The Dr. Is Not In

Unbelievable! Yesterday I had a Dr. Appt that was just that - Unbelievable!

Throughout this pregnancy I am supposed to see a endocrinologist along with my regular OB appointments due to my lovely thyroid deficiency situation. The prescribed plan is to see the Endo Dr every other month and get my blood drawn at my OB appts every month with the results forwarded to the Endo Dr. This way I am monitored closely for my thyroid levels throughout the pregnancy. My Endo Dr calls on the off months to tell me either to change my dose up or down depending on the blood results or to keep it the same because the hormones are where they should be. With exception to probably the first three months of the pregnancy the hormones have been where they need to be and I haven't had to change my dosage of thyroid hormone.

That was the prescribed plan: this is what I have experienced throughout this plan. Everything has happened as mentioned above only every time I go to the Endo Dr I end up waiting in the waiting room for a minimum of 30 minutes past my appointment time before I get called back to see the Dr. When I see the Dr it is usually for about 20 minutes and consists entirely of a report on my blood (in person but the same as I get on the phone each off month) and a few taps on the knees and joints for reflexes and of course a rudimentary hand search of my neck glands to make sure my thyroid gland is apparently still there or something. I cant get a babysitter for these appointments most times because I have no idea how long I might be because it always takes FOREVER to get to be seen by the Dr.

Once in the past they called me to see if I might be able to come in for an earlier appointment (about 45 min. earlier than my current appointment time) and because I was flexible that day with my schedule I agreed and came in about 55 minutes early (10 minutes before my new appointment time). I ended up waiting to see the Dr until 20 minutes PAST the original appointment time before I was even called back and it wasn't until I went up to the receptionist and complained that I had now come in early at their request but still waited over an hour for my appointment. Whah lah! Miraculously the Dr was ready to see me then. Right!

Yesterday I came for my appointment at 11:30. I always get there about 5-10 minutes early to an appointment. I had my kids in toe because I had numerous errands afterwards that I needed them for and so I figured even if I had to wait the usual 30 min after my appointment time to see the Dr finally then at least I could save time by not having to go drive somewhere out of the way to pick them up at a babysitters. At over the hour mark after my appointment time I decided it was time to make sure somebody noticed I was still there waiting. I went up to the receptionist again and this time requested to see the office manager because I had now waited over an hour for my appointment and still had not been called back or even notified that the Dr was running behind and that she would be late getting to me (isn't this common courtesy?).

When the office manager called me back to her office to talk to me I had two totally burned out of their good behavior children and all she could say to me was "sorry" but the Dr is running behind today. I told her that I was frustrated because I have always been called in late and that I was expected to be on time but apparently I did not deserve similar treatment in the reverse. I asked if any of the other Drs at the office were always late. I got an answer that one was a bit better, one was worse. Basically there was no solution and that I should talk to the Dr about my feelings. Irritated but resigned I turned to leave the office and she informs me that they are ready for me now cause apparently I was "next in line" (wow I thought I should have been next in line at 11:30 and not at 12:45. So the nurse took me to my room, did the blood pressure routine, asked about medicines etc. I had cooled a bit and was feeling sorry for chewing out the staff of the office when if it was the Dr running behind then it probably had little to do with them.

So I apologized to the nurse and said that I was sorry to have taken my frustration out on her and her staff about the tardiness and that I was just at a loss for what to do because I had never ever had to wait that long at a Drs office past my appointment time. She informed me that the Dr's priority was her patients feelings and that I should express these feelings to the Dr so that hopefully something could be resolved.

Moments later the Dr came in and obviously already informed that her next patient was less than happy with her she came in on the defensive and the moment I started to express to her in a polite tone how frustrated I was about the reoccurring tardy tradition I was experiencing at her office she jumped at me about how she was running behind and that that was explanation and justification enough. She also informed me that I shouldn't get so upset about having to wait so long because she "saw sicker patients" than me and that several of them were "elderly" and required help since they came alone. Holding my tongue as best I could I told her that I felt that maybe the solution here could be that I just get phone call results when my blood looks good like we do in other months and that I should only have to come in if the blood results come back bad. Reasonable right? Nope, cause she said she "cant charge the insurance for phone consults." Ahh pardon me for cutting into your paycheck by proposing a solution to your overbooked schedule and my less than severe level of sickness and age.

I then asked for her if at least in the future the front desk could inform me that she was running behind so that I don't sit in the waiting room wondering if someone forgot to inform a nurse I was there. A little notice as to the situation would have helped a long way towards my ability to have patience in the situation. She told me that even that was impossible because a lot of time the front desk does not know how things are going in the back. Are you kidding me? It is impossible to inform the front desk, "Dr. ___ is running a bit behind would you please inform the patients she has that are checked in that they may be called back later than expected." This way if some have no flexibility in their schedule to wait they can reschedule and hopefully help the with the over jammed Dr's schedule a bit.

My Dr's only solution for me was to ask for an appointment time first thing in the morning because she was "never behind" first thing in the morning. Thank you for your compassion and consideration of how you wasted my time Dr. So in the end I went to schedule my next appointment for mid November. Oh well the Dr is only in town one day a week throughout all of November so the earliest I could get was a 10:15 in the morning. Right smack in the middle of Lyman's preschool time which means if I got in on time then I should have plenty of time to go pick him up before preschool is over but if I have to wait an hour then I would have no time. Guess I need to plan on having someone else pick him up that day. Longest of days long, I was late to every errand I had to do after that and Lyman was 20 minutes late to a birthday party that afternoon because of it.

At what point does trying to have charity towards your fellow men mean you have to be walked all over?