So theres this doctor at UMASS Worcester in Massachusetts. His name is Dr. Hirsch. He did my last two of my surgeries, and I had HUGE complications from them. First off, after my second surgery, I went home feeling fine...but then got REALLY sick. I was literally passing water from my butt. My mom called Dr. Hirsch to tell him that I was really sick, and you know what he said? He said "She's sick because she needs to get moving and get off the couch." Furious, my mom hung up the phone and took me to the emergency room, where I had 3 seizures. I had a kink in my intestine. I spent three weeks in the Intensive Care Unit. Because Dr. Hirsch didn't believe me.

And then, after my third surgery, I was in ICU and the nurses kept yelling at me to BREATHE, because my oxygen was at 80%. They were acting like I just was breathing lazily. I mockingly took ridiculously deep breaths, and it didn't go up. Oh, then it donned on them...maybe somethings wrong with my lung! Yep, my lung was PUNCTURED by my central line! You know why this happened? I wasn't supposed to be moved, but Dr. Hirsch left me without seeing my safely to recovery. So I had my side cut open while I was awake, and a tube stitched in for 3 days to drain the air.

Thanks Dr. Hirsch. But wait...it gets worse! This is recent. I had the most excruciating, miserable pain for 2 years. I dealt with it for 2 years because nobody could tell me what it was. Dr. Hirsch just didn't know. I finally was at the brink of killing myself because the pain was just consuming my life, and I was failing out of my sophomore year because of absences. I went to the hospital, and told them I refused to leave until they diagnosed and fixed me. You know what Dr. Hirsch did?

He sent the Psych team to my room. He told them I had severe attention disorders and that I was making up a seemingly nonexistent pain. I couldn't believe it! I was HUMILIATED! I was talking to my boyfriend and casually mentioned that I had kidney stones. I thought nothing of it because Dr. Hirsch knew I had kidney stones, so I though that if it could have been them, he would have said something. I asked Dr. Hirsch, could it be kidney stones? He said no, absolutely not. Completely disappointed, I left the hospital without any answers, once again. But my boyfriend kept pressing the kidney stone issue. So I got them checked out. Turned out, my kidney stones were over 2 centimeters wide, and this wonderful man named Dr. Avazyian said that it was OBVIOUSLY the kidney stones causing this pain. Immediately, I had them removed. It took three surgeries, and I missed a month of school, and in the meantime, got ridiculously addicted to vicodin....but once everything was done with....

the pain was gone. I had no more pain. None. There are some horrible doctors out there. If one EVER doubts you, see someone else. Trust me- you know your body better than any doctor does.

Chelsea, I am so sorry that you had such a bad experience. You are so right, there are some doctors out there that just don't listen to their patients, and if you still have pain, or problems, you just have to keep searching until you find the answers. Great post, and I'm so happy that you found the problem, and things are better. I'm just sorry it took you so long and you had so many problems.

janna