Remember how I told you all I didn't get to do my "second round" Christmas cards the week before Christmas?
First I'll tell you what they are and then I'll tell you the story that is the reason behind this stupid post.
My first round Christmas cards are for everyone in my phonebook that I have current addresses for. My second round cards are probably like what a lot of people do in that I get cards from people who I didn't have their address or they had moved and I didn't have the current info I needed to send the card. I save those and send out a card to those people and hopefully they get it before Christmas. I'm sure you all do that, too, right? (holy run on sentence, grammar nazis.)
Anyway. I didn't get around to it because someone shot me in the lungs. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but let me tell you, it sure as heck felt like someone had shot me in the chest!
See, one fine Saturday morning, the 17th, to be exact, I woke up and did my usual routine. Dressed in "not fit for public" clothes and got a cup of joe before heading to the couch to sit on my big 'ol butt for the morning.
Everything was fine until I had a tickle that signaled, "you need to cough." I coughed. And holy crap, the ground opened up and demons screamed and small children cried. Or. It hurt like hell. What the...? Where did that come from?
Fast forward through the weekend where I felt sort of blah but still made it to church before coming home Sunday afternoon, plastering my behind to the couch and not moving for the rest of the day.
Monday, after having a horrible fever filled night, I went to the store and stocked up on DayQuil, NyQuil, cough drops, Mucinex, and a plethora of crap sold for too much money designed to make you at least feel like you've done what you could to feel better short of knocking yourself out with a sledgehammer. Which, by the way, would have been cheaper.
I lived on Tylenol and water on Monday and again fought the same damn fever that night. Tuesday and Wednesday nights were awful and I had to take a shower as soon as I rolled out of bed because I was soaked. Ew.
But it was just a virus, I was sure, for if I went to Urgent Care and forked out $90, they would have said, "That sucks for you, thanks for your money, go home and die quietly."
Remember this was the week before Christmas. Our schedule was packed with fun things that I didn't want the kids, or being selfish, myself, to miss out on! So I continued to live on Tylenol and water and soldier on.
When I woke up Thursday morning with no fever but the most uncomfortable, painful, irritating feeling in my chest, now even worse than before, I decided I'd had enough. I needed to go to the Dr. I hate going to the Dr. when I'm sick.
I called my primary care physician and she was on vacation. The nerve! Kidding, guys! Anyway, they were shuffling her patients to the jackwad down the hall. I mean, Dr. Jackwad.
Okay, that'll do, I need to see someone. I go in and do my mandatory 1 hour wait in misery, wearing my "not fit for public" clothes. I usually change out of those even when I am super sick and have to go somewhere, like the Dr. We're talking orange and red in the same outfit. Okay? That's bad.
Anyway, finally Dr. J walks in and first thing he does is shake my hand with the limpest handshake ever. I take that as a bad sign right away.
Then he says, "Do you smoke?"
No.
"Okay, good. Then I would have to refuse treatment."
**crickets**
Is that supposed to be funny? Don't people who smoke sometimes get legitimately ill? Even in the lungs?
Anyway. He does the whole "feel you up" to listen to your lungs thing and asks all the questions: Do you have a headache? No. Sore throat? No. You been sleeping? No. Diarrhea/Vomiting? Yes/No. (you're welcome for that, btw.) Fever? Yes. Lasting more than 24 hours? Yes.
So...diagnosis..."You have one heck of a flu bug. I'll give you codeine so you can sleep. I'm almost positive you have a secondary lung infection, but your file says you're allergic to 2 different kinds of antibiotics, so I don't wanna waste any on you. Your cough will linger longer and your chest will hurt but that's all. If you wake up tomorrow not feeling any better, call me and I might think about calling you in an RX for antibiotics."
Um. Thanks?
I wake up Thursday morning with no fever (finally) but my lungs are even worse. I sit here all day in a fog, feeling like crap, wondering what to do. The Dr. seemed so hesitant to treat me that I really don't wanna call, but it's a couple days before Christmas and we're travelling the week after so I really need to get better.
I make the call and tell the nurse what he told me when I was in the office.
6 hours later I am at Myya's place* when I get the call from the nurse:
"Hi MiMi, Dr. J wanted me to call you and tell you that he did not say he would treat you if you called today. He wants you to know that he said he'd think about treating you if you called tomorrow. Because you didn't get it right, he is really hesitant to treat you and inclined not to, but since your lungs are so painful, he will, just this once, call in an antibiotic."
Aaaaannndddd....I'm stunned. What the heck just happened? I just got my butt chewed by a 3rd party over the telephone for having the nuts to call and tell them my symptoms (note, i did not ask for an rx, but it was assumed if i wasn't better that i'd need one.) and maybe wanting a little kindness and possibly a prescription.
