Thursday, April 21, 2011

Paranoid or Justified? You Decide.



So Tuesday I had a doctors appointment.  I got a whole separate post about the waiting room but for this post we will just focus on the actual visit. It was scheduled 5 months ago. It was my ladyday appointment. Okay, Okay, pap smear. As always they provided me with great blog material so here ya go.
When I was called back I was greeted by a "med student" that would be assisting in my care today. Great I thought. We did the preliminary stuff, weight, height etc. She then took me into the room to do the temp and blood pressure. She had no clue how to take my blood pressuue. She plugged in the machine and the nurse unplugged it. The student got up and plugged it back in and the nurse informed her that it need not be plugged in. She then fumbled with the arm cuff while she tried to figure out how to operate the thing. I was tempted to show her but refrained. I inquired about my urology referral and she looked through my file and said there is no referral in here. Once the actual nurse came back I inquired with her. She said the same. I told her that 3 months ago I had came here and the doc wrote me a referral for urology and I was supposed to get a call when it was scheduled. I reminded her that I had been there about 12 times over the course of a year for UTI's and the like. (and in case you missed those fun visits you can read about them here and here) She said just ask the doc. 
The doc entered. One I had never seen before. She seemed nice enough. She too was pregnant. This is the third pregnant doc I had seen here. I wondered is this where they send docs to count down to their maternity leave? I asked her about the referral. She turned right to it and said "oh it's not scheduled yet." "Okay" I said "but its been 3 months. How long does it take?" "Dunno" she replied seeming completely uninterested and moved on. She asked me the basic questions periods, kids, birth control, etc. when she inquired about my general heath I went briefly over my history with the health department and told her I was having the same issues. She said "well your urine is fine." "Okay" I replied feeling defeated, "Well I also have a congestion that I fear may have turned into pneumonia or something can you check that out for me?" "Nope" she said "you are here for a pap." Shocked at her response while simultaneously deciding that I did not like her I explained to her again "I know I am here for that but I am sick and wondered if you could just take  a listen to my lungs and tell me if I have an issue here." "No, that would be considered a sick visit and you are here for a pap." She says matter-of-factly. "I am aware of the reason I am here however I did not schedule an additional visit for the sick thing because I already had an appointment today and do not want to have to double pay or miss double work." She said "sorry, but you can schedule a sick visit when you check out today and then when you return we will listen to your lungs, and address any issues at that time." ????WTF???? Now I'm pissed. She asks me to get undressed. I do and then she says "do you want a breast exam?" "Shouldn't I have one?" I ask. "That's up to you" she responds. Rolling my eyes I say "yeah hook me up." She does and then  proceeds with the pap. 
Once she gets in there she immediately asks "have you ever had an abnormal pap?" 
"Yes" I respond still mad about the sick thing
"When?" she asks 
"When I was 18' I say
"And the results of that?"
"Everything was fine" I say
"How about more recently?" she asks
"Nope. nothing" I say trying to communicate with her as minimally as possible since I now have determined she is a bitch. She then asks for another swab from the nurse. 
"Have you had an abnormal one recently?" she inquires
"Nope" I say. 
"Not in the past ten years?" she asks. 
"Nope" I respond thinking if this is her attempt at small talk, she sucks.
She then asks the nurse for another swab. This makes 3. "Hmm" she says as she's swabbing around in there. "
Never had an abnormal pap huh? Hand me another swab." This makes 4! Any woman knows the procedure is 2 swabs per pap. Between all the extra swabbing and abnormality questions I am getting concerned. "When was your last pap?" she asks. I wanted to say "damn bitch read my file will you" But I decide its not a good idea to talk ish when someone is in your vagina. "last year" I tell her.
"Okay you're done" 
She then says "you can get dressed and we will notify you when the results come back abnormally, I mean if they come back abnormally." 
"And the urologist?" I ask. "How long will I have to wait?" 
"Give us a call in 3 weeks if you've not heard anything." She then hands me 3 sample pills from her pocket. Her demeanor is a bit nicer now after the pap? She tells me "you can have these samples they should help with the congestion until you can get back in for another visit." 
She leaves the room and then another nurse enters and asks me if I want blood work done. "Aren't you supposed to get blood work done at your psychical?" I ask her I mean hell you are the people who keep stressing this is a psychical. "If you want it, if not then you don't  have to?" the nurse tells me.
"I might as well get my moneys worth, hook me up" I tell her 
I leave there worried about what the hell she saw during the pap that would cause the barrage of questions and the two extra swabs. The next day I get 3 calls from them. Please keep in mind that this office usually won't even return a call when you are on your death bed. So getting a call from them scared me. The nurse informs me that my cholesterol is too high. This info was provided by the optional blood testing. Good thing I said yes. I breathe a sigh of relief. I thought they were calling to say something much worse. She tells me diet and exercise and hangs up. An hour later I get a "follow up call" from another nurse?
Then that afternoon I get yet another call from the receptionist just calling to reassure me she is working on my referral but it may be May before they make any progress. Sure I say. Okay so now I'm totally freaked. It seems as though they saw something and are now realizing that maybe I was not just complaining for fun for the past couple years and they are now covering their tracks. What do you think? Am I being paranoid or are my concerns legit? 

