Issues

First of all, Happy Birthday AB! I know it was your birthday on Saturday, but I didn't post then because I know you don't read my blog on Saturdays. And may I say that you're looking young. Very young. Youthful, even.

So now my issue. Let me start out by saying that this issue is not about doctors, although it has to do with health care. I adore my doctor and dread the day he retires. I have a wonderful friend who is a doctor and I adore her as well. My issue is with the person who answers the phone at the doctor's office and won't give you an appointment to see the doctor. And if you are reading this post and this happens to be your job, it's not you, it's the girl at my doctor's office. And if it is you, then that's just plain weird that you would be reading this.

Okay, okay, back to the story. So Husband has been sick since Wednesday. And I've been sick since last weekend, but he's been sicker so he got to rest on the couch all weekend. On Friday he had a meeting; you might remember that I had mentioned that Thumbelina and I were going to go along and galavant...that didn't happen because I wasn't feeling well enough to galavant...and I tried really hard to talk Husband into staying home and skipping his meeting. But men can be a tad, um, stubborn at times. By the time he was on his way home from the meeting, he was really sick and called and asked me to make an appointment for him to see the doctor. You know he's sick when he's requesting an appointment. So call I did. The girl I talked to said that my doctor was busy. I asked if there was somebody else available that Husband could see. In evil Ontario (I don't know about the rest of the Great White North but this is how it is here) you have to sign up to be a part of your Family of Physicians which is supposed to mean that you will always get to see a doctor if said doctor is part of your Family. So when I asked if Husband could see someone else, I was told that they don't do the Family of Physicians (this isn't what it's actually called, but you get what I mean, right?) on Thursdays or Fridays. You can only see your own doctor. Nor do they have evening appointments on Thursdays or Fridays. I felt like saying So what good is it having a Family of Physicians then? But I didn't.

I took him to the walk-in clinic, which incidentally isn't part of our FOP, because Husband was feeling like he had strep throat, and was seen by a doctor and given a prescription. It was for 3 days, the drugs are supposed to stay in your system for 10 days, but Husband is only feeling minimally better. I called our doctor's office again today and asked for Husband to see our doctor. I answered her questions of his symptoms and she had the nerve to say to me, "Well, if it's just a low-grade fever, don't you think he's getting better?" Excuse me? Excuse me?? Are you a doctor??? I told her that I still wanted Husband to see our doctor. But guess what - he's booked for the whole week. And guess what else - our doctor is the Family doctor this week who gets to see all the patients that can't get in to see their own doctor. Ironic, isn't it. So I didn't like this girl's attitude, and called the office back about 10 minutes later and talked to somebody different. She gave me the same answer about our doctor being booked for the week, but said to call at 4:00 to see if there were any cancellations for the evening. I did and there weren't.

At 7:00, Husband said he was going to go to the doctor's office anyway and hope he could see our doctor without an appointment. The receptionist wasn't going to let him, but our doctor happened to see Husband in the waiting room and examined him regardless. Because he's a great doctor. And I adore him. Did I mention that already? So Husband has a very bad case of bronchitis and is on a different antibiotic.

I'm feeling somewhat better, thanks for asking, but my throat and ears are still very sore. And while I'm not up all night coughing (I'm only up half the night coughing), I'm thinking I'm going to be needing something stronger soon. Except I don't want to call the doctor's office. Because I'll be told there are no appointments available.

Did you ever see the Seinfeld episode where Elaine was labelled as a difficult patient? I get the impression that the receptionists at our office have little notes about us in their computer, because before they answer if there are any appointments available, they want to know who the appointment is for. And I can hear them click-click-clicking away on their computer before answering me. Just tell me yes or no.

I have more issues that just this one, but I think that's all you can handle for today.