For antibiotics. ANTIBIOTICS. Not narcotics. Not pain pills. Not something even addictive.
Is it me or is it ironic that he was so quick to give me codeine...?
W. T. H?!
Now, I understand that these days Dr's are hesitant to prescribe antibiotics because they over prescribed them in the past. Is that my fault? Nope. How many times have I been on antibiotics in the past 6 years? Twice. And one of those was because I had my tonsils cut out of my throat and they were a preventative thing.
I think what is more pressing here isn't his lack of wanting to treat me with antibiotics. It was his clear lack of bedside manner and I can not wait until the next time I go in there. Now that I'm feeling a little better, (thank you antibiotics that knocked the lion's share of that nasty thing out!), I think I will voice my opinion to the fine professionals at that particular office.
Yes. I'm pretty sure I will.
What do you think?
ps: no, i'm not going to be all b/a to the nurses or receptionists, after all, you can't shoot the messenger. and since they are the ones who do most of the work there anyway, and are usually very sweet, i will save my tirade for the rude dr. or. by the time i get back to the office i will have gotten over it and let it pass. yeah. that's probably more like it.
pps: sorry for the long post. long posts suck.
ppps: also. when re reading this post i see that i mixed up some days...i can't remember now if i went to the dr on wednesday or thursday...it was all a blur!
*don't worry, i wasn't spreading anything, it was an infection.
First I'll tell you what they are and then I'll tell you the story that is the reason behind this stupid post.
My first round Christmas cards are for everyone in my phonebook that I have current addresses for. My second round cards are probably like what a lot of people do in that I get cards from people who I didn't have their address or they had moved and I didn't have the current info I needed to send the card. I save those and send out a card to those people and hopefully they get it before Christmas. I'm sure you all do that, too, right? (holy run on sentence, grammar nazis.)
Anyway. I didn't get around to it because someone shot me in the lungs. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but let me tell you, it sure as heck felt like someone had shot me in the chest!
See, one fine Saturday morning, the 17th, to be exact, I woke up and did my usual routine. Dressed in "not fit for public" clothes and got a cup of joe before heading to the couch to sit on my big 'ol butt for the morning.
Everything was fine until I had a tickle that signaled, "you need to cough." I coughed. And holy crap, the ground opened up and demons screamed and small children cried. Or. It hurt like hell. What the...? Where did that come from?
Fast forward through the weekend where I felt sort of blah but still made it to church before coming home Sunday afternoon, plastering my behind to the couch and not moving for the rest of the day.
Monday, after having a horrible fever filled night, I went to the store and stocked up on DayQuil, NyQuil, cough drops, Mucinex, and a plethora of crap sold for too much money designed to make you at least feel like you've done what you could to feel better short of knocking yourself out with a sledgehammer. Which, by the way, would have been cheaper.
I lived on Tylenol and water on Monday and again fought the same damn fever that night. Tuesday and Wednesday nights were awful and I had to take a shower as soon as I rolled out of bed because I was soaked. Ew.
But it was just a virus, I was sure, for if I went to Urgent Care and forked out $90, they would have said, "That sucks for you, thanks for your money, go home and die quietly."
Remember this was the week before Christmas. Our schedule was packed with fun things that I didn't want the kids, or being selfish, myself, to miss out on! So I continued to live on Tylenol and water and soldier on.
When I woke up Thursday morning with no fever but the most uncomfortable, painful, irritating feeling in my chest, now even worse than before, I decided I'd had enough. I needed to go to the Dr. I hate going to the Dr. when I'm sick.
I called my primary care physician and she was on vacation. The nerve! Kidding, guys! Anyway, they were shuffling her patients to the jackwad down the hall. I mean, Dr. Jackwad.
Okay, that'll do, I need to see someone. I go in and do my mandatory 1 hour wait in misery, wearing my "not fit for public" clothes. I usually change out of those even when I am super sick and have to go somewhere, like the Dr. We're talking orange and red in the same outfit. Okay? That's bad.
Anyway, finally Dr. J walks in and first thing he does is shake my hand with the limpest handshake ever. I take that as a bad sign right away.
Then he says, "Do you smoke?"
No.
"Okay, good. Then I would have to refuse treatment."
**crickets**
Is that supposed to be funny? Don't people who smoke sometimes get legitimately ill? Even in the lungs?
Anyway. He does the whole "feel you up" to listen to your lungs thing and asks all the questions: Do you have a headache? No. Sore throat? No. You been sleeping? No. Diarrhea/Vomiting? Yes/No. (you're welcome for that, btw.) Fever? Yes. Lasting more than 24 hours? Yes.
