Let's Talk In Depth About The Doctor That Allowed Me To Live Like This For Three Years

 

 Photo Courtesy of RF._.studio

 

My first experience with Dr. Ryan was in 1988, after my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer and Dr. Ryan was her surgeon.

  All of my family really appreciated the care he gave to her and he would laugh, joke and sing to her, to which several nurses told us how unusual it was for him to act like this, because he usually had a "cold/terrible bedside manner", of course, those things were said when he was not around.

I would get the same reaction 21 years later from a couple of the nurses, when he started singing her name after telling him I was her grandson. 

My experience as his patient was nothing like the one my grandmother had.

From the moment I dared to say that something went seriously wrong, he became cold. He didn't want to hear about what had happened (ignoring what I already knew what was going on inside me), telling me everything was fine.

I probably had a dozen or more saline flushes during my five day stay at Salem Hospital, and only the first one actually flushed the affected area. After the nurse blew a hole in the abscess and my colon, I could feel the cold fluid spreading all over my right side, in all four directions. 

I believe I saw Dr. Ryan three times during my five day stay. When I first admitted and he was a pleasure and I put my trust in this doctor, because of the history.

I saw him again when the break happened and he was much more snippy, especially when he asked me if I was the doctor or knew better than a doctor, when I told him I could feel what was going on in my body during those flushes. Well, no, I am not a doctor, nor have I ever been one... BUT, YES, I did know better than YOU a doctor, when I said that I knew what was going on in my body. After finally getting my medical records from Beth Israel Hospital, what I've been saying for thirteen years was confirmed. This mistake to correct what the nurse had done, had created a connection from my colon to the surface, basically a man-made rectum, that leaked blood, puss and fecal matter for over three years. In Beth Israel's report, I had a Colucutaneous Fistula - a tract connection from my colon to the skin/surface.

On the last day when I was released, I saw him one more time when he discharged me. There were no special instructions, barely any communication, just "you're fine - we'll call you for a follow-up colonoscopy in a month". 

Around a month or so later, I had the colonoscopy with doctor Ryan at Salem Hospital. My mother who wasn't driving as much came with me, since she would be the one who had to drive home, after the procedure.

I went to the procedure room, escorted by a male nurse, who was very friendly.  Doctor. Ryan was already in the room.  I was given whatever the drugs that relax you are and the next thing I knew, I was in the recovery room. 

I have to say, other than Dr. Ryan and the nurse who broke my colon, I had no problem with any of the other Salem Hospital Staff. 

I really want to mention Dr. Butler, who was my main resident doctor, during the five days I was admitted.  She was wonderful, she explained things to me and she had a great bedside manner.

Back to the story of my colonoscopy. Dr. Ryan comes in after my procedure, tell me it wasn't really a severe case of Diverticulitis, but was Diverticulosis and everything would be fine.  He then asked me how I was doing after the procedure, to which I answered that I was fine and must have been completely out, because I didn't remember a thing about the procedure. He answered, no you were not out, you were talking throughout the whole procedure. And then he left.

I'm not sure what was said during the procedure, but wonder if this is where doctor Ryan might have held something against me.  It's the only thing I can think of, when thinking about what hell I would go through over the next three years and one month.  

My first minor flare up with this "mistake" made at Salem Hospital was mild compared to all the rest to come.  I called Dr. Ryan's office, and was told he was now at North Shore Physicians Group, just down the road in Salem, Massachusetts. An appointment was made and he clearly could see there was some puss, blood and a slimy yellow liquid coming from the wound. He told me that it was just some residual matter coming from the affected area and would be fine. Gave me more antibiotics and sent me on my way.

Not long after, when all of the antibiotics must have left my system, my right side, where the catheter was inserted, rapidly filled with fluid, which eventually came to a head, like when any infection/cyst-like flare up does.  At its fullest, it looked like an elbow was sticking out of my side in that area.

The area was still pretty tender and where it came to a head, broke open and blood, puss and fecal matter (that matched my regular bowel movements) came from the wound.

