Patient
Sad to say I'm disappointed with my first cardiologist appointment. Buckle up. I had my echo results sent back to me as abnormal on my app 2 weeks ago, and still after 3 calls I made to them I have not heard from the doctor about my results. They have made it extremely hard to get any answers. I have a pericardial effusion of my heart (in which they did not include the measurements or severity of it in the results) and an enlarged left ventricle according to my echo results- a little background, this echo was done because I have had multiple serious fainting spells & ankle swelling so yeah pretty concerning seeing those results. When going to the appointment before the echo was ordered - all I got from the doctor was that I work out too much and need more electrolytes and probably just injured my ankle. All my electrolyte lab work was normal last month and I got a foot xray prior that showed there was no injury as well. I felt very dismissed but I figured the echo he sent me to do would at least give me my answers if he couldn't. Got my echo back with the results above & waited a day or so to call the clinic to give them time. The lady on the phone was dismissive saying that they needed 24-48 hours to review- I told her I understood and accepted that they'll just call back (even tho it had already been 24-48 hours). I then called again a couple days later as I still did not get a call and the person answered saying "for any lab results requests it will take 24-48 hours to get back to you and it shows you just called us a day ago for them".... Like okay I'm confused... first yall were gonna call me and then you weren't gonna call me until I called you??? Finally someone called me leaving a message -a receptionist. All she said was "your results are NORMAL please call back with any questions"- so of course I called back because my results were in all bold "abnormal" on my chart so that makes no sense. When I called I asked to speak with dr Zankar and the recep said sorry but you'll need an appointment for any further questions on your report.. I replied that I didn't have further questions I just wanted to talk about the results themselves because why are you telling me they're normal when they're bolded "ABNORMAL". The lady said Dr would call me back- he in fact did not- instead another receptionist called me AGAIN on a Saturday after hours and left a messages saying "Dr zankar reviewed your results again and stated they are normal- please call w any questions"- of course I couldn't call back til Monday bcz they called me when they were closed. I am beyond irritated at this point and am experiencing another ankle swelling spell so I was really pushed to my limit. Monday comes and I finally call to talk to someone-I had to beg her to let me relay my messages to the drs nurse because she kept saying "he's busy and will only be able to go over results if you pay for an appointment"- oh brother. I'm training for a job & working a different one and don't have time for this! Literally I work 9 am until 1130 pm. Anyways I finally got her to get a nurse to call me back- a day later. The nurse said "Dr zankar sent me to go over your results with you"..... I was so let down, how hard is it to get a doctor on the phone. But I still wanted to be respectful and asked her my questions anyways. But with the first simple question I asked - "how big is the effusion" - she couldn't answer it. Apparently this was because only Dr zankar knows and he didn't put the results measurements in. She said she was gonna call me back once she spoke with him- yall I was crashing out at this point. The nurse said she would call me back Wednesday- she of course has not- it is now Sunday and I have no idea what is going on with my heart. Also aside from this whole situation - after I first went to my appointment- they put down my phone number information on someone else's chart & an external lab called me a billion times to make my lab work appointment that wasn't for me. When I called to tell them multiple people could not figure it out.