"The patient's palpable lump extends posteriorly from the sinus which is currently covered by gauze swab. There is a hypoechoic layer within the posterior lumbar region which is not present on the opposite side. This appears to be a contiguous layer which is most likely the current healing abscess cavity. There is no fluid collection within this cavity but there is a small amount of air and the palpable thickening is most likely due to granulation tissue within the wall of the cavity. Its overall dimensions were approximately 7x8cm with a depth of 0.7cm. There is no other mass lesion identified within the soft tissues of the back and in particular there was no evidence of a lipoma."
I was OK with that as a result (I read it before seeing the doctor), but he was most unhappy about it. He was hoping it was a lipoma as that would mean it wasn't anything to worry about. He was really impressed with the RDNS report and mentioned that it was excellent to have such great communication amongst medical teams. He made copies of both reports and gave me them in an envelope to give to the doctor I see at Flinders. He then sent a 'semi-urgent' referral fax to the Plastics team at Flinders outlining the problem as asking them to please see me before my regular scheduled appt (22 October) and giving them the details of the current situation. With added little stars and underlines. He told me that basically I was going to need to be in the care of surgeons as this was way beyond his capabilities. And that they may decide to do further surgery on the area. {{Great. Deep sigh}}.
Monday is a public holiday so the soonest I'd hear back from Flinders is Tuesday. Meanwhile, he prescribed another round of antibiotics and got approval for a months supply (again).
Well I'm off to find something else to do and think about. No point in dwelling on it.
1 comment:
Ahhh ... socialized medicine at it's worst. Sorry you're not getting better, dear ...
-- Richard (in the US, where health care is expensive, but a bit quicker)
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