Three.
That's how many new doctors I need.
I need:
1. an orthopedist
2. a primary care provider, and
3. an OB/GYN
I guess ideally #2 and #3 could be one person all wrapped up in one, like my old PA was. It's not as if I'm usually that needy. I typically only need antibiotics once or twice a year, plus I go in for my annual well-woman check up, mostly so I can get a prescription for birth control. I haven't gone in this year because I don't have a provider I would let touch me down yonder, and I'm not currently taking birth control due to my DVT.
Unfortunately, I'm needier now than I've ever been in my adult life, and I feel like I need a 'go to' person. I really, really miss my PA. I had a third ultrasound for my DVT over a week and a half ago, and I've been not-so-patiently waiting for my current doctor to get back to me with the official results. I haven't been taking Xarelto for the past few weeks because I was instructed to stop taking it five days before my arthrogram, which meant I was supposed to stop taking it on Thursday, 2/26.* Conveniently, I was also running out of pills around the same time, and I didn't renew the prescription because I was having an ultrasound on 2/27, and I hoped it would be good news, and that it would be a good time to ditch the Xarelto altogether.
* According to my doctor, I didn't actually need to stop taking Xarelto for five days prior to the arthrogram; this was more for other anticoagulants such as Coumadin. He was supposed to look this up and get back to me, but of course he never did.
I waited impatiently for almost a week before trying to follow up with my doctor about the ultrasound results. Based on what the tech had told me, I felt pretty good, and I really try to give people time and not hold everyone to my personal standard of timeliness, which is apparently abnormal. But eventually I called the office on Thursday of last week. It had been almost a week and I mean, geez, I just don't feel like a two-minute phone call with the results of an ultrasound is asking that much (but apparently it is, because it was a big deal for my orthopedist as well). I left a message with the front desk, but no one got back to me, so after giving them the weekend, I called again yesterday morning, which was a Monday. I didn't get a response all day, nor one today (Tuesday), so I enlisted my husband, who has a texting relationship with this doctor. FINALLY, the guy got back to me, about an hour ago. And...
... apparently the clot is still not f-ing gone, and he is recommending another three f-ing months of Xarelto, and another ultrasound in three f-ing months. Sorry, that is a lot of f-ings in one sentence but I'm feeling just a little ticked off right now. I'm feeling irritated over the f-ing doctor, over the f-ing blood clot, and over the fact that my f-ing hips are still f-ing killing me.
And speaking of my hips, this week is passing soooooo slowly I can't stand it. I have consulted Dr. Google numerous times this week about various scenarios, and each time I have had to cut myself off and remind myself that I had the f-ing arthrogram done so that I could put all of this guess work to a rest. I just hope that when I go in for my appointment on Thursday my doctor has read the results of the f-ing arthrogram.
And while I am pissing and moaning about doctors, let me just be a pathetic whiner for a little bit longer. Before the arthrogram, the imaging place wanted a report from my first MRI, as well as the surgery report, which they said would help the radiologist interpret the results (which yeah, makes sense). They thought they could get the results of my first MRI (which they did), but that I should provide the surgery report. So, I sent an e-mail via the patient portal requesting the report, and never heard back. Of course. A few days later, I called and left a message requesting that the report be sent, and I filled out some paperwork requesting the release of the report, but apparently it never got sent, because when I went to check in for the arthrogram, they didn't have it. I gave them my copy of the report, which I had requested way back when, when I first started having my doubts about my orthopedist. However, this was just a printed version and it cut off about 1" on the right margin, so 3-4 words of every line are missing and you have to sort of fill in the blanks. But, it was better than nothing. Even /I/ got gist of the report, missing words and all. BUT STILL, is it asking too much to send an f-ing report to an f-ing radiologist? I mean, isn't the whole idea of the 'information age' that stuff like this is not a big deal?! I live in a reasonably sized town with a metropolitan area of over 500,000 people, and my orthopedist is part of a reputable orthopedic group with a ton of resources for patient portals, support staff, and all the bells and whistles of modern medicine. (I have more sympathy for my PCP, who is a struggling solo practitioner whose PA just left him.)
And... remember that snake oil/pain cream I discussed with my orthopedist over two months ago? Still nothing. After my last visit with my orthopedist in February, his MA made a big deal about me not getting the cream and told me to hound them until I did. I didn't. Because: a) I just wasn't sure it would help and didn't care that much; and b) Why should I have to hound someone to get something they told me they would take care of? Like... I tell my students to let me know if they have a problem or don't understand something, but I don't say, 'Hound me until you learn something.' WTF?
Okay.
I need to quit. This is unproductive bitching, and I'm guessing that after my 'F/U' I'm going to have a lot more to bitch about. Just a hunch.
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