7 more weeks of “winter”
After stabbing You See El Aye (in my imagination) for the past week, I called them again today and was finally able to make an appointment. With a neurologist, though, uh, they didn’t tell me which one.
That is the good news.
The bad not good news is that the first available appointment was October 21st, which is exactly 7 weeks from today. OUCH. Oh and right in the middle of an exam, which I will hopefully be able to take early. If I hadn’t taken this appointment, I’d have had to wait another week for the next available opening.
SIGH. Small, tired stab.
I have had a bad feeling since I made the appointment. My insurance doesn’t allow for second opinions. I literally get one neurology referral for the year and if the doctor is crappy or if they, you know, are impossible to get an appointment with when you need one, I’m completely out of luck.
I don’t know this doctor at all, I mean literally, I don’t even know their name and I am entrusting them with my only neurology referral for the next 11 and a half months. It scares me. A lot.
Realistically, I know I can wait 7 weeks for an appointment. I’ve waited for 13 months with this headache now, and though there have been times where I didn’t know if I would, I survived.
And yet, something about the idea of waiting 35 more days before I can possibly get help is killing me.
I am tired, I’m starting to struggle with focus at school and it’s only the second week of the semester. I want to exercise and be active, but on a good week that’s only really possible 2 or 3 days in the week. On a bad week, it’s out of the question. I’m having a great deal of trouble sleeping lately, and that’s with a sleep aid every night.
I just feel like things are escalating and while I realize that there’s little to no chance that this new doctor will have a miracle cure, the thought of waiting 7 weeks to get that news is really difficult for me to come to terms with.
I am trying, I really am, to stay positive, to be hopeful. But I am also fighting against pain that just seems to be getting worse, that is not alleviated with any medication or heat or ice. I’m fighting against pain that knows no end, knows no cure.
Pain that each and every day takes a little more of me, of my life, away.
7 Responses to “7 more weeks of “winter””
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Welcome! I'm Katie, a 28 year old, full-time graduate student who just happened to have brain surgery in November of 2007 to give my ginormous brain a little more space. This blog chronicles my daily life, from relentless headaches to being a doctor's wife. Sit down, get comfortable and stay for a while.
All of that stresses me out, I can’t even imagine what it is like for you. It really sucks that you have to wait 7 more weeks. I really hope that the doctor that you are going to see will be a REALLY good one and you like them. *HUGS*
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I am so sorry you’re going through this. It is so sad and pathetic that health care is like this. My hubby is in the military and for the past three years we’ve had to deal with the most ridiculous, nightmarish health care system in the military. We had to go to Walter Reed and the National Naval Medical Center and weren’t allowed to go “on the outside’ to see civilian doctors. There were so many things that went wrong in dealing with these damn doctors, including my awful labor and delivery experience and an unnecessary surgery that had me in the hospital for a week.
Back in January I had to make a follow up appt. with an ENT doc and they told me I could only call the appt. line on the 15th of the month. When it came time I called and they told me all of the appointments were already taken so I had to wait until the next month. I called the ENT office to tell them I really need to see the Dr. Not only did they yell at me for calling them directly, they also said they couldn’t do anything.
The next month I called as soon as the appt. line opened that morning and was on hold for over an hour while trying to entertain my toddler only to be told all of the appointments were taken and that I’d have to call back the next month. I even went against their rules and called the appt. line several times a week in case of a cancellation and they still didn’t have anything available. This happened for 4 freaking months and finally I said scew it.
I had sinus surgery a few months prior to this and was in so much unbearable pain but couldn’t even get in to find out what was wrong. Thankfully we’ve just moved so we don’t have to deal with that health care system anymore. I know whatever doctor we get here won’t be the greatest but anything is better than what we put up with in D.C.
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I’m so sorry. Yeah, the larger teaching facilities can suck for certain specialties (yay, us).
From my experience, calling every few days and explaining politely and passionately to the person doing the appointments what the frack is going on with your pain, that you had a different doctor and are stuck in referral limbo should appeal to them to give you any cancellation that comes up.
Thanks to the beauty of it being a large facility and their staff being listed on their website, an email to the chair of the neurology department bullet pointing your situation might also do the trick.
(Both have worked for me at other times with our large university healthcare system)
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Could you at least bug them to try and get a name and do some of your own research on the doctor?
Hugs. You’ll make it!
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So sorry to hear yet again that you are being traumatized by the healthcare system as well as the medical problems. Roseanne Roseannadanna was right…it’s always something.
Fluffy kitten photos today?
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This sucks….big time. Sorry.
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UGH. So sorry.
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