Category: Rants

Why do some doctors have to be so impossible?

I had Friday off work, so I had scheduled a couple of doctor appointments – one for my knees, the other for my female problems with a brand new doc. (Don’t worry, I’ll cut tag when I get to that part.) Both doctors are located in the professional suite at the local hospital — in fact they’re at opposite ends of the hall from each other. So getting from one office to another would be nice and easy, as long as the first appointment didn’t go over. First appointment was at 10AM, the second at 11:45AM, but they wanted me there by 11:15AM since I’m a new patient.

My knee doctor appointment was to get the first in a series of 3 shots to each knee. Since mom & I weren’t sure how my knees would react to the shots, she volunteered to drive me to the hospital and drop me off, then come back up there at 12:15PM to pick me up. That way, if my knees DID decide to seize up (like they have in the past with the steroid injections), I wouldn’t have to worry about attempting to drive. And, she wasn’t stuck all day at the hospital with me, waiting. She might have to wait for me a little to finish up with the second doctor, but we figured it wouldn’t be too terribly long (especially since it was close to when they break for lunch!).

We left so that I would get there about 15 minutes before my appointment with the knee doc. That left me time to run down the hall and drop off my new patient questionnaire with the other doc, and still make it to the knee doc right on time. I walked into the knee doc’s office with 2 other families. This made me a little paranoid that my timing would be off and I’d be late for the second appointment, but I didn’t need to worry. I got in there, had a brief wait, then it was back to an exam room where I waited a little more. After a quick examination of my knees, it was time for the shots. The ones I’m getting now, as I said, are in a series of 3 per knee, and I’m getting both knees done at the same time. The brand of injections is Supartz, not Euflexxa as I thought it was going to be – but either way, they accomplish the same thing of replacing the synovial fluid that is lacking in my joints. After both shots were administered, I paid and headed down the hall to the little lobby area near the elevators. It was only 10:45AM, so I still had 30 minutes until my next appointment. I was pleased that my planning the two appointments so close together didn’t backfire in my face! haha.

After killing time, I headed to the other doctor’s office. There was only one other person waiting, so that was encouraging. I figured that they had wanted me there early to fill out paperwork – the stuff that I’d already filled out and dropped off that morning. So if I had to wait another 30 minutes before going back because my paperwork was already done, I was cool with that. I had my book and settled in to wait. Well, I ended up getting called back early – probably about 11:20-ish. I went through all the normal pre-visit questions with the nurse as she went over my files, took my pulse and BP and all that fun stuff.

Quick aside – I forgot to mention that my heart doesn’t beat right before she took my pulse. It completely freaked her out at first that it was beating fast, then stopping, then starting again. Haha. She had to attempt to take it a second time, but the funky beats do make it difficult to take a 10 or 30 second pulse and multiply it out to a minute. *giggles*

Anyway, we get all that stuff, and she leaves the room, saying the doctor will be with me shortly. Since I’m in there so early, and the doctor is apparently already on her way, I decide to text mom and tell her to go ahead and come up a little early, maybe shoot for getting there @ 12 instead of 12:15. About 5 minutes later, the nurse comes back in and asks if the front desk had informed me that the doctor was doing a c-section that morning (no, they hadn’t), and to let me know that the surgery was running a little late, but the doctor would be down as soon as possible. The surgery part of the hospital is just a 5 minute walk from the professional offices, so no biggie. I was not annoyed that I’d have to wait a little more – but I was annoyed that I hadn’t been told that earlier, since I’d just told mom to come up earlier. I texted her again — she’d already left. Crap. Oh well, she said she’d still come up and wait.

So we wait – me in the exam room, mom out in the waiting room. And we wait. And we wait. Again, I’m not upset that I have to wait. If there an issue with the surgery, that’s much more important than me. I understand that. I had my book, so I just settled in and read. At one point, the nurse popped her head in to let me know that the doctor was done with surgery, and was rushing back to the office and would be in to see me shortly. It’s a bit after noon, so I’ve been waiting for about an hour at this point. I texted mom and let her know they told me the doctor would be in to see me shortly. The nurse came back in a few minutes later, and we determined that they had misplaced the medical records I had brought up at the beginning of the week. About 10 minutes later, she pops in again to let me know they finally found them.

