During one of the days when we were at Catanduanes over the summer vacation, Gina, our maid, kept on contacting us because of difficulty of urination. Since we cannot physically examine her at the time, we presumed it was urinary tract infection based on her symptoms. She only suffers from frequent epigastric pains before we left for the vacation. She already know what foods to avoid and the medicines to take. Nothing of this sort happened before.
We then prescribed her antibiotics for UTI and hoped that she'll be fine. On follow up calls she seemed not to improve. We then advised her to go visit a friend doctor of ours just so she can be properly examined. We learned later that day that the diagnosis was the same and she was just asked to continue her medications.
Upon arrival at home from the vacation which was around one week after her first call, we saw her lying in bed because of pain on her lower back right side. Though she no longer have difficulty urinating, this time her urine contained blood. My husband and I suspected the presence of a stone after physical examination. She underwent KUB ultrasound just for confirmation and to note for the exact size and location.
The result showed the presence of two stones, one inside the kidney and the other in the right ureter. We then gave her the appropriate medicines and she felt okay the following day but still on medications.
See how important physical examination is? Doctors discourage patients asking for treatment without being physically present. These patients send one of their close relative to the doctor hoping that the doctor will come up with the right diagnosis. Some patients just call or text the doctor for their conditions. Whether it is the patient or the relative who goes to the doctor, they pay anyway the doctor's fee. So why deter adequate physical examination for the right diagnosis if it means getting full recovery?Labels: kidney stone, urinary tract infection |
