For those in the U.S. as you enjoy this holiday weekend, let’s remember what Memorial Day is about…honoring those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. May their sacrifice be a reminder of what really matters in life. Our health being one of these things as it’s hard to accomplish our goals without our health.
As change agents, we’re frequently working to identify and address root cause of an issue in an organization. Well finding root cause doesn’t just apply to organizations, it’s very applicable to our health as well. The question is, when you have a health issue going on, how much are you utilizing your change agent skills to identify root cause?
What does identifying root cause of a health issue look like? See below for my journey to identify root cause of the DVT that landed me in the ER in early April. The root cause is most likely going to shock you.
Despite it being highly suspicious the blood clot near my right shoulder formed < 2 weeks from when I found a tick embedded in my right side, my Primary Care Physician (PCP) in early April was focused on the below as a potential root cause:
Blood clotting disorder
Cancer / Tumor
I clarified in the appointment the tick bite was what I was concerned about the most. My PCP:
Really didn’t think it was this
Was unaware of any connection between a tick bite and a blood clot
Saw no reason to send me to an infectious disease specialist given my Lyme blood test came back negative (despite me clarifying the test was inaccurate <6 weeks from the tick bite)
Said I’d have to give her more to go on to pursue seeing infectious disease
I left the office with more blood draw orders, ultrasound appointments, a hematology appointment, and concern the tick angle was going unaddressed. Thankfully I have some really great friends who did some research on my behalf without me asking while I was working through a complication from the blood thinner to treat the blood clot.
Eureka! One friend found in an online medical forum a post from a patient who was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and a few weeks later landed in the ER with a DVT in her leg. The patient was asking the forum if anyone was aware of a connection between the two. Thankfully someone had responded and clarified a Lyme Literate Doctor has documented one’s blood can clot more easily from certain tick infections. I finally had the evidence to provide and educate my PCP on there being a link between a tick infection and blood clot, and requested a referral to an infectious disease specialist at Mt. Auburn Hospital. Finally my PCP provided the referral and I was given an appointment for the 3rd week of April (3 weeks post the blood clot forming).
In the meantime, it turned out I knew someone who had been through a pulmonary embolism and she recommended I see her DVT Specialist. I looked the specialist up, was very impressed with what I found, requested a referral from my PCP, and got an appointment with them for early May.
In the appointment with the Mt. Auburn Infectious Disease Specialist (MAIDS):
He was skeptical the tick bite had anything to do with the blood clot
Because of my concern, he ordered a tick infection molecular panel blood test on me
He mentioned a spinal tap may be needed to identify what is going on (yeah…gulp!)
I get the blood drawn and next up on the list are the ultrasounds. At this point, I’m thinking they’re going to find something on the ultrasound of my right armpit given despite being on the blood thinner and never having had pain in my shoulder previously:
My right shoulder hurts whenever I drive or type on the laptop
If I put any weight on my right elbow, it feels like there is glass in my right armpit
Nope, all the ultrasounds come back clean. The lymph nodes look normal, there is no build up of fluid in the right shoulder they can see, and nothing to explain the pain I’m having in my right shoulder / armpit. The ultrasound tech wondered if an MRI would be in order. I passed this along to my PCP and asked what was next. She wanted to hear what the DVT Specialist had to say before ordering anything else.
Meanwhile the tick infection molecular panel that covered 5 of the tick infections out there all came back negative. I'm wondering what are the chances of having a false negative (i.e. one actually has a tick infection, yet the test comes back negative) with this test. I note this question for the follow up with the MAIDS.
Next up is the DVT Specialist appointment. And finally, one month after having developed the blood clot, I get an answer on root cause. And it’s exactly what I thought it was all along. The tick bite in late March gave me a tick infection that caused the blood clot. The DVT Specialist has seen this happen to a handful of people over his career so it’s rare, and yep, that’s how dangerous a tick bite can be. Aside from being very tired every morning for four mornings after taking the prophylactic dose of the antibiotic when the tick was removed in late March, I had ZERO symptoms of the infection prior to the blood clot forming.
Thank goodness I had put in so much effort to getting the root cause identified given my PCP:
Never would have sent me to that DVT Specialist or the MAIDS without my intervention
Was completely unaware a tick bite could provoke (i.e. cause) a blood clot
Seemed unaware of how inaccurate the western blot Lyme test can be
Reflecting on the above:
How much effort do you put in to getting to the root cause of your health issue(s)?
How clear are you on the reason for your symptoms?
How often are you taking over the counter products / prescriptions to treat symptoms instead of addressing the root cause?
Call to Action
Want help identifying the root cause of your health issue(s)? Reach out to Rosanne for support so you can be seen, be heard, and be effective in getting to the root cause of your symptoms
Using the comments feature, what’s a medical situation where you intervened and successfully got to the bottom of what was going on (i.e. root cause)?
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About the Author: Rosanne Essiambre helps change agents and departments in one-on-one and group settings to be seen, be heard, and be effective in bringing about change in the organization and/or in their personal lives. She provides consulting and facilitation to organizations to improve communications and collaboration, smooth out the change / transformation journey, get to the root cause of an issue so it can be solved for good, improve processes, and implement successful lessons learned. And she conducts workshops, trains, and speaks on Energy Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Being a Change Agent and more. If you or your organization could use support with your change effort or some inspiration, contact Rosanne for a complimentary consultation. Rosanne is a Change Agent Coach, Facilitator, Six Sigma Black Belt, Change Management / Continuous Improvement Consultant, Speaker, and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner with more than 20 years experience working on a variety of transformations across a diverse set of industries both domestically and internationally, while continuously improving herself.