I’m now expecting the doctor to be in at any time, since they told me she’d be there. But I sit there and wait. And wait. And wait. I start getting a little grumpy. (I later find out from mom that they took back another family while I was back there waiting. We believe the doc went and saw them FIRST, before coming in to see me. Even though my appointment was earlier than theirs.) Finally, around 1PM, I start texting mom, telling her if she wants to go get something to eat, it’s okay. She doesn’t have to wait on me to be done. At 1:07PM, mom finally agrees. The text she sent me said “Am going to get lunch. Nurse said she [doc] would be with you for about an hour.” I texted her back a minute later saying I still hadn’t seen the doc yet, so it’s fine for her to go eat. I get a response from mom at 1:10, saying “she told me she was on her way in to see you”. Right as I receive & am reading the text, the doctor walks in.

So, now it’s 1:10 PM, (Yes, the time is important) and I’m finally seeing the doctor. And this is where I’ll go ahead and cut-tag the entry, since it’s all about personal things & female issues. Female-related issues behind this cut tag! Be warned!!!!

An Open Letter…

Dear Idiot In The SUV Who Has Almost Hit Me Every Morning This Week:

Please note that when you turn a corner, you are supposed to move mostly past the oncoming lane before turning onto the street. If, as you do daily, you turn the corner as soon as you reach the curb closest to you, then you are going to turn into MY lane and take off the front end of my car. The ONLY reason you have not done so yet, is because I am paying attention and slam on my brakes roughly 2 car lengths back from my stop sign. I SHOULD be able to pull up closer to the stop sign without fear of getting hit by your idiotic ass.

Trust me — waiting 2 more seconds before turning will NOT make you late for work. Hitting my car, however, is guaranteed to make both of us late, and will require you/your insurance to pay all of my repair and medical bills.

No Love At All,

The Driver of the BRIGHT YELLOW Car Who Knows You Can See Me Coming Before You Turn.

I hate to be the one to spoil your fun, but honey, fun don’t pay the bills

I have the need to do a kind of… “State of the Union address” type of post. Maybe I will later. But this post – is all about school. Again. Haha.

My last big post was all about the insanity that was attempting to get into school. A few refreshers from that post (that’ll be relevant here) — I mentioned that they wanted me to go to Arlington for classes, since they didn’t have enough people to start them up here. They also hoped that I’d be able to give rides to the other girl who would’ve been in my classes, and they were offering me gas money for myself and for her. I decided against it, though, because it would be too much time spent in traffic and I did not want to deal with that.

A couple of hours after I made that post about school, someone else from the school called. I don’t know who the chick was – but she wasn’t the same person I’ve been dealing with. This lady (I think her name was Annette, so that’s what I’ll call her) said that she’d talked with the owner of the schools, and they were prepared to bump up the gas money offer to $50 a week, plus the $30 that they’d be giving the other girl to give me. She asked why I had said no, what my reasons were for not wanting to go to Arlington, so that she could see what they could do. From the things she said, and the way she phrased them, it seemed like she thought my reasons were entirely monetary, which isn’t the case. She started in on a whole long schpiel about how “lucky” I was to get into the WIA program, and have other people paying for my education, and about what a good deal I was getting, since they were going to be paying for my classes and books and how all the money they were giving me for gas would help pay for wear and tear on my car as well as the fuel, and etc, etc, etc. I know full well exactly how nice it is that someone else will be paying for my education, and I didn’t appreciate the tone to her voice as she was going through her whole speech.

I explained to Annette that yes, I was highly appreciative of getting into the program and everything, but that Arlington was just too far for me to go for school. I also informed her that I was also in DARS, and that my counselor had told me that if WIA didn’t pay for my school, that DARS would, and that DARS would allow me to go to Richland, which is incredibly closer to me. (Only 2 miles from my house!!) I also told her I sorry that I couldn’t attend their school because they weren’t able to get enough people approved by WIA to start a class, but (again), Arlington was just too far.

