I am not a good sick person.

This is not a self-pitying post about me not feeling well. Please sympathize, please send get well wishes, please send soup. None of that BS here. I'm just not a good sick person. I'm bored lying in bed all day. I'm bored flipping channels. I'm a stubborn, grew up in the Midwest, get your act together and tough it out do-er.

During the last week I had a fever one day, aches another, an amazingly annoying cough all the other days, raw throat, lost voice, headache...a real mess. But I still went to work, I still made dinner, and I still took care of my family because who am I to lie down and complain? But today I complained.

I contacted an urgent care center that promised I could wait in the comfort of my home until they were ready for me. They called awhile later and said can you be here in 10 minutes? Yes, ma'am, I'm grabbing my keys right now. It took almost 45 minutes to get in a room and be assessed. And then wait. Then a lovely dr. pokes her head in, and says, "oh sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself. There's one more person in front of you." So I wait some more. She comes back, spends a few minutes telling me I have walking pneumonia and says, "Wait right here while I get your prescriptions written up." So I wait. I waited 30 minutes before peeking into the hallway and was told to get back in the room to wait just a few more minutes. 5, 10, 15...I peek again. Now I'm whining to them, "I want to go home. Are my prescriptions written out yet?" Just another minute they say. I walk out of the room and back to the lobby. I'm mad. It doesn't take 45 minutes to write a prescription.

The receptionist doesn't know what to do with me when I explain the problem of their system. You don't call someone telling them they can be seen, only for that person to spend the next two hours getting a diagnosis and a prescription. She apologizes. The dr. comes out to apologize. But for what? That's 2 hours I don't get back.

And now I'm on the couch watching Tabatha take over salons. I'm just not a good sick person.

1 comments:

Erica Wagner said...

sorry about all of that. drs. and their poorly run/staffed offices stink sometimes.