Home Forums Salem Place: The Main Board Lexie’s bedside manner?

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  • #2318
    Bonbon
    Participant

    It really leaves something to be desired.  Instead of being very matter of fact about the cysts (which are almost always benign), she is so dramatic about it.  She needs to go back to medical school and retake Bedside Manner 101.  She should have told Sami, "We want to remove them, just to be on the safe side, and we will send them to pathology so we can make sure there are no further complications."

    And Sami is certainly a glass-half-empty kind of girl.  All she’s looking at is the doom and gloom.  How about waiting until you have something to worry about before you start talking about your death.  Most people that get cancer these days survive.   Sheesh!

    #26097
    53tdogs
    Participant

    questionable…they discuss out in the open the prognosis of patients in front of crowds of people, they give out medical information to anyone who asks, it’s not just doctor Lexie either, Dr. Dan, even Marlena, and several other Salem doctors and medical staff I’ve noticed over the years…Don’t even get me started on Nurse Melanie and her open mouth…so much for HIPPA…

    #26100
    jesigirl22
    Participant

    Thank you, 534dogs!  I was thinking that when I watched yesterdays episode: Lexi pulling Sami and Rafe asides "come over here and let me tell you"??!  Should have been: "let’s go to my office" or at least somewhere a little more private.  And about the panic she is causing with the cysts.  I think at some point, every woman has cysts.  I had a scan several years ago and the doctors found some cysts, they are still there.  My doctor had no concern about them right now.  Besides the fact that this is a soap, why does everything have to be so dramatic?

    #26101
    wingfan
    Participant

    It always cracks me up that the doctors give information to anyone who asks about anyone in the hospital…or in Salem.  Sometimes people don’t even have to ask, they just be in the same room with a doctor who knows a diagnosis.  The doctors just can’t stand to keep the info to themselves.  They seem almost giddy to spread the personal information.  Same goes for information with the Salem PD….I really laughed a couple of weeks ago when Taylor couldn’t get any medical update on Maggie’s condition when she was shot "because she was not family."  I thought "that was a first!"  So she went to the Police Department and got the information from Abe!!

    #26107
    bluebonnet
    Participant

    addresses her patients in a very smirky, condescending way and is never really helpful. Example: telling Sami to go home and quit worrying. Telling Sami to do that after she (Lexi) paints a confusing, scary picture is ridiculous!

    Of course, I guess Lexi would have the right to remind Sami about the time that Sami tampered with Lexi’s mammogram/sonogram results! Can’t remember why Sami did that unless it had something to do with Brandon.

    #26110
    mommytutu
    Participant

    that Lexie always has the look of doom and gloom on her face. I swear anytime she has to deliver any news, her face says, "you’re dying, the patient is dead, there’s no hope, the patient will die." Let’s face it, she just took poor old Maggie off of life support and was ready to let her die. She is definitely the worst dr. ever!

    #26136
    DP
    Participant

    Bonbon, I’ll have to disagree about Sami’s reaction.  It was almost exactly the same as mine when I was told I had a growth (that they really did not think was malignant….but it was).  The night before my surgery, I was on the internet reading about everything it possibly could be, then started planning how I would want my kids and hubby to go on without me.  I just posted a new topic on this specific subject as I thought it was the most realistic behavior I’ve ever seen Sami exhibit, given a set of circumstances. 

    #26143
    DeeLan
    Participant

    I agree Sami is behaving normally for someone told there’s a problem.

    I had ovarian cysts and it wasn’t the doom and gloom Lexie is playing it to be.  My doc just said "we’ll keep an eye on them and see if they go away with your cycle but if you experience sudden pain get to the ER because they’ve ruptured".  I had surgery a month later to remove them as they got larger.  

    I found a lump on my breast and my doc was "it might go away with your cycle, let’s keep an eye on it"  Sorry, NO.  I wanted it looked at NOW.  A mammogram, appointment with a surgeon who did 2 more mammograms within a month and it was growing so she removed it.  The hospital lab couldn’t identify it so they had to send it to Mayo Clinic.  Took over a week to get the results but the surgeon called me every day to reassure me and the day she got the results she called and told me to let the air out it was benign.  It was a Phyllodes type of tumor and leaves seeds and any skin or tissue it touched had to be removed or it could come back and it can turn cancerous.  I went nuts with every mammogram since then.  I’ve had 5 breast surgeries to remove tumors and all but that one were fibroids but I went nuts with each surgery.

    I have an adrenal gland tumor but they won’t remove it until it’s over a certain size.  They found it in 2000 and I have CT-scans and 24 hour urines every year to check on it.  I guess if it’s under a certain size it’s benign but if it goes over 4cms it can become cancerous and that’s when they remove it.  My last visit my doc also heard a heart murmur.  I had the CT-scan, urine and a 2D echo of my heart at the same time.  I was told my doc would have the results of the 2D echo in 24 hours so I was on the phone with the docs office every day until they could give me the results.  I was nuts and if I could have gone on the computer and gotten the results sooner  I would have.

