What is it with doctor’s offices making poor hapless patients wait over an hour to be seen?
Yes, that’s how Phase II began for my new reality show, cleverly titled What’s Wrong With Katie? (You in the back! Hush!) I can’t really explain the wait. The office I visited consisted of over 60 specialists (I kid you not!), so I don’t think the wait was due to a shortage of doctors. The wait might have been partially due to the fact that it took me years to fill out all of the required background information. The rule-follower that I am, I arrived thirty minutes early to fill out new patient forms. And can you believe it – I still ran over! It took me a little over 45 minutes to fill out the BOOK that they handed me on a clipboard. I really think that if there is that much required writing, they should mail/fax/email you the forms ahead of time to speed things up.
The good news was that once I did manage to sneak past security and actually saw the doctor, I really liked him. He’s young, personable, and he graduated at the top of his class at MIT. Annnnnd he also studied at Harvard. I mean, c’mon, he attended two prestigious schools in Massachusetts – what’s not to like?! (Aside from the fact that I find it incredibly difficult not to call him my pee-pee doctor, of course.) He patiently listened to my very long narrative of what’s been going on during the past eight weeks. He asked a bunch of questions and acted as if he had all the time in the world for me. I was just about to forgive him for the very long wait…when he told me that he didn’t think I had Interstitial Cystitis (IC). Then I kinda wanted to squish his cute little head like a grape.
Look, contrary to what Dr. MIT now thinks, I am not dead set on having IC. It’s just that I’ve exhausted every possible diagnosis that could come from the OB-GYN arena, my symptoms match up with those described by my friend with IC, and if it’s all the same to you, I’d really rather have something that’s TREATABLE rather than something that causes a lot of pain but is UNtreatable. If Dr. MIT can come up with something else that is treatable – or, better yet – curable! – and doesn’t involve chemo or radiation to fix it, I’m all for it. And if treatment doesn’t involve giving up caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, sketti sauce, and citrus fruits, I’ll even give him super bonus points.
That pretty much sums up this week’s installment. Next week they’re sending me for a barrage of tests: more bloodwork, x-rays, a teeny-tiny camera, and possibly a sonogram. Stay tuned. Oh, and if any of you guys see a sale on sick days some where, let me know because I’m running a little low already.
Tags: bladder infection, health, physicians, specialists
February 24, 2009 at 8:24 am |
I would gladly send you some of my sick days, but they won’t let me. I wish he would have been able to give you a diagnosis yesterday. I hope the tests go well next week with some conclusive results.
February 24, 2009 at 8:24 am |
Aw! If I could transfer my sick days, I would. I haven’t used any of them and they’re going to expire the end of June, anyways…
August 3, 2009 at 6:50 am |
i hope you don’t have interstitial cystitis.. My doctor says its incurable, but you can handle the pain with painkillers…
December 27, 2009 at 6:30 am |
[...] icky symptoms were tentatively diagnosed as interstitial cystitis, but then I didn’t have interstitial cystitis, only they made me get x-rays to be sure, and then it turned out to be a kidney stone the size of a [...]