Playing Doctor Roulette

I'll admit that I don't have a very good track record when it comes to doctoring.  (There are a lot of reasons for that which I will save for another post.)  I mean, even the night of my ruptured brain aneurysm, I refused to go for medical attention because I didn't feel good enough!  I was vomiting violently and painfully through the entire night, and even though my sister was faithfully tending to me, I didn't want to be disturbed in my misery.  It wasn't until the next afternoon that I acquiesced to seeking medical care and discovered that I had a brain bleed.  By all rights, I should have died that night...but I didn't.  I was spared by expert brain surgery, with no residual disabilities, a couple of days later.  God is good!

The next event was the heart attack.  This time, the medical system kind of had me by the whing-whang (to quote my father-in-law).  In order for my needed medicine prescriptions to be refilled, I had to see my cardiologist every six months for a few years.  Thereafter, I was down to once a year, but for the same reason.  I couldn't exactly find ways to escape the appointments and blood tests. Thus, my cardiologist became my ONLY doctor...and he knew it.

Every time I go in, the "system" asks me for the name of my Primary Care Physician (PCP).  Well, guess what?  I didn't have one.  Haven't had one for many years...ever since my "family doc"--a female--told me that I had an STD and needed to inform my sexual partners.  I was curious about that because I wasn't sexually active, nor did I have any sex partners, but when I told her that--or tried to--she was walking out of the room and waved her hand at me as if to say, "Yeah, yeah...I've heard it all before." And that was that.  I never went back to her.  If my integrity as a patient didn't hold water with her, I didn't need the disrespect.  Thereafter, if I needed medical attention, I went to the Immediate Care office just down the road from my house.

Last fall, I took on a Medicare supplement insurance policy.  The application asked for the name of my PCP, and said that they would assign me one if I didn't have one...so they assigned Dr. Freeman out of Plainfield, just down the street.  I've not seen him; hence, I feel weird claiming him as my PCP. Then, last Tuesday, when I had my routine cardiology appointment, Dr. Gill wrote up a "request" for a pulmonologist consultation "soon".  As I was checking out of the office, the guy offered to make an appointment for me.  I said I would rather work through my PCP, just to get started with him, but I took the phone number for a pulmonologist and promised to make the appointment.  He told me that if I had problems getting in to see one soon, I should call back because sometimes they can work inside the system to pull some strings.

So I have started the process.  Or at least I've tried!
*Dr. Freeman (the PCP) has two offices, Plainfield and Brownsburg.  The gal making appointments told me that she had NO available appointments in Pfield because the office is being remodeled, and the first available was August 24th in Brownsburg.  Okay...put me down for that.  I can't wait that long, but at least I am in the queue.
*I decided to make a pulmonology appointment on my own, using the phone number that the cardiology office gave me.  Hmmm....sounds like a fax number.  No answer...just a lot of squeaks, squawks, and squeals.
*Called the cardiologist office back to ask them to work their magic.  I explained my problem.  They said they'd get back to me.
*Two days later, they called back, obviously not understanding what my issues are.  I explained again...and the gal said she would forward my information to a couple of lung docs in that particular hospital...and I should hear from them at least within a week.

So here I am, a week later, no better than when I started.  I get a little freaky about this stuff because last year, I got a call saying that my blood sample had been dropped on the floor and that I needed to come back in for another...and several panic phone calls later from them indicated that it had NOT happened, that my blood sample had already been processed, and they were trying to track down the info that I got.

When we are sick, we often have no choice but to put our well-being into the hands of people we don't know.  Most of the time, it works.  Sometimes, it doesn't.  I'm not blaming anyone for anything here...I just would like to be able to pick up a phone and make an appointment as requested by a doctor, and hope it works.  Not sure who is dropping the ball on this deal.  I just don't want it to be MY ball that is dropped!