Hematologist Appt.....

So I met with the hematologist today. I was pissed beyond pissed the way it went down. My appointment was at 12:00 so I made it there around 11:50 because I knew I would probably have some paperwork to fill out. Filled out the paperwork and waited. The hematologist was in a Cancer institute so I felt kind of awkward being in there….nevertheless I knew I had a reason to be there.

This is an important point to remember before my vent continues – when I made my appointment I specifically asked how long it would take because this determined the time I chose because I was leaving work to do it, to return back to work afterwards.

I was told “oh you should be in and out in an hour”. Me, okay great.

Well after sitting for 35 minutes past my appointment time I approach the desk to ask how much longer the wait will be. She said let me go check. She goes in the back and says they will be out in a few to get you. 20 minutes later they come out and take me to another room.

Again, I wait.

Another 30 minutes pass.

The lady who checked me in walked by the door and said you’re still here….have you seen the doctor? Me: Nope, and I’m getting pissed because I’ve already been waiting an hour and a half. She said okay let me go check, that’s unusual for Dr. Duncan as he doesn’t have many patients.

10 more minutes – Ms. W@tson would you mind moving to this room right here.

Sure – why not.

15 more minutes – are you here waiting for Dr. Duncan….Yeeeessssss.

Evidently this is a training clinic as there were numerous ‘young’ doctors walking around. One entered the room and introduced herself. I looked at her badge and immediately noted she was not the one I was here to see. Pissed even moreso by now. She ask what meds I was on, as if it wasn’t on the sheet I filled out when I arrived. She asked me to spell Lupron. I spelled it, but in my head I was saying….seriously?

She leaves and explains two more people will be coming in to go over my history….um great but where is the famous Dr. Duncan.

They enter…..very young again…but introduced themselves as doctor so and so and doctor so and so….I had so much steam coming out my ears I couldn’t hear their names. One of them say I take it you have been waiting long….um really you can tell that just from my aggravated look on my face. My answer – yes over an hour and a half now.

She says we work with Dr. Duncan and we will go ahead and take care of covering the history part for you. Sure why not. I answer their questions as they take notes. Then one of the young doctors flipping through my files that I brought says “So how many eggs do they have of yours?” I must have given her the dumbest of dumbest look as she tries to find better words to ask me. As she begins reading off my chart…it says here they retrieved 17, 9 fertilized and…..the words became garbled to me as I was fixing the right insult to sling her way. Great…found one….on the tip of my tongue – ‘How about you stick with your specialty as you have no clue what you’re talking about’ – saved by the bell, as the other young doctor clearly seen the hole my fire driven eyes was burning in her head and started asking some other questions. Clearly cutting her off and saving her from a good insult headed her way from me.

It’s not their fault the doctor wasn’t there, but it was their fault that they were there trying to fill dead air in a space that was so full of anger as my clock was now at 2:00 and I had yet to see the doctor for an appointment set for 12:00.

So one of the young doctors gets a bright idea – I’m going to page him to remind him he has an appointment. Then she looks at me, he’s at a lecture so maybe he forgot. The other young doctor….oh is he forgetful….the other young doctor, no not really but maybe he got long winded on his lecture. Me fuming in my head even more. You mean to tell me you bright doctors couldn’t think to page him after I was waiting 45 minutes, but now that we’re at 2 hours you geniuses think of paging him now.

Another reason I was highly pissed is that they let me wait and no one ever told me the doctor wasn’t there. I would have rescheduled….pissed yes, that I had an appointment booked for weeks and no doctor was there…but not as pissed as I was sitting there for 2 hours just waiting.

So the two obviously uncomfortable being surrounded by my mist of anger say, we’re going to go um check on another patient.

They open the door and walk out and I hear ‘oh there they are’. The famous Dr. Duncan has finally freaking arrived. My room door is open and I’m sitting in the chair by the door and I see Dr. Duncan walk up with a plate in his hand. By this time I’m blowing flames out my ears. One because I’m pissed…..as we already know….but two because I’m hungry and you walk your late butt up here with a plate like you are right on time. I normally eat at 12, didn’t eat thinking I was going to go there and come back to work and eat….nope…by 2:30 my stomach was talking to my back! He looks at me and looks at the two young doctors and says um I’m going to put this down. They follow. I guess they use this time to fill him in on my history.

He comes in and introduces himself. Sit down with his Doritos breath and start to talk to me. One of those doctors that like to be very close while talking to you….so close that I felt his Doritos breath in my face…..Apologizing for his double booking and explaining that he had to a lecture.

After all that waiting, I met with him for a max of 7 minutes. During this time it was determined that yes, I will most likely be on Lovenox my next cycle. I asked would how long I would be on it be determined by the results of the bloodwork. He said no, he thinks 12 weeks is not long enough and for a normal pregnancy he would stop at 20 weeks but much prefer to go the entire pregnancy. He said depending on my results he may start my injections before transfer instead of waiting for a confirmed pregnancy to start. He asked how I felt about sticking myself in the belly every day the entire pregnancy and I said, if that’s what I have to do, to have a healthy pregnancy I’m willing to do it. He said my Protein S came back slightly low before but came back normal in December so he was going to retest it. But would still put me on Lovenox regardless of the results because it seems to act as an additional protection and seems to help the success rates more.

He then sent me to checkout and to go to the lab for the blood work draw and told me to schedule an appointment for 2 weeks away to discuss the blood test results.

Sitting in check out the head of the clinic comes and says he heard about my situation and how long I had to wait and he apologized about 5 times and gave me a token to cover my parking. He then says I will also cover your parking for your next trip here. So he goes out to get an additional token to cover my next trip and also gives me his business card stating if I ever need any assistance or have any issues at the clinic to please give him a call. Um….great thanks.

So I’m then walked to the lab area to walk into a room with like 25 people in it……I’m like you gotta be freaking kidding me. I check in and ask…how.long.is.the.wait. She said 30 minutes. Exhausted already….what else can go wrong….suck it up and wait.

Finally…… called back. The lady takes out, 1 tube, 2 tubes, 3 tubes, 4,5,6,7,8, and finally ends with 9 tubes. I was like um okay. Could have sworn I just gave 9 tubes in December….but I guess this must be for something different…..asked for a copy of my sheet that show the test…and it is:
· MOCHA (Markers of Coagulation and Hemostatsis Activation)
· Platelet Funcation Assay PFA
· Aspirin Works (Urine)
· CRP – High Sensitivity
· Euglobulin Lysis Time (ELT)
· Factor II Assay
· Factor V Assay
· Favtor VII Assay
· Factor VII Assay
· Factor IX Assay
· Factor X Assay
· Factor XI Assay
· Factor XII Assay
· Fibrinogen Assay
· Lipoprotein
· PAI – 1 Assay
· Plasminogen Assay
· Protein S Antigen
· Protein S Assay
· Thrombin Time (TT)
· Reptilase Time (RT)
· VWF – Antigen

So I go back Feb 10th…to discuss the results.

Icing on the cake. Finally leaving at 3:00 p.m. going to the cashier in the parking garage. Hand her my ticket and $12.00 pop up…I was like well I guess this token did help out a little bit. Hand the lady my token, she hands it back. We don’t take this you parked in the wrong garage to use this. Disgusted again…..I hand her my visa card….we don’t take that either….breathe….T@sh!da…..breathe….I give her $12 cash and go on my way……..I’m really debating emailing that guy to tell him his tokens DID NOT WORK and I want my $12 refunded!

So that was my um…uneventful day at the doctors!