12 comments:

  1. legit.
    Is this a free clinic or something?
    This horrific care Roc.
    Only in America.

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  2. You are not being too paranoid, for it sounds like this herd of monkeys are out to get you!

    I'd be changing doctors if I could. In the US that's not always possible I know.

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  3. thats horseshit. i work for an HMO and if i doctor treated someone like that we'd write him up and pull him from our network...

    referrals should be done same day, not same YEAR...

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  4. Change doctors! Nobody deserves to be treated like that.

    Should you be worried? Thats a good question but you can't stress yourself over it in the meantime. My husband is waiting on some results and won't know anything for a week..he was told by the doctor that ol' saying "No news is good news" doesn't apply...so if you haven't heard anything by MOnday I would CALL!

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  5. Obamacare? I wouldn't put up with all this!

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  6. Holy crap Roc, you need to change doctors NOW! How long is it supposed to take for you to get results?

    I once had my ob/gyn see something on my cervix during an exam and she had the results expedited and I was back in by the end of the week for them to take a snippet of the something that quite luckily turned out to be nothing.

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  7. I vote for paranoid. You'll get more posts out of it.

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  8. I have to admit I have a lady bit doctor and a regular doctor and the ladybit doctor won't touch anything above the waist except for my boobs. My regular doctor does gyn care, but she feels that with my family history of uterine and ovarian cancer that I should see a quality gyno.

    You can have abnormal cells and its just a yeast infection or something like it about to run amok.

    When I had my bad pap, they only did one pass and did not comment at anything.

    And 3 months for a referral. It should be 7 days tops for the paperwork. I usually make my own appointment and then inform my pcp where I am going and ask for a referral.

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  9. Your post just made me want to go and hug my doctors! My female gyno doctor takes the time to actually talk to me. AND if I have questions about another part of my body, she takes the time to check it out for me! Something doesn't sound right here. When I need a referral, they are calling me that afternoon with the appointment time. I would be calling them on Monday and seeing what's up with everything.

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  10. Peg- Health department..Really the only place that will take you without insurance. Urgent care for example costs $200 for an initial visit.

    Charlene- see above comment

    Slyde- I wish we had some policing of them but we don't.

    Chandra- I can't switch doctors believe me if I could I would've been gone.

    Linda- Not usre if you are telling me to wait on ObamaCare or your blaming Obamacare???

    MysteryChick- No options. And it so sucks.

    Mike- Good point, I already got the Brittney Spears thing going so maybe I should just roll with it.

    ASM-I thought of your story when this happened.

    Mamma-Lucky lady! Maybe not a hug but I would give them a big Thank you!

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  11. ♥Nice post.) Love your blog.))♥

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  12. Change doctors NOW. I once had a doc who spent the entire time I was in the stirrups talking to her attending nurse about what movie they were going to see after they finished my appointment. Never went back. Found another great doc and LOVE her. She LISTENS and takes CARE of me.

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