequently been thanked for.

Please - just settle down, will you?

It isn't my nature to argue and am happy to squash this...but.clearly you have a correction for everything I say, even when I tell you that your information about me is wrong. I just hope you will be kinder..that's all I ask. That's all anyone has ever gotten upset with you about.

Yeah girl, thanks for your advice for everything! I know, I'm a little sad my mom has to go thru more testing but at least we'll know more about what's going on... (they should've had this done when they first found this out *rolls eyes*). No worries about losing your cool, you were just standing up for me. I also didn't know that asking one question on here would result in feeling kind of crappy after asking it.. LOL. 

I'm truly sorry if anything I've written on this forum has caused you or anyone else any distress:  that certainly was not my intention and I wish you and your mother well.   

 

Don't you feel crappy about anything you've asked or else all my arguing was for nothing! Lol ..You never did say...has your mom had a stess test before? Is there anyone that goes with her on her appts? How far away do you live from her? You may have told me but I forgot...

Lol of course I feel crappy!! XD And of course I thank you for standing up for me or else I'd probably not come back here! No, my mom has never had a stress test done before. She's been healthy most of her life with the exception of smoking. She's all nervous but I calmed her nerves about the test *hopefully* lol. I live in NM and she in PA. Wish I could go with her to her appointments. Her hubby goes with her but I doubt he's any help.

No...I think you read that wrong...I was saying I don't want you to feel crappie...or else what I did was in vain. I wasn't asking if you feel crappie. Lol....I probably wrote it wrong. Anyways...no thanks needed and you are here so mission accomplished.

Dang I'm worried about her going thru the stress test...will it be a resting stress test or will she actually be on a treadmill? I mean, is she mobile like that? Well, hopefully the staff will make it bearable for her either way. I'm not sure how they do it for elderly people.

Lol I think I might have read it wrong but yeah. :P You didn't do it in vain. I'm still here because of the support. 

I'm not sure about the stress test. All I know is she's gonna be injected with some radioactive stuff and walk the treadmill, though I'm not sure if she was paying attention when they told her she was gonna do one lying down first lol. After those she's gonna have a PFT and an echocardiogram. Wheww, I do hope she's ok on that day. I told her to rest up the night before because she's got a loooong day ahead of her.

Wow...sounds like she's having both...mobile and immobile. She is not gonna like this and probably needs someone with her. It will be very ruff on her. On the one laying down...they literally inject you with speed...a high dose until your heart is beating at the rate as if you were running. My whole body was rocking on that gurney and I thought I was gonna have heart attack. It was scary to me. They have to let it beat for like 15 minutes like that and then they give another injection to slow you down. It was crazy. On the treadmill one, she is going to have to get her heart beating that hard herself by running. I don't know....I would love to hear what they do for her when she is done and how it went. I hope she does good...honestly I never want another one again!!

I've never come across the lying down one, it sounds horrible.  With the treadmill, I've found that I just go for as long as I can and if I can't cope any more I just stop.   Surely they can't make you run if you're not capable of it and I've only ever got up to a not very fast walk and they let me stop.

Good to know bc her mom is older so I was wondering how they would do it. So I guess they are going to try her on the treadmill and if she can't get a register then thats why they are saying she will do both. Still...I think it's gonna be alot for her mom to deal with on that laying down one. Hopefully they'll be kind. I asked them to stop mine...that's how freaked out I got but they wouldn't. They just kept telling me it's almost done to shine me on. Hhhmmm...just wish she could be with her mom but God will be with her.

Oh goodness, I know about the injections but had no idea it was going to be like that with her heart racing for that long! Ugh, and I told her not to worry so much but now I'm thinking I should tell her more about it before she goes in next week; though when she hears about these things she tends to get anxiety about all sorts of things but still wise to tell her. Why did you have to have a stress test done? I will definitely let you know what she has done on that day. I don't think I'd want to have that done ever! 

I do hope my mom only has to do the treadmill as the lying down one seems horrible. At least it's good to know that if she can't run anymore they'll let her stop. My mom takes walks every morning but I'm sure her tests are going to be far from a relaxing morning walk.

What';s the point of these tests anyway?   If she already has a diagnosis are they necessary?   I ask this because of recent publicity about how many pointless and unnecessary tests are ordered at either the patient's or the taxpayer's expense.

Has it been explained why they're even doing them?  I'd be asking that for a start

Apparently it's just about being sure that there's absolutely nothing wrong with her heart. So far she's just borderline copd/emphysema but her doc wants to make sure there isn't anything else. I know her insurance covers all these tests so I guess it's why she's just worried about what's going to happen at the test place. I've had an echocardiogram for my heart murmur just to make sure everything was alright since I've never had a murmur, or at least none that I'm aware of. 

I know I'm somewhat cynical, so please don't take offence, but I'll bet she wouldn't be having these tests if she didn't have insurance.   Putting her through tests she's apprehensive about isn't necesarry, they can't make her and there are other ways of checking for heart problems.   

I had 3 incidents which were thought to be heart attacks and then a real one years later and a couple of false alarms since, and the test usually done is an angiogram, which used to be quite invasive but is now done via the wrist.    The last time a doctor wanted to send me for a stress test I said I already know I can't walk fast or run because of my COPD, so I won't be able to do the test long enough to give any worthwhile results.

All the best