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January 19, 2008
This week was not the week I planned. Not that I had any great plans for the week, just that things were not normal, everyday, low-key activities I expect.
Monday was a doctor appointment. For some reason this doctor and I are like oil and water. It's not necessarily his fault, but if there were an award for the most disorganized medical practice, his would win. I think they hold planning meetings prior to my appointments to decide what they can do to irritate me, they're just so good at it.
This time they started by asking for my co-pay before being seen. In most other medical facilities I would have no problem with this, but I seriously doubt their ability to keep track of a piece of paper for longer than two minutes. Perhaps if it weren't for the prior experience of sitting in an exam room for half an hour listening to them play hide and seek with the x-ray taken minutes before, while they whispered to each other about how long I had been sitting in the room my perspective would be different.
My next issue surfaced with the sniffling, sneezing, potentially contagious x-ray tech. Why on earth would she be allowed to interact with patients in such a condition, especially knowing the majority of their patients have supressed immune systems? I made a mental note to load up on Vitamin C and crossed my fingers.
After seeing the doctor I was back out at the desk, making an appointment for next year. When I insisted on a Monday morning appointment she informed me that he does not see patients in the morning if they are also scheduled for tests. I looked at the clock and wondered if she realized it was morning, and he had just seen me, even though I was also scheduled for tests. She continued to stare blankly at the computer screen and finally asked me if I could make it in by 10:15. I guess afternoon comes much sooner then it used to.
Two days later I landed in the waiting room of the doctor I get along with in the most intense pain I could ever imagine (please, hold your childbirth stories, they could not possibly compare). I spent a couple hours trying to convince myself the pain would go away, or at least lessen with ibuprophen, before I turned myself in. Fortunately for me the pain was not caused by any big, scary or hard to fix issues, just pleurisy (which explains why trying to relax and breathe into the pain was not working). A week of taking the wonder drug prednisone and I will be good as new. The pain subsided almost as quickly as the after taste from the wonder pills.
Of course, this means for the rest of the course of treatment I will behave like a frat boy, doing little more than eating and sleeping (kindly disregard the empty pizza boxes and dirty socks strewn around, they mean nothing).
Posted by Anna at January 19, 2008 8:39 PM