At that point, she started telling me about the other girl who would’ve been in my class. (I have no idea what her name is, so I’m going to call her … umm… “Mary” so I can stop saying “the other girl who would’ve been in my class”. Ha.) Annette said that Mary had all her hopes and dreams pinned on this class, that she had gone through the whole process of getting into WIA, and surely I knew how hard that was (um, actually, no. I was approved pretty much the second I walked in the door, since they needed to get things wrapped up for the fiscal year end, but… sure. :x) and that Mary desperately needed these classes to get work, etc. Then, Annette started laying the guilt-trip on thick — saying how Mary was pinning all her hopes and dreams on me, hoping I changed my mind about going to Arlington just so that she could get a ride with me. That if I didn’t go, Mary wouldn’t get this education that she couldn’t survive without, and that if I said no I’d just completely shatter her dreams

(Let me stop here for a second, so that I may make a point about me & my personality. Do not ever attempt to guilt-trip me into something. EVER. It will backfire on you faster than you can blink. I absolutely DETEST when people try to force me into something, especially when by means of guilt. If you want me to do something or like something, or whatever? Do not force it down my throat as means of getting me to do/try it. I will rebel and do the exact opposite of what you want.)

So, back to the phone call with Annette. By the time she’s attempting to guilt trip me into going, I’ve already stated multiple times that I cannot and will not go out to Arlington. That my issue with that arrangement has absolutely nothing to do with money, and everything to do with the time I’d be stuck in my car in rush hour traffic each way. Time is a valuable resource and something they can’t give back to me. And not only is her guilt trip backfiring because I can’t stand people attempting to manipulate me, but I’m also getting incredibly pissed off that the Annette has apparently told Mary that I WILL drive her to and from school, before they even cleared it with me first. Do I feel bad for Mary? Sure, I do. But you know what? It’s not MY responsibility to get her to school. If class had started, and we met and became friendly, then sure. Maybe I’d offer her a ride to help her out. And, if she needs a ride from me so desperately, what’s she going to do for transportation when I’m on vacation? What if I got incredibly sick and couldn’t make a class? Is she going to expect me to still take her to school, even if I’m not going? But at this point, she’s still a complete stranger to me, and a stranger who lives in the opposite direction from the school (both Dallas and Arlington campuses) from where I live. I don’t appreciate Annette volunteering my services as a taxi to someone I don’t know, before asking me if it’s okay. (Just because my car is yellow does NOT mean it’s a cab.)

I’d been on the phone with Annette for a bit over 20 minutes at this point. I say to her yet again that I’m sorry, and I feel bad for Mary but Arlington is Too. Far. To. Drive. on a daily basis. She starts to launch off on yet another guilt-trip to convince me to go. I stopped her mid-sentence and asked her if she remembered me saying at the beginning of our conversation that I was also in DARS. I told her that one of my issues is a dislocated arthritic tailbone (granted, it’s not one of the reasons I was accepted by DARS, but I was trying to make a point to her. ;)) and that there was absolutely no way that I could physically sit in a car for that amount of time on a daily basis, and that there was nothing she could say or that they could offer that would change that fact. Technically, I probably could do the drive, but I would end up in pain and need more meds and steroid injections after having to do it 4 times a week for 3 months straight. I absolutely hated having to do that and pull out the injured card, but there was no other way of getting through to her. I’d said “no” multiple times already, and Annette just wasn’t giving up. After I said that, though, she finally let me off the phone. I was absolutely livid after that, and I couldn’t believe how rude and unprofessional she’d been.

The next week, I got an email from Amy (the nice girl in admissions that I normally deal with), and she said that they were working with WIA to attempt to get approval for a class that started at the end of July, even though that would mean the class ended after the close of WIA’s fiscal year. While waiting to hear the final yes or no on that class, I’ve been debating whether or not I even wanted to attend school at this place, after my interactions with Annette left a very sour taste in my mouth. I finally decided that I’d still go, because I’m not going to let one person’s unprofessional behavior stop me from getting a free education. Especially since it’s unlikely I’ll have to deal with her again. 😉

I got another email from Amy on Tuesday — they finally got the approval. So, I start school on Monday. Instead of classes on Monday through Thursday, this is going to be a Mon, Wed, Fri class schedule. I actually like that better — it gives me time to do my homework on the off-days, instead of trying to cram it into the evenings. They’re also still going to work with me in regards to my vacation in 8 days. Luckily, with class not starting until next week, I’ll only be missing part of the “computer fundamentals” class. That part is just to make sure everyone in class has rudimentary PC skills, and I can ace it no problem. At least I won’t be missing something important. Hee.