Monday, July 30, 2007

Pleasant Afternoon @ the Doctor's Office

A few months ago, I noticed that the middle finger on my left hand was really crooked. The top knuckle was all swollen and the bone felt really tender on the side. Something was definitely amiss.....but for the life of me, I couldn't remember hurting it. Didn't slam it in anything, didn't knock it against anything, didn't fall and jam it. It really only hurts if something is touching the bone. I can bend it fine. Anyway, it just looked freaky, so I pointed it out to my primary care doctor when I had my annual physical at the beginning of June. She said, "yup....looks like it's crooked. Maybe you dislocated it. I'll give you a referral to a orthopedic hand surgeon."

So, the next day, I called the hand surgeon and made an appointment. The first appointment they could give me was for July 30. Nearly 2 months later. Whoa! Who knew there were so many injured hands in the greater Boston area! Too much masturbating, I guess.

So, here we are. A few days before my appointment the ordeal begins.....This past Friday morning, sometime after 10am, a receptionist from the hand surgeon left me a message on my home answering machine telling me that they wouldn't be able to x-ray my hand @ my appointment on Monday. I needed to either go to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Needham Friday, or before my appointment on Monday, or I could come to their office by 2pm that day for the x-ray. (I got the message around 1pm). Either way, I was supposed to call the office and let them know my plans.

The work hours at my job, fortunately, are pretty flexible right now. But what do people do that have regular 9-5 jobs? How the hell are they supposed to drop everything and go to get the x-ray on such short notice? And the appointment is a waste if you don't have the x-ray.

So, around 2pm, I called the doctor's office as instructed. I told them I couldn't make it to their office but that I would go to Beth Israel before my appointment on Monday. I asked where I was supposed to go in the hospital and if I needed any paperwork from the doctor. The receptionist said she would fax over something from the doctor and that it would be there when I went on Monday for the x-ray. Perfect! All ducks are in a row.....

Got up this morning and went over to the hospital. Stopped @ registration where they go over all your info. Almost everything was wrong.....emergency contacts, addresses, phone numbers. After getting all that info corrected, I walked down to radiology. I handed my paperwork to the woman at the desk, and she asked if I had the order from my doctor. I told her they faxed it over on Friday. She looked around for it and kind of surly, responded, "Well I don't have it. Let me call in the back office and see if it's there." Well, it wasn't there either. She gave me a scowl and said "I guess I have to call the doctor's office and have them send it." I'm starting to get in a bad mood at this point. No clue why this woman is so irritated with me....I'm being very polite and pleasant. It's not my fault the doc's office dropped the ball.

I go sit down. A few minutes later, she says that they are faxing it over, but that they told her that I never returned their call on Friday. Ummmm...I had an f-ing 10 minute conversation with someone in the doctor's office! I apologized to the hospital lady (not sure why) and told her that I HAD spoken with someone. She softened up a little bit and said that there was probably just a mixup.

I get called back for my x-rays. The x-ray tech was one of those sugary sweet, but super phony people. Overly nice. It kinda made me want to vomit. And she had this annoying habit of talking to me like I was 10 years old, and saying my name to begin or end every sentence.

Fast forward a few hours later. I arrive @ my doctor's office @ 3:15pm....15 minutes before my scheduled appointment. Fill out all the paperwork and hand it to the receptionist. On my way to sit down I rummage through the shittiest selection of magazines. I finally find a Vogue (which I don't even like....too hoity toity, but it was the best option) and page through it. The waiting room is packed with people. And there is a lot of time in between people getting called back. This should have tipped me off.

So, I sit there shivering (it was FREEZING in the waiting room), using my big purse as a blanket (the one day I don't bring a book and my jacket......figures!) for what seems like forever. This older gentleman walks up to the window and tells the ladies @ the desk that the wait is unconscionable and inexcusable, and then he walks out. Old people don't put up with shit!

Another guy and I exchange pleasantries a few minutes later. He shakes his head and complains about the wait. He says that he's just not going to show up for doctor's appointments on time anymore....what's the point? THEY are never on time. I glance @ my cell phone. My appointment was @ 3:30. It's now 4:30. What!? I love that the receptionists don't even mention that the doctor is running behind.

Around 4:45, a woman comes in.....probably my age. She is very chatty. At first I was annoyed, but then I was grateful for the conversation....it helped pass the time. She told me about a new dog park in Foxboro, that I'm going to check out, so that was good. She asked who I was seeing.....turns out she was seeing the same doctor. When I told her how long I'd been waiting, she laughed, rolled her eyes, and said this wasn't too unusual. She said he's a great doctor, but that he likes to talk. GREAT! By now, it's almost 5pm. I walked up to the window and asked when I would be taken back....that I'd been waiting for an hour and a half. She said I was next. But, no apology.....no explanation. CUSTOMER SERVICE, PEOPLE!!!!!!!!! It's just inconsiderate and bad business. I find that doctor's offices often have some of the most unfriendly people working in them.....not usually the doctors themselves....but the people in the reception area, billing department, and the nursing staff. It's unfortunate.

Once I got back to an actual room (again, no "sorry for the wait"), I waited another 10 minutes. The doc came in, joked around that he's never going on vacation again since it was so crazy today, and sat down to find out what was going on with my hand. He was actually very nice, looked @ my x-rays, explained what he thought was going on (which, by the way, was arthritis.....fantastic......35 years old and I have the start of arthritis in my hand). Nothing to worry about, nothing to do, unless it starts to hurt....he can give me a brace or we can try cortisone shots.

So, to sum up......2 months of waiting for an appointment + 2 hours waiting in the doctors office= ten minutes with the doc telling me I have arthritis and that my finger is just going to be crooked.

Finally, I get out of there around 5:45. Take the elevator to the parking garage underneath the building. Step out of the door in the elevator waiting area, and the entire garage floor is flooded.....like5-6 inches of water. What?! Past my ankles. Feet were soaked.....glad I wore sandals today. It poured when I was in my appointment, but geez......I have no idea where all this water came from. Wacky.

After all this annoyance, went through the Mcdonalds drive through for a small fry to cheer me up!

2 comments:

ucratbo said...

That is a shitty day! It's weird how certain medical specialties seem to breed this kind of impossible scheduling. I've never had a dermatologist who could give me an appointment in less than 60 days.

By that point, I could be dead!

Anonymous said...

this reminds me I need to seethe movie Sicko. What a shitty day!
-K