So...diagnosis..."You have one heck of a flu bug. I'll give you codeine so you can sleep. I'm almost positive you have a secondary lung infection, but your file says you're allergic to 2 different kinds of antibiotics, so I don't wanna waste any on you. Your cough will linger longer and your chest will hurt but that's all. If you wake up tomorrow not feeling any better, call me and I might think about calling you in an RX for antibiotics."
Um. Thanks?
I wake up Thursday morning with no fever (finally) but my lungs are even worse. I sit here all day in a fog, feeling like crap, wondering what to do. The Dr. seemed so hesitant to treat me that I really don't wanna call, but it's a couple days before Christmas and we're travelling the week after so I really need to get better.
I make the call and tell the nurse what he told me when I was in the office.
6 hours later I am at Myya's place* when I get the call from the nurse:
"Hi MiMi, Dr. J wanted me to call you and tell you that he did not say he would treat you if you called today. He wants you to know that he said he'd think about treating you if you called tomorrow. Because you didn't get it right, he is really hesitant to treat you and inclined not to, but since your lungs are so painful, he will, just this once, call in an antibiotic."
if this guy was old, bald and wrinkled, he would resemble the dr. i saw.
Aaaaannndddd....I'm stunned. What the heck just happened? I just got my butt chewed by a 3rd party over the telephone for having the nuts to call and tell them my symptoms (note, i did not ask for an rx, but it was assumed if i wasn't better that i'd need one.) and maybe wanting a little kindness and possibly a prescription.
For antibiotics. ANTIBIOTICS. Not narcotics. Not pain pills. Not something even addictive.
Is it me or is it ironic that he was so quick to give me codeine...?
W. T. H?!
Now, I understand that these days Dr's are hesitant to prescribe antibiotics because they over prescribed them in the past. Is that my fault? Nope. How many times have I been on antibiotics in the past 6 years? Twice. And one of those was because I had my tonsils cut out of my throat and they were a preventative thing.
I think what is more pressing here isn't his lack of wanting to treat me with antibiotics. It was his clear lack of bedside manner and I can not wait until the next time I go in there. Now that I'm feeling a little better, (thank you antibiotics that knocked the lion's share of that nasty thing out!), I think I will voice my opinion to the fine professionals at that particular office.
Yes. I'm pretty sure I will.
What do you think?
ps: no, i'm not going to be all b/a to the nurses or receptionists, after all, you can't shoot the messenger. and since they are the ones who do most of the work there anyway, and are usually very sweet, i will save my tirade for the rude dr. or. by the time i get back to the office i will have gotten over it and let it pass. yeah. that's probably more like it.
pps: sorry for the long post. long posts suck.
ppps: also. when re reading this post i see that i mixed up some days...i can't remember now if i went to the dr on wednesday or thursday...it was all a blur!
*don't worry, i wasn't spreading anything, it was an infection.
26 comments:
WOW. Jackwad is right. this is CRAZY ridiculous.
that being said i laughed my ass off throughout this post, so Paul started reading over my shoulder and laughed his ass off too.
you kill me. i love that i can actually see your facial expressions and hear your voice in my head as i read you.
it totally adds to the awesomeness.
I hate going to the doctor too. I really have to feel like I'm dying to even go and they never seem to agree with me.
Glad you are feeling better. Sucks to be sick over Christmas.
Jeez! That is ridiculous!!!! Maybe you should have laughed at his smoking joke. J/K.
I'm glad you're better, but maybe you should consider switching practices, unless from now on you're going to try to schedule your illnesses around your dr's vacation schedule. :o)
what a jackass! seriously I'd have told him to kiss my ass. I get kind of mean when I'm sick though :)
I am seriously angry for you! I get that antibiotics were once over-prescribed. What I don't understand is that now they won't prescribe them? What? How is that beneficial?? I'm glad that you finally got some meds, but I sure do hope you give him what for next time you're in the office!
Fawk!! What is a Dr supposed to do, scold you for money?! You were sick, you had to fork over a buttload of money which is painful in itself and you had to listen to all that crap? I hope you get a different dr next time. Sure, I know some people get over antibiotic'ed but those are individual cases. My Dr would check to see when the last time i had antibiotics for anything was, and then determine if I should get more or not. She makes informed decisions and asks me what I would like. You need to drive up to Seattle and visit my Dr!!!
