CT scan provides key information after two years of suffering
Doug Schafer went two years enduring continuous pain in his jaw and face.
The 63-year-old Calgary owner of an air conditioning/ heating business had a root canal and teeth removed at that time and believes a piece of the drill bit or a piece of tooth was not removed. And when the mouth area was closed off, an infection started.
The pain, says the semiretired Schafer, affected every part of day-to-day life including his mood and energy levels.
“I like to travel but it is hard to go away when you don’t know how you are going to feel. Some days it is so debilitating.”
After suffering near continuous pain, treated by constant rounds of oral antibiotics that did not make a difference, his doctor suggested getting a CT (computerized tomography) scan, also known as a Cat scan, a special X-ray procedure that provides cross-sectional images of the body.
“I didn’t feel like waiting months, so I decided to pay for one right away,” says Schafer. After two years of suffering, “it was the right thing to do.”
His doctor referred him to Mayfair Diagnostics, who called him back right away to set up an appointment. Within two days he had the exam.
Mayfair provides a range of services covered by the Alberta provincial health-care plan, such as bone mineral densitometry, breast imaging, cardiac imaging, image-guided pain therapy, nuclear medicine imaging, ultrasound, and X-ray services. It also offers MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and CT imaging as private pay services. Whether public or private, all services except for X-rays are provided based on a doctor’s referral and require an appointment.
For Schafer, paying $750 for the CT scan meant immediate movement in what had been two years of suffering.
At Mayfair, a contrast dye was first inserted to help highlight the exam areas. An hour later, Schafer had the scan.
That exam indicated possible chronic osteomyelitis, an infection that can reach a bone by travelling through the bloodstream or spreading from nearby tissue. Infections can also begin in the bone itself if an injury exposes the bone to germs.
Based on the results, his GP immediately referred him to the infectious diseases clinic at Rockyview Hospital, where more tests where done, including an MRI, ultrasounds and a scan with sugar this time.
“None of those things would have been done without that CAT scan at Mayfair. They wouldn’t have believed me.”
For Schafer, the immediate feeling was of relief.
“It gave me recognition that this was not all in my head, it wasn’t just bad headaches and jaw aches.”
And instead of another six months or a year of continuing with no solution, the tests at Rockyview through the specialized clinic — while yet to completely confirm the initial diagnosis of osteomyelitis — have led to Schafer being treated with a 24-hour pump of intravenous antibiotics.
“It’s definitely movement forward,” he says.
Schafer says his access, in this case to private medicine services at Mayfair, was a “really good benefit” for people to take advantage of.
“For a situation where you can’t or don’t want to wait — this gives comfort and ease of mind. It is about quality of life. I wouldn’t be where I am now (being treated by experts at Rockyview) if I hadn’t gone to Mayfair.”
And while not everyone can afford a user-pay system, Schafer says the decision does sometimes come down to choice.
“Do you want a nice purse, or shoes, or a CAT scan. You can pay $3,000 for a new set of golf clubs, but sometimes we forget to pay attention to our health.”