Get a Second Opinion

Sometime back Dotty had a weird headache; went to the local doctor and had the usual battery of tests including MRI. The diagnosis was that she had experienced a stroke. He said it affected the area that governs emotions and did she feel she experienced any unusual emotional swings?
She decided that maybe she was crying more than usual and laughing improperly. My unsolicited opinion was that it was baloney...she showed no symptoms of a stroke and maybe the doctor was mistaken.
Scared the you know what out of her. And the doctor said take an aspirin a day (no joke) and don't worry about it.

Always get a second opinion on any serious diagnosis! Especially when we have all these excellent teaching hospitals in Chicago. Yesterday she finally had her appointment with the neurologist specializing in strokes at Rush and guess what? She did not have a stroke. The doc there said what showed up on the MRI was sometimes mis read by an over zealous radiologist as a stroke but it was something entirely normal and no harm done (I've forgotten the medical term Dotty told me over the phone). In other words, the Riverside radiologist mistakenly diagnosed a stroke. Imagine.

And just recently she was turned down for long term care policy because she had a stroke.Hopefully she can correct the record and apply again, but once something is on your record that isn't easy.

The moral is simple; get a second opinion and ask that something serious not be put on your record until that opinion is solicited.