Self-Appendectomy #SOLSC24 Day 28/31

Yesterday my friend Barb wrote about things she dislikes doing. Her post struck a chord, especially following two conversations I had Wednesday morning with the medical community.

I dislike having to talk to anyone in the medical community. They often fail to follow through on requests or completely misinterpret the patient. At my March 13 appointment I gave my doctor a chart with What I Said /What he Heard on it based on the PA notes from my November appointment. I’ve also channeled my frustration in poetry.

About those Wednesday calls:

First I had to call Idaho Medical Imaging to schedule an X-ray my doctor ordered March 13. I expected someone from IMI to call me after receiving the order. No one called, so I called them.

I was on hold long enough to hear Your call is important to us at least 666 times before a real person arrived to speak to me.

I stated the reason for my call only to be told I can just walk-in and get the X-ray, that they don’t call to schedule X-rays. I asked: How am I supposed to know that? Every other time I’ve visited IMI for a mammogram and the bone scan I had recently, I needed an appointment.

The helpful [insert sarcasm here] associate told me most doctors they work with know this. I said, Apparently mine didn’t, and I don’t know why someone didn’t call me when you received the order.

The second call came from someone in my doctor’s office. She called to tell me my blood tests from March 13 didn’t show any genetic markers for a biological cause for my chronic hip pain. I said, I know. I looked for that information when I received my blood draw results.

Friends, that was two weeks ago. Still, I’m grateful for the call. Normally there’s no follow up calls after my appointments.

The nurse/tech/associate asked if I she could help me with anything else, so I asked if she could follow through on a January 19 request I made to call my insurance company and tell them my femme ring prescription is necessary so I’ll pay $180 every 90 days instead of over $450.

I explained that I’d put this request in the letter I gave to my doctor March 13 and still don’t know if anyone has followed up on it. I added, I feel as though trying to get someone in your office to call and authorize the femme ring is like performing an appendectomy on myself.

She did say she’s sorry about that but isn’t the person who takes care of prescription needs. She said she’d send a note over and make it a priority and have the responsible person call me when it’s done.

I am still awaiting that call. Where’s my scalpel?