Wednesday, July 05, 2006

The earliest I can get you in is next century, Ma'am . . .

Well, I'm not feeling a whole lot better today, so I called to make an appointment with my doctor. The earliest appointment she had available was well into August, so I asked if another doctor the PA had said was good had openings any sooner. Still, the earliest I could get an appointment was July 25th, since I hadn't been seen by anyone other than the PA at that office before and the receptionist said I needed to be scheduled for a physical slot, which is a longer appointment time.

I explained what was going on to the person making the appointment and asked if there was any way I could get in sooner, but she said that since I have so many different symptoms going on I needed a longer appointment slot.

I said, "Can't you just put me in for whatever kind of appointment you give when someone is sick and needs to be seen? I'd like to at least try to get some short-term relief and then we can deal with the rest of the stuff at a later appointment. I can barely take care of my three young children at this point, and that's a long time to wait."

She said it definitely sounded like I needed to get in sooner than the end of the month, but she really thought I needed a longer appointment and that was the earliest she had available. She'll keep an eye on the doctor's schedule and call me if there's a cancellation so I can get in sooner.

By that point I was in tears, so I said thank you and goodbye as quickly as possible and hung up. Because, you know, I didn't want her to know I was crying. I hate it when I start crying in front of people.

I guess it serves me right for waiting until I can barely function to call for an appointment.

6 Comments:

Blogger Bridget said...

aww.. hugs to you. isn't it terrible when you are so sick and tired you can't even stop yourself from crying!
hope you start feeling better soon. call again and leave out some of your symptoms so you can just have a short appointment. :0

1:53 PM  
Blogger Liz Miller said...

I vote for you to go to an Urgent Care center. You often can just walk in.

2:14 PM  
Blogger purple_kangaroo said...

Thanks, Bridget and Liz. I think I am going to call and make an appointment "just" about my back pain, and if that doesn't work I may do urgent care.

4:27 PM  
Blogger Jamie said...

Oh, ugh, I read your post below as well as this one, and I'm so sorry to hear that you've been miserable the past couple of days. Not just miserable, but an awful, non-functioning, can barely stay awake miserable. :(

Saying a prayer that you feel better soon and are able to get into a doctor quickly. (I hope you were able to talk to someone with some common sense when you tried for an appointment this time around... sheesh, talk about flawed logic on the waiting/longer appointment issue!)

6:03 PM  
Blogger Dani said...

Maybe if you cried, she would have magically found you a closer appointment? ;)

I really don't mean to make light of being frustrated to tears, I've been like that a lot lately myself. I'm sorry that they couldn't see you sooner. Do you really like that practice a lot or are you maybe willing to go somewhere else with more availability?

I hope you get some relief soon. I think of you often!

7:44 PM  
Blogger purple_kangaroo said...

Jamie, that's totally what I thought about the flawed logic. "Teh more sick I am, the longer I have to wait for an appointment? Wait a minute here . . . "

Dani, that thought did occur to me after I hung up.

There was a cancellation, though, so the appointment is on the 17th now.

10:34 PM  

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