Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Feb
21
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Thoughtful Thursday! “…Would You Like To Insert The Wand Yourself…?”
“I have to do an internal ultrasound. It will only take a moment and it shouldn’t cause any discomfort, but if it does, please let me know. Would you like to insert the wand yourself or shall I?” – Ultrasound technician to mother who was not expecting to have a transvaginal ultrasound.
There are 13 comments to this post.
Although this is not my post, this same thing did happen to me in my first pregnancy. I actually thought it was a bit off-putting, and would have personally preferred the doctor to do it, but it’s great that this woman got to choose what she was most comfortable with 
[Reply]
I didn’t have a choice for the tech to do it when I had one of these for a possible ruptured ovarian cyst. I went in thinking “ultrasound – outside the body” and then went to the room they have the equipment in and she tells me to go in the changing room and wrap the sheet around my naked lower half because it was transvaginal. I didn’t even know that was a thing.
[Reply]
AmyW Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 11:16 am (Quote)
That’s what I thought before my first (external) US for possible ovarian cysts long ago! I didn’t know there was such a thing, and when I found out it might be internal, suddenly I was scared. If I had to do that, and the tech was male, I would have had to request a female tech to do it. And that’s always uncomfortable to have to do, especially when they come back with the ultra moronic “Oh, don’t worry. I’VE seen everything!” like I give a rat’s butt what they think. Or that this has anything to do with THEM.
Had my first internal US last month while getting an IUD, and it was surprisingly not that bad. My OBGYN did it, not me, but she would have let me if I asked. I was too distracted by how funny it was to watch her put gel in a condom and roll it on the wand. Didn’t know they did that either! LOL. My only beef with the US is my insurance carrier won’t pay its share of it…according to the records, they “don’t cover that.” HUH? I thought it was part of the procedure that they covered. How else do they expect her to know if she placed it right? Stick her head up there with a flashlight and take a look? Grrr.
[Reply]
The US tech at my doctor’s office always asked this. This turned out to be a good thing, because the one time I said it was okay for her to do it, she tried to insert the wand without looking and rammed it into my pubic bone. I actually yelled and had to say “that’s not it!” before she noticed. You’d think that someone who does OB ultrasounds all day wouldn’t have such an issue with looking where she’s going…
[Reply]
Add Your Comment.
Previous Post
« “Are You Sure There Was No Drug Abuse In The Home…?” Next Post
Thoughtful Thursday! “…Everything’s Going To Be Ok!” »
« “Are You Sure There Was No Drug Abuse In The Home…?” Next Post
Thoughtful Thursday! “…Everything’s Going To Be Ok!” »
Would you like to insert the wand yourself is great. And I realize this might be shortened, but “I have to” should be replaced with I’m recommending.. for this reason… Do you consent?” Words are important and medical professionals should be in the habit of using them respectfully. So while this is good, I see room for improvement based on only this little snippet.
[Reply]
Your Name Reply:
February 21st, 2013 at 6:51 am Your Name(Quote)
You beat me to it. I was thinking the same thing.
[Reply]
AmyW Reply:
February 21st, 2013 at 7:09 am AmyW(Quote)
Good catch! Or even “I need to do a…for this reason. Do you consent?” would work too. It’s less harsh than “have to”, which implies there’s no way out of it. But all in all, a great Thoughtful Thursday. With 1 in 3 women experiencing some form of sexual assault in their lives, you have a 33.3% chance of encountering one of those women any given day. And many of those women might not have let their OBGYN know about it because they don’t remember specifically being abused. They just have these feelings and flashbacks that cause them to fear certain procedures. I’ll bet many of them would be so grateful to be offered some control over even one part of a procedure like this. It’s very smart and respectful.
[Reply]
Carolyn Reply:
February 21st, 2013 at 8:18 am Carolyn(Quote)
Any given day or every single time they walk in an exam room they have that chance depending how busy they are or how often they see new patients. So many things are standard of care because a small percentage of women may have this or that without showing outward symptoms to their doctors (eye goop for babies and gd testing for example), but yet treating every single patient as though they might be the one in three who needs a bit of extra care is not standard. It really should be because even people who have not been abused don’t mind being treated with respect and asked for permission before procedures are performed.
[Reply]
details Reply:
February 21st, 2013 at 10:33 pm details(Quote)
With a cesarean rate of over 30% and this being a medical situation I’m more worried about medical abuse than about previous sexual abuse. Medical abuse taken place right that moment because the tech, doctor, nurse keeps forgetting that this is a human being who has choices. I see a big difference between if you want to see a heart beat I’m going to have to switch to vaginal over I have to and you don’t have a choice. Nothing to do with anything somebody doesn’t remember. I don’t think you have to be a sexual abuse survivor to recognize that it is your body and you have the right to decide what is done with it.
[Reply]
K Reply:
February 21st, 2013 at 10:41 am K(Quote)
I interpreted the “I have to do an internal” here to mean “because I can’t do an abdominal at this stage.” Of course the patient has the right to refuse, but from the tech’s perspective s/he really may *have to* do it that way.
[Reply]
Gaevren Reply:
February 21st, 2013 at 10:45 am Gaevren(Quote)
That’s also how I interpreted it, not a “you have to submit to this” kind of comment.
[Reply]