Is this Central Oregon’s Summer of Weirdness? First we had the Pregnant Man giving birth to a baby girl, then the Balloon Man flying all the way from Bend to Idaho in a lawn chair … and now comes news that doctors have removed a 140-pound tumor from a Redmond woman.
According to KTVZ’s report, Linda Rittenbach might have had the rare tumor for 15 to 20 years. All along, she said, doctors kept telling her that she was fat and needed to lose weight.
Doctors even suggested weight-loss surgery, she said. “But something in my head just said, ‘No, don’t do that.'”
Fortunately, when Rittenbach went to another doctor this spring complaining of flu-like symptoms he discovered the tumor. It took three surgeries over a period of two months in Redmond and at OHSU in Portland to remove the whole growth, and in the process one of Rittenbach’s kidneys was destroyed.
You’d think a 140-pound tumor would be pretty easy to detect, but judging from the comments on the KTVZ story, medical screw-ups like this aren’t unheard of.
“I had a strange feeling along the left side of my head that started in my late twenties,” wrote one. “I went to dr’s over and over and around my mid 30’s they finally convinced me I was a nutcase, I quit complaining and bugging them. I would ignore the pounding in my head along with dizziness, depression … On Jan 7, 03 I was diagnosed with brainstem meningioma and after 2 surgeries (30 hrs), radiation and years of medical this and that I am starting to feel better.”
How about you, Wandering Eye readers – do you have any personal medical horror stories to share?
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2008.
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I went to the hospital because of severe pain in my stomach and swelling. The ER doctor sent me home and said I had gas! 2 days later, unable to breath, move or stand up, my husband rushed me back to the ER. I ended up staying in the hospital for 2 weeks, had a blood transfusion as I was bleeding to death…but here’s the ‘kick’!…I was losing blood though after all the tests, they couldn’t figure out where I was bleeding from or where the blood was going!!! I guess that’s why they call doctors: Practicing Physicians!
I’ve been through a six-month ordeal with a bad tooth and am not over it yet. Back in February my dentist discovered that an old root canal job had gone bad and referred me to an endodontist. The endodontist repaired the root canal but I still had pain. Then he went in and carved away some of the root of the tooth; after that I still had pain. I suspected I might have a sinus infection so I saw my allergist. He prescribed antibiotics and decongestants; the congestion went away but I still had pain. The allergist referred me to an ear, nose and throat guy, who suggested I get a CT scan to see if I had congested sinuses and put me on another course of antibiotics. The CT scan didn’t show much of anything and the pain continued despite the antibiotics. The ENT guy suggested I go back to my dentist, who extracted the tooth two weeks ago. I still have the pain. Now the dentist wants to try some more antibiotics.
What happens with too many physicians/dentists, I think, is that they don’t want to take the time and trouble to make an accurate diagnosis. They take a guess and if that doesn’t work they take another guess … and another … and another. Meanwhile you’re spending thousands of dollars, your condition is getting worse and you’re still in pain. I’m thoroughly disgusted with the whole profession.