BA ha ha Mimi. Rolling in my chair laughing at your post. That Dr. sure is fine if he looks like that man in the picture. But seriously! I can't believe he'd rather prescribe Codeine then antibiotics. What's the medical world coming too? LOL. So glad you're feeling better now. As for that third party caller, I can't believe she went into detail with that message. Anyway, give it to them the next time you go visit but fortunately he's not your real doctor. Thanks for dropping by my blog.
I think your Dc. Jackwad might be related to my Dr. Quaksalot!
Feel better!
What a dick! Really, that's a horrible way to treat someone. And boo to the person who called you to, I'm sure that could have been worded better. They suck, a lot.
I would really send in a letter to their office letting them know how unprofessional it was, and that had they refused to treat you it would have been in violation of their Hippocratic oath which is to help people.
Not only would I find a different doctor, but I would also find a review site for your area and post a review of the office, they need to learn that you can't treat people that way and expect them to ever come back, or to recommend you. Jerks.
Haha...Dr.Jackwad. Where's ya hear that word?
I totally think you should tell him off. I get all feisty like that too. Then say nothing. Whatev.
I hate that you were so sick...boo! But I'm glad you kicked it!
Now I'd take it if it was that young guy... But older and wrinkled. uh uh... I've switched baby doctors for less than that...
I'm so glad you're feeling better! And hey! What's wrong with red and orange in the same outfit?! (as I glance down...)
What a ass!!! I would have went off on him over the smoking comment cause yes I smoke. And smokers do get sick too. Ok done with my smoker rant.
Glad your feeling better though!
I got sick the week of Xmas and went to urgent care and I thought I had strep. The doctor practically laughed at me! I felt horrible. It was the first time I had seen a doctor in a year and a half and it reminded me why I avoid the dr at all times!
I would be furious! I hate that they can't just look at your records and see that you are not overdoing a drug. I HAVE to take a list of the drugs I'm on everywhere and I get sick of reminding them of things too which should be on their computer. I'm beginning to think all the nurse and doctor do on the computer is play solitaire! BTW, when you are lucky enough to get an antibiotic, they are so weak, that after 10 days, you have to go back and get a prescription for another round. Because they are weaker, you don't notice any difference before 48 hours, when I used to get drugs and tell a difference in 24 hours.
You sound like me. I don't head to the Doc until I KNOW I need help. I understand the physicians have to be careful with writing scripts, but like you said, drug seekers are not after antibiotics!!
I haven't sent out my second round either- because um... Well yea not sure why- but I have them ready to go.
And what the heck is up with that dr??? That is so crazy and wrong. Wow- glad he isn't your regular dr.
Stupid Jackwad. Why do doctors have to be so errogant? I'm glad you're better and you weren't sick for Christmas. Next time try drinking some whiskey. It might not help but you'll pass out happy. :-)
Health care in the US is becoming a joke.
I just fired our family doctor yesterday because the LOST my daughter's medical records.
And they keep wanting to do a blood test on my husband every three months before they will renew his cholesterol meds. BUT they won't let him come in for blood work, they want to charge the co-pay and have him see the doctor. That's $120 a year to have blood work for a script.
I think you should do a review of the Dr. on yelp.
He was a jerk to you. No question about it.
Hope you are feeling better and Happy New Year!
I have had doc's like him before. And I finally started refusing treatment from them. I would request different docs or go a different day. I realize you were unable to do so. He will get his turn. And he will not like it. Too bad so sad. Jackwad doc!
What a douche... yep I said it! Any doctor who could actually say the words I don't want to waste any on you should be immediately be put back through training on HOW TO TREAT PEOPLE. Ummm duhh!!!
SOOOO glad you got better, I felt suppah bad for you. :(
long posts don't suck! It's nice to be able to read a well crafted story, and yours was a good read.I wish you a great 2012.
ooo! If you want it, I will help with the F.U. letter! I am very good at doing it firmly and professionally but still telling him he's a Jackwad and the worst doctor ever. I hope you're feeling better now. :(
I'm still in shock of what the nurse said to you! Really??? He should have given you prescription and had you fill it in a couple days if you were still sick or whenever you'd like!
I wouldn't go there again! I think he was judging you on your outfit. It's the only explanation.
Are you flipping kidding?!
I would've blown. I DETEST going to the doctor and doctors who THINK they have a sense of humor but really its just their face and thats the way they were born and despite lots of money they won't have surgery to fix it? Yeah...they make me boil.
UGh...did I mention I hate doctors?
Hope you're feeling better. (Jackwad is NOT the word I would use. Bless you :O)
Maybe the tooth fairy punched you in the chest when you were sleeping? Really, I hope you are all better - it's amazing how long stuff like that can kick your ass for! Equaslly amazing that there are still doc's out there that "live by the rules" ... if that makes any sense :)
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