thoughts3

October 30, 2001

Doc's....How rich they get by telling us they suspect a problem,
run you through expensive and many times unnecessary tests
and then tell you it is in your head. wha?
Am I missing something here?
When are we going to catch on to the run-around?
Does your doctor even listen to what you have to say?
Does he have his hand on the door to rush to his next-in-line
while you are trying to tell him what the problem is?
You go for days, weeks, monthes, suffering from a malady
of sorts until your friends and family urge you to PLEASE
go to the doctor and see if you can get some relief.
So, you make an appointment. okey...a 10:00a.m. appt.
that you spend over an hour getting ready for.
Perhaps you have to miss work or make special arrangements
to be able to make this appt. You have to rearrange your entire
schedule of course. But you go and you sign in on time.
You sit and suffer long past your appt. time, wishing you were home in bed.
FINALLY...they call you in. It is close to lunchtime by now.
The nurse takes your blood pressure (is she doing that right?)
and asks you what you are there for, and if you are allergic to any meds.
You tell her in detail what has been ailing you.
She writes down three little codes,
and tells you the doc will be right with you.
You sit again waiting, seemingly forgotten. You read every chart and
every note on the wall several times before you fall asleep. But, then,
the doc comes in and spend two-three minutes reading the three code
symbols and abbreviations that took the nurse three seconds to write.
He must not understand, because he has you repeat everything that you told the nurse. Where are his eyes? He avoids all eye contact.
Is he in a daydream of his mercedes/his girlfriend/
/that steak he is dying to eat/or trying to remember WHO you are?
( he has only been treating you since he delivered your baby 20 years ago).
He spends a moment in silence as he writes you a prescription,
~the same one that he wrote a year ago that didn't work,
swelled you up, caused your hair to fall out,
and kept you up all night with crawling sensations under your skin.~

You begin to tell him about the other problems that are causing you
to function as though you are twenty years older than you are.,
only to be interrupted with....
"...let's take care of this problem first....."
( one complaint per office FEE, please...)
You tell him that you didn't even want to come,
but your family pressured you.
They want to know why your hair is falling out and
why you keep swelling up, unable to breathe.
He doesn't understand and writes a referral to
see another doc in another county.
(you follow through with that appt.that they make for you two monthes ahead;
but nothing is accomplished except more work missed, along with new symptoms like migraines brought on from the doc's and the labs demands for all payments up front...)

Three monthes later, you feel worse, all of the symptoms present and more.
You go back to the doc.
He forgets that he sent you to the other doc and
tries to pass you off to him again.
His office file clerk and his nurse can't seem to find any
record of your last complaints or the recommended doctor's report.
He writes you another prescription and leaves the room
on to the next patient. You sit there wondering why you are there.
You leave and head for the nearest fast food to buy yourself
a what-the-heck-is-the-use-milkshake and pick up your prescription.