The Missed Diagnosis because of Fat

I originally posted this on February 16, 2015

The Missed Diagnosis of Fat People

I don't do doctors because God's got me. But, since I have free health care, I'll go to the doctor, -that was 12/2012. Much to the surprise of my doctor, I'm healthiest overweight person they've seen. You see I was super morbidly obese weighing over 330lbs but I didn't have ANY comorbidities i.e health issues. At that appointment, I pointed out my doctor that my thyroid/throat seemed larger on the right side. I knew to mention/have her check it out because back in 2005/2006, I went through tons of testing at Mayo clinic to rule out cancer. Praise God back then I was cancer free. She gave it a 1,2 glance. "Nope everything is fine". Me, I'm all like, "Cool, she's the doctor".

After "failing" to lose more than 40lbs and gaining all of it back, I decide to look into weight loss surgery. This sounds like a real option for me. My desire was never to be skinny. My desire was to be the healthiest, fittest version of myself and my future family. For me that was not me 330lbs or even 289 which was the lowest, I had seen. So, I proceeded with the steps to have WLS. It wasn't until 01/2014 after having a chest X-ray that I was informed that my thyroid had deviated my trachea. PANIC!!!! OMG!!! I'M GONNA DIE!!! Quick, to webmd! My PCP asked if I had any difficulty swallowing, eating, drinking, breathing. None of those problems. Because I didn't have any of those issues, I was cleared for surgery. I already knew that after surgery I was moving back to Florida. I'll have that thyroid checked out after I get health insurance.

And you know all the rest. As I've been resting and replaying the events of the last year or so in my head, I wondered how often does it happen that an overweight patient's claims/issues are brushed to the side and attributed to their being fat and not explored? I couldn't help but momentarily be upset with the fact, that had my doctor done a chest x-Ray to just look things, my path/surgery type could have been different.

But, Praise God for life and HIS plan.

Update:  Original Cancer Diagnosis 11/2014. Total Thyroidectomy w/ 50+ lymph node removed 02/2015  Iodine Radiation-04/2015 Reoccurrence 01/2016 and 07/2016 -- Cancer free as of 12/28/2016