« That's (Not) Entertainment | Main | 15 Minutes of Fame Will Get You 30 »
April 29, 2005
One of These Days, Alice
I understand that if not for the medical profession, I would've been dead years ago. Like when I got appendicitis at 16. But you know, there are times when I get so frustrated dealing with doctors and their staff that I could just spit.
Like today.
I'm still having the same problems with my arm & hand, among other things. As my regular readers will remember, I had nerve conductivity tests run on the 18th. And the neurologist thought I was probably having a lupus flare-up, which he said needed to be treated before it did any serious damage. It has since become (literally) painfully obvious to me that he's probably right.
Ok.
So this Tuesday, when I still hadn't heard from my regular doctor, I talked to his nurse, who said my test results were in my file, and she would check with my doctor to see what he wanted to do next. She would call me back that afternoon.
Guess what? I called again today since I still hadn't heard from her. She calls me back & tells me that I'm to be sent to a Pain Management specialist.
WTF?
I don't need no steekin' pain management. I need some freakin' steriods, lady.
She got rather snide with me, insisting in effect that Doctor knows best.
That's bullshit I thought as I hung up the phone. I'm getting a second opinion.
A few minutes later, I got a rather sheepish phone call from formerly snide nurse. Seems that once she actually looked at my chart, my doctor had faxed a referral to a rheumatologist. On the 19th. Yet neither doctor had bothered to call me.
Jesus wept.
I called the rheumatologist's office to schedule an appointment. Yes, the lady said. We definitely need to schedule an appointment for you. But she was on another line and could she call me back?
That was 30 minutes ago.
Oh, yeah. You can bet your ass I'm gonna be calling back. Repeatedly if necessary.
I take back what I said earlier. If it weren't for my jackass-like stubborn streak, I'd have been dead a long time ago.
Perserverance pays.
Posted by Rita at April 29, 2005 10:33 AM
Comments
What a total load of crap. Autoimmune disorders are NOT the kind of thing you want to wait around on.
Posted by: Keith at April 29, 2005 02:36 PM
Absolutely. But since I'm not at death's door yet, i.e. no major organ involvement so far, doctors generally don't take it too seriously. Me, I still follow my old country doctor's advice that he gave me years ago when I first got sick. Treat the symptoms aggressively & thereby lessen their effects for as long as possible. Which kept me in semi-remission for about 15 years.
I did finally get an appointment for the 9th. I just hope this rheumatologist isn't as big an asshole as most of them I've seen.
Posted by: rita at April 29, 2005 02:50 PM