It’s Been Too Long
A few hours ago, I was raging over a message my primary doctor sent me through the patient portal saying she had been “lenient” with me about my “situation” and refilled my thyroid medication as requested but that I was putting her professionally at risk because most patients are seen every 3-6 months.
Guess that whole “I’m here to serve you” spiel I got from her on the first visit was just bullshit? I don’t know. I thought I was good at seeing this stuff coming. Maybe the anxiety work lowered my defenses.
Maybe she’s just a jerk.
I am proud I didn’t reply “See you next Tuesday” but the thought did occur to me. I don’t pretend to be an angel.
Instead, I thanked her and replied curtly about my debilitating “situation.”
I’ve learned doctors and bosses don’t like curtness, but I’m pretty sure they’d like what I am really thinking even less. So I self-edit.
But the telehealth solution posited in her message isn’t much of a solution to me. Last time I waited to be contacted for one scheduled with the NP, it never happened. I waited by the phone and ultimately never received any care at all.
I feel like there is a problem, but it’s not me.
Now I’m going to be hunting for a new primary doctor and looking into in-home care in case this bedridden thing isn’t as temporary as I keep hoping. Hooray!
If I were to breakdown the drama in the most generous way possible, I would assume my primary was under the impression I possessed knowledge I didn’t.
Like maybe talking to four different people, not including the pharmacist, was a game of telephone waiting to happen and she thought I already knew the oncologist’s labs were different than what she ordered.
Or maybe she doesn’t know that every time a patient calls the office they’re greeted by a robot telling them to have the pharmacy contact them about refills and use the patient portal for communication.
Nevermind that this is a med I’ve been on for 25 years, and it’s not a controlled substance. I’m probably trying to get away with… something?
So let’s not ask questions about why I am not making my appointments. Let’s assume I am trying to get you, primary doctor, to do something you have previously explained is a bad idea or one that causes you some concern. Let’s describe you as “lenient” like you are a judge doling out a sentence and I have no idea what my body’s limits are.
Like I said: miscommunication is my most generous take. And even that is not enough to get me to stick it out with her. If communication at the doctor’s office is that disjointed, it won’t be anything but extra work for me going forward.
I’m not interested.
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