I again called Dr. Ryan's office, and this time was told that he was now at Mass General North, in Danvers, Massachusetts. I got an appointment immediately and he basically blew off the huge swollen area on my side. I told him the discharge matched my bowel movements, which he ignored, told me he would lance the area, even though it was open and still seeping several different fluids. When he cut into it, he told me he was going to open it as much as possible and thoroughly clean it out and pack it with antibiotics and some solution to prevent infection and that I would have to come back in  a week or so to have him remove it.

Once again, everything was fine for a little while on the antibiotics, until the same thing happened again.  The area filled with fluids, came to a head, broke and then started leaking blood, puss and feces all over again.  

The same month this all happened to me, my father was diagnosed with cancer and it was terminal. I ended up seeing Dr. Ryan one day in the summer of 2009, when my father was to start his radiation and chemotherapy treatments. My father was sitting with a couple of my aunts and me in the waiting room of Mass General North in Danvers, Massachusetts.  The lower level in the back was the cancer floor. Dr. Ryan walks by and I explained to him what my father was going through and this WAS NOT the time for me to be sick.  I told him the wound was still leaking, he replied with a big smile, that everything was fine, and once again, said it was just residual matter working its way to the surface, around four or five months after the injury.  I introduced him to my father and aunts and told them he was my doctor back in March. He was pleasant with all of them and shook my father's hand, never acknowledging that I basically begged him to help me once again.

My very last appointment with Dr. Ryan was towards the end of 2011. Everything had started all over, the area that I basically kept soft by covering it with Neosporin all day long, so the skin surface stayed soft, to keep the drain going, now, almost three years later. When the drainage stopped, I started getting very sick. The waste from my broken colon was getting into my system. When I walked into his office, he actually threw his hands up and said, "what are you doing here now"? I knew I was done at that moment, but stayed because I was very sick. He gave his usual empty words about "residual matter", smiled like everything was fine, and snippy when I would tell him it wasn't. He once again lanced the area, cleaned it out and gave me antibiotics, which gave more more time. At least there was a large opening again, for everything to drain.  At this point, it would be around 4 or five months before the corrective surgery would be done at Beth Israel Hospital. 

When I left Dr. Ryan's office that day, I called my primary care doctor and said that I didn't care about where the insurance wanted me to go, find me another doctor at another hospital out of this network. I was assigned another doctor at Hallmark Health in Melrose and he was a wonderful man, but could tell pretty soon after seeing him, he was not equipped to fix what had been done to me. He did give me enough Cipro and Flagyl to keep the infections down until my corrective surgery in April 2012. After a colonoscopy type procedure, when I was given something to drink to clean out, (the Colucutaneous Fistula created by Dr. Ryan and Salem Hospital) began spaying liquid feces non-stop. It was honestly spraying out of me continuously. After that, I would call for appointments and never get calls back. When I told my primary doctor about this, and said it was time to find another surgeon to fix this, he contacted the doctor's office and he saw me one last time. He lanced and cleaned the wound thoroughly and said there was a foamy substance in the affected area and thought it might be something synthetic, left behind from the catheter and would send samples to the lab. I only had one more appointment with him after that, when he told me it was various types of bacteria and sort of acted like the doctor from Beth Israel, like he was keeping something from me. 

At this point, I thought I would live like this for the rest of my life, until it finally killed me. 

The prescriptions he gave me for Cipro and Flagyl did keep me alive until April 2012, when I walked into Beth Israel, this time close to death and begged for help from a young surgeon, who would save my life. But my nightmare was not over. Years in bed and sick took a toll on my body and I've never been the same.

I don't remember exactly how many times I went back to Dr. Ryan in those three years, but it was a quite a bit. I still held the hope that what he was telling me about residual matter and that it would eventually go away, until I didn't. And I knew what had happened during those days I was admitted, so I basically knew what was going on, just terrified to acknowledge it, because I knew that if it was ignored, my life would soon be over.