    #26155
    Bonbon
    Participant

    react differently but I guess because I’m an eternal optimist, I didn’t even act like that when the doc told me it WAS cancer.  I didn’t even think of dying, only what a pain it was going to be to go through surgery and chemotherapy.  And I had good reason to worry as my father, brother and sister all died of cancer along with several aunts and uncles.

    I guess I just don’t understand why people cause themselves so much grief before they even know there is going to be a problem.  Let’s face it, how many women that have cysts (I assume they were in her uterus) turn out to be cancerous?  I don’t know the number but I’d bet it’s less than 10%.

    Please don’t think I’m belittling anybody for their feelings, it’s just that it’s so contrary to mine.  I know people all react differently to many things and I though Sami’s were way over the top.  But then, this IS a soap and we need the drama!  :o)

    #26156
    Bonbon
    Participant

    to get another opinion.  I had a lump in my breast for four years (and two mamograms) that the my Ob-gyn told me was just fibrocystic.  When my GP felt it he sent me for another mamogram (which came back negative) and to a surgeon.  The surgeon said he wanted to take a biopsy and, yup, it was cancer.  So, only one month after having a clean mamogram, I had a walnut size cancerous tumor removed requiring a modified radical mastectomy and six months of chemo. 

    My friend, who is a nurse, kept telling me, "You have a lump that doesn’t belong there, get it removed."  I wish I had listened to her and I may have gotten by with a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy.

    So my advice to anyone who is worried about a lump, get a second opinion, and from a surgeon, not an Ob-gyn.  Insist on a biopsy.

    #26161
    DP
    Participant

    And in no way did I think you were belittling my (or Sami’s) reactions.  

    I am so glad you did finally get to the right doctor and that you’re okay.  I do think, also, that there’s a perceived difference (at least for me) when it comes to ovarian cancer.  It’s known as the silent killer for a reason – there are no real tests for it (there’s the CA-125 tumor marker, but not all ovarian cancers produce CA-125, including mine); there are no reliable symptoms (nausea, bloating, constipation/diarrhea can all be part of our monthly cycles); and survival rates are pretty low.  I was "lucky" in that I had bleeding (which is NOT a symptom of ovarian cancer) which caused me to see my gyn and she felt the growth which was confirmed by an ultrasound.  Both she and the doctor at Sloan-Kettering seemed to imply that they thought it was something else.  The night before my surgery, I read about ovarian cancer and saw the stats and just knew (my mother had died at age 42 of breast cancer, I was 43 when this was happening to me).  I also realized, in hindsight, that I did have many of the symptoms but had chalked them all up to my monthly cycle and/or some "normal life" stressors that would always cause stomach aches/diarrhea.  But just reading about ovarian cancer was very scary.  The stats, especially, were sobering.  So, I went in to the surgery thinking the worst, and well….  I will tell you, I was among a very select lucky few – "cured by surgery"!  I never had chemo, radiation, or anything.  And, for the record, that was 12 years ago!!

    Anyway, we’re both here to now be able to talk about Days, Sami’s immaturity, etc and have a good ol’ laugh!!

    #26165
    DeeLan
    Participant

    I’m going to the gyne next week to schedule a hysterectomy.  I have 2 cervix’s and 2 uteruses but for the last 6 years heavier than normal flows which 2 gynes have been trying to control.  I’m 53 (54 in October) and all docs feel I should have hit menopause.  I do have a tumor which they feel is a fibroid and normal paps.  I’ve been having diarrhea off and on for a few months now and intermittent feeling blah.  Been contributing that to side effects of some meds and diet but now I’m wondering.  So, kinda getting freaked out and nervous. 

    My SIL is a cervical cancer survivor (23 years).  She went to several doctors, all military who said there was nothing wrong.   She finally went to a doc outside of the military and got the diagnosis. 

     

    #26166
    Bonbon
    Participant

    I didn’t mean to scare you, just trust your instincts.  You know your body better than anybody else and if you don’t feel right about it, check it out.

    #26169
    DeeLan
    Participant

    I really think it’s nothing but still seeing the symptoms of uterine cancer and the brain starts going nuts.

    In 2006 I had a gyne tell me the heavy flows might be cancer and he wanted to do a D&C, biopsy and just look around at both uteruses.  He said heavy flows could be cancer.  My opinion at the time, it’s the same as it’s been since the 80’s and I’m still here.  If it were cancer I’m sure I’d have known it by now.  He was just intrigued by the 2 uteruses. 

    The new gyne did a transvaginal ultrasound 1 1/2 years ago and saw the tumor.  It’s too high up to reach by a scope and he’d said if I were 10 years younger he’d recommend a hysterectomy but since I was so close to menopause to leave it alone.  Well, I’m tired of my life being interrupted for 1-2 weeks, carrying a towel around to sit on and afraid to leave the house.  I sleep on a towel during that time and there are some nights I have to get up, take a shower and change the linens.  Since we’ve tried everything else we’re going radical. 

     

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