Reduce Your Wait for Medical Results

You get a diagnostic medical test.

You then have to wait, often for unreasonable amounts of time, for the results. 

Each minute seems like an hour, and each hour seems like a lifetime. For you, time is suspended around one thing: the results.

The lab staff and other medical personnel tell you that it takes time for the test results to come in, that the diagnostics need to be sent to a lab in a faraway land, and that the doctor has a busy schedule.

Many in the medical field believe that patients waiting for results is just a part of the office protocol and you just have to hunker down, bite the bullet, keep the faith and a stiff upper lip, and wait for the doctor to get back to you when it is convenient for him or her.

So many patients comply with this nonsense, for a number of reasons, including feeling too intimidated by the medical system, wanting to be stoically brave, and thinking they have no options. I learned this the hard way when after being diagnosed with cancer (I got the results via phone from my doctor only two days after my biopsy), I then had to wait a week before finding out my prognosis.

And that wait was sheer mental anguish.

Frankly, waiting a long amount of time set by doctors (one week is too long, for example) is bogus. You have the right to know your test results quickly. Most results are in a lot sooner than medical staff would have you believe. With computers and databases, doctors can get results with the touch of a button. I have seen this with my own diagnostic test results.

Truth is, you have much more power than you think in getting the results on your timeline, not the medical personnel's:

Determine how long of a wait is acceptable to you. Hint: a week is too long.

Call the doctor's office and tell the staff that waiting a long time for test results is harmful to you psychologically and physically. Tell them you must know the results by a certain date.

If this method doesn't work, call the doctor's office repeatedly with the previously mentioned message. In short, make a pest of yourself. The goal is to speak with your doctor or another doctor as soon as possible about the test results.

Consider requesting the results by phone. This method isn't for everyone, but sometimes a phone call is better than waiting an entire week to see the doctor in person. You can still meet with your doctor in a week, but at least you will have your results.

Show up to the doctor's office without an appointment if you feel you are not making progress. Embarrass the staff in front of the other patients in the waiting room by telling the staff that you need the results on a timely basis. Shock value can work in your favor, and the staff might comply just to get rid of you.

Throughout the duration of the wait, do things that will relax you mentally and physically. For me, it was sketching and watching movies. Some people have their doctors prescribe Xanax. How each person handles the wait is different, so do whatever you can to cope.

One caveat: Throughout your self-advocacy, you do need to be as tactful as possible. However, you should be assertive, direct, and willing to overcome any fears to do what's right for you.

Remember, nobody can advocate in this arena better than you. All you need are courage, guts, perseverence, resilience, and passion for your cause.

Related topics on medical-related waiting and tools for dealing with them:

Re-examining the Waiting Room Wait

Ten Key Words to Help You Cope

Readers: Have you had to wait too long for diagnostic results? If so, how did you handle it? I really would like to hear your story.

This posting is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Calling the Shots: Coaching Your Way Through the Medical System. To obtain these excerpts regularly, please subscribe to this blog by clicking the orange subscribe button. I am a professional writer and have published numerous academic and magazine articles, as well as an essay on my breast cancer experience in the anthology Voices of Breast Cancer by LaChance Publishing. I can be contacted at bethlgainer@gmail.com and gainercallingtheshots@gmail.com.

Tumbling Dice and Music Will See You Through

Life is a crap shoot. 

Literally. 

Sometimes the dice turn out in your favor, and sometimes they don't. And life gets really difficult and complicated when you are battling a disease or put through a series of scary diagnostic tests.

When I had to endure MRIs, I would get claustrophobic, and the loud noises the machine made would startle me. For the first MRI, I took a Xanax and asked for earphones with classical music. Though I love classical music, it wasn't enough to drown out the dreaded "boom, boom, boom" of the MRI machine. I almost pressed the panic button several times and was sick from stress for the next few days. 

The next year, I took a different approach: I brought one of my Rolling Stones CDs and told the technicians to blast it. They looked startled at me choosing something they didn't consider relaxing. But I knew otherwise.

The first song, ironically, was "Start Me Up," blasting in the control room and in my earphones at 6 a.m. I was still on Xanax, but I felt liberated because the Stones' wonderful music drowned out the MRI's awful noise and drowned out my inner demons, and I relaxed. This would become my tradition each year I got an MRI, and each experience was somewhat enjoyable -- all because I was able to cling to the music I loved.

Music therapy has healing powers. If it can't heal the body, it can heal the mind.

That's what the Rolling Stones did for me. And, yes, here's the part of my posting where I wax poetic about how wonderful this rock group is. 

I really liked the Rolling Stones before I was diagnosed, but after diagnosis and during treatment, it became clear to me how much I needed them in my life. I'd listlessly walk to my car, exhausted from low blood counts and collapse into the driver's seat. (Yes, I drove myself to and from chemotherapy and radiation treatments.) 

Sometimes I sat in the driver's seat and cried because I was so ill and fatigued. Other times I just felt sorry for myself. Other times I wanted to die.

But then I'd turn on the radio and more times than I can recall, there was a Rolling Stones song, and I would find my spirits soar and realized how beautiful life can be -- because their music has so much life to it. And every once in awhile, my favorite song, "Tumbling Dice" would play and transport me to a world where illness didn't exist. 

The Rolling Stones became my favorite group during this fragile period of my life because when their songs came on the radio, pure magic happened. I was transported. I no longer felt like a cancer patient; I no longer felt ill; I felt optimistic and happy -- and powerful. Their music is rife with life -- and fire and power and energy.

And when I was at my lowest points, the Rolling Stones lifted me to a place where illness didn't exist, and they did gimme shelter at a time when I was most scared, most sick, most depressed, and most filled with anxiety and dread.

This posting isn't about how great the Rolling Stones are (although if I've convinced some readers, that would be just dandy). It really is about the healing power of music. No matter what your medical situation, music can see you through the toughest of times. Music therapy isn't a new concept, but it's sometimes all too easy to give in to despair, rather than simply turning on an iPod or a radio.

Whether we are sick or well, music transports us to great places.

By the way, I'm still an avid Rolling Stones fan. 

And every so often, I think back to the time they transported me from a place of illness and despair -- to a place where I had the will to live.

Beth L. Gainer is a professional writer and has published numerous academic and magazine articles, as well as an essay on her breast cancer experience in the anthology Voices of Breast Cancer by LaChance Publishing. She writes about a potpourri of topics, including motherhood and her Chinese adoption experience at http://currents-living-discovery.blogspot.com/, and her cat Hemi blogs at http://www.catterchatter.blogspot.com/. Beth teaches writing and literature at Robert Morris University in the Chicago area. She has a guest posting on The World's Strongest Librarian at http://worldsstrongestlibrarian.com/3597/sharing-a-loved-ones-pain-guest-post-by-beth-gainer/.

She can be contacted at bethlgainer@gmail.com and gainercallingtheshots@gmail.com.