Yesterday afternoon my doctor's office called. Ah, the moment of truth. I would learn if things are better 3 months later. The lady on the phone I think is designated to call every patient for reminders and she must be their native Spanish speaker too as her English is really, really weak. Now, I have a lot of empathy for foreign speakers and don't feel contempt or anything like that when I speak to a foreign speaker on the phone, but it is frustrating when a representative from the doctor's office can't communicate properly or explain things better.
What she told me was that my lab results are in and the doctor would like to see me in 4-6 weeks to go over the results. I thought I had misunderstood or something. So, I asked to be sure. Yes, 4-6 weeks and she would give him the message that I was confused why I had to wait 4-6 weeks to talk about the results.
Not sure if maybe this was correct or not, I called the office and got the front desk. The lady there pulled up the doctor's notes and the notes say, "Make appt. in 4-6 weeks to discuss lab results." I told the lady this didn't make sense. If things were bad, shouldn't I know? If they are good, why do I need to wait to find out the results? (as I told her it was follow-up to some bad bloodwork results). She just reiterated what the doctor said. Ugh! So, I asked them to please mail me the lab results. That way I can at least see the results for myself. I understand what the tests mean and I want them for my records anyway.
Ugh!!! I'm going to assume that the blood work was good or mostly good. But, if they were good, like everything normal, then why would I even need to discuss them with my doctor? How hard would it have been to say, "They are perfect... let's recheck in 4-6 weeks or 3 months or whatever, and have you come in at that time." Or, if they need tweaking, let me know so I can try to make things even better. Why wait 4-6 weeks doing the same thing without changing anything if that isn't working? Plus, there's no new blood work ordered, so what is that all about?
So, I'm beginning to think my doctor is a quack. First, he let me walk out of his office when I had a bp of 230/130. And, he gave me the lowest possible BP med prescription to try to lower it AND the lowest thyroid meds to try to get that in line. Now, I'm totally OK with being a minimalist with meds, but when you see someone that in danger, more should have been done. It was my mother in law who had me increase the meds and it was because I called to say they weren't getting lower, that he had me come back in (and do more blood work).
It has been 3 months since he saw me. When I last saw him, my blood pressure was regulated (but since then I've dropped my dosage by one third as my blood pressure is lowering), my blood sugars were pretty high and my thyroid was still quite out of whack. So for three months I've been plugging away - eating lower carbs, exercising 6 days a week and working hard to make a healthier lifestyle. I did the bloodwork when he told me - after 3 months and then I have to wait another 4-6 weeks to find out the results of my efforts? What is that???
Of course, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and maybe his notes weren't complete and it was a miscommunication, but the cards are beginning to stack up against this guy. I might switch to my husband's primary care within the same practice.
I will call this morning to see if they have mailed the lab results. If they have not, I want to swing by and pick them up. I sort of don't trust the office as they said they would mail my husband's lab results and they remembered one time, and didn't mail them the next time he asked.
I am a little frustrated. Can you tell? Plus, life has gotten in the way with exercising too much this week and that makes me mad too! I'm going to hit it hard today!
Edited to add: I called my doctor's office this morning to see if I could drive by and pick up the results. This lady on the phone at least was surprised at the "4-6 weeks to go over the results". She then said she can't release my results until the doctor has given the OK. So, she will have him call me. What the heck?!?!? ugh! She at least had the sense to question the doctor's notes instead of just going along with whatever he said. So, we'll see if I get a call today or not.
Stats for 4/13/11:
Beginning weight: 255.6 Now: 221.6 (34 pounds lost)
No comments:
Post a Comment