Yesterday morning I went to see my gastroenterologist. We talked a bit and he told me to begin a combination of 3 medications I have been on. None worked on their own and I basically tried every medicine there is for my GI problems. The next step is to try every permutation of said medications.
If I try every combination and they all fail, there is an option of surgery. This is a last resort. It would be a major surgery and normally I would just want it. I want my life back. Let’s go for it. But there’s one catch — the surgey might not cure ALL my symptoms.
As my doctor said, it is a very big surgery to go through if I’m still going to suffer from some of the symptoms anyway.
So there’s a lot on the table here. But anyway, back to yesterday. There is one more test the doctor wants me to do. This test won’t really tell us anything new, as I already have a diagnosis, but it will give my doctor a better idea as to the exact pinpointed location of the problem, just for his reference. The test requires me to take a pill and then get x-rays 5 days later. My doctor gave me a prescription and printed out some papers with the info and told me to take the papers to the front desk of his office.
I go to the front desk and give them the papers and the receptionist said, “You need to bring this to radiology. This isn’t for us.” I told her my doctor told me to give them to the front desk and she said, “No. This is for radiology. You can either go down there now and make an appointment or call and make an appointment.” I had to get to work, so I decided to call when I got there.
When I called to make an appointment, the person in the radiology department told me they don’t accept appointments for this test — “Just walk in and be sure to bring your prescription,” she said. I asked her what time they open and she said 8:30. This morning, I arrive at 8:30, prescription in hand. I give it to the receptionist and she says, “I don’t know if any doctor can do this today. I’ll check.”
Um, what?! They told me they wouldn’t make me an appointment, they told me to just walk in, and then they might not be able to see me? I might have to come BACK? I paid for a cab there, I asked my boss if I could come to work late, I emailed everyone on my 10:00 AM call to tell them I might be late. Then she comes back to me and asks me if I took the pill. I said, “No, that is why I’m here.” She looked at me like I am a moron and said, “Well you need to take the pill before we can do the x-ray.” I told her that I was aware of that, and I was told on the phone to bring my prescription for the pill. She said they don’t give it out there. I asked her where I would go to get it and she said, “I don’t know where you would get it. Not here.”
So I thought maybe I WAS being a moron. Maybe it was common sense it know to bring the prescription to the pharmacy? I went to the pharmacy. The pharmacist, a very nice guy who I have dealt with extensively over the last year and a half, looked at the prescription for this TEST and said, “We never get this. No pharmacy does.” I asked him if he could order it and he told me they don’t give this to pharmacies. He said I would have to get it at the hospital.
I JUST CAME FROM THE HOSPITAL. They sent me AWAY!
Where the hell do I get the pill to do this test?!
I got to work and had an email from my doctor telling me my bloodwork from the day before was normal. I used this opportunity to reply to him asking where to get the pill for the test. I didn’t want him to think I was stupid, too, but I figured it would be easy to reply to his email.
Then I called his office.
I explained the situation to someone over the phone at my doctor’s office. She told me that THEY have the pills there and I was supposed to get it from them when I was there yesterday. Which makes sense since my doctor instructed me to bring the test info to the front desk. I told the person on the phone that when I gave the test info to the girl at the front desk yesterday, instead of getting me the pill, she told me they don’t do this and I needed to contact radiology.
The person on the phone said the receptionist was wrong, but that she wouldn’t have known they had it there. But that is who my doctor told me to go to! How could I have known to bring the papers to the front desk but not the girl at the front desk and instead someone else? Why would I think to question the girl who told me it is a matter for radiology?
The person on the phone told me I needed to come back today and get the pill for the test. I told her I can’t — I already missed work yesterday morning and this morning because of this. I am working at a company that is currently notorious for mass layoffs and I can’t keep leaving work during the day. I told her I will try to come by next week. Either way, I am now delayed an entire week because I need to start the test on a Thursday for specific reasons. Also, I didn’t bring my meds to work today because I can’t take them during the test — but now there is no test. So I am not taking my meds for no reason.
I wanted to just get it over with. I am so annoyed and angry with the medical system. How does no one know how to do their job? Why should I have to run all over Manhattan — and I mean ALL over, I started on the West Side by the Hudson River in the 60s and went to the East Side in the high 90s and then to the pharmacy and work in Battery Park City — just this morning. All to find out the pill was in the SAME OFFICE I WAS IN YESTERDAY.
And when I do take this test, I will insist on getting radiology to make an appointment for the x-rays. Even though it is a “walk-in test” and they “don’t make appointments” for it, I saw what happened this morning when I tried to get the test done. They told me they first had to see (after I traveled all the way there and missed some work) if the doctor could even do it that day! I will be 1000000% sure that the doctor CAN in fact do it on the day I need to go there for the x-ray BEFORE I take the pill.
I am fuming.
