Keeping One's Cool

I had a doctor's appointment today. It wasn't anything special, just a 3-month check-up as most diabetics have to have. The appointment was for 1:40 and I actually got there at 1:30. Usually I am exactly on time or 2-5 minutes late, but all doctor's offices run late themselves, so it's never been an issue.

As is usually the case, I brought a book with me to read in the waiting room and in the exam room while waiting on the doc. So I signed in and took a seat while the receptionist was dealing with a new patient who needed to call their insurance and have my doc made her primary care physician or else they would not be able to file for this lady.

I read and was aware that another patient had to square away insurance things as both these people had to use a phone on the wall next to my seat. Time passed and I realized they never called me up to sign the basic "confirm your information" sheet and collect the co-pay. So at 1:55pm I went back to the desk to see what was up. It turns out they all thought I was a no-show. I expleined how I signed in and I observed the sheet had a different page than before. So they shuffled some papers and moved some files and lo and behold, they found the sticker with my name and sign-in time. I think the lady apologized about 8 times, which I can appreciate, but it does little to restore the time I will never be able to use.

Almost immediately they got me back to the exam room, stopping first at the scale (down 3 pounds from 2 weeks ago and my flu visit). The doc checked my breathing and examined my feet and circulation in my legs. She ordered a chest x-ray (something she says she likes to have every 5 years) and wrote me a script for an antibiotic which Publix will fill for free as my cough is still with me.

The nice new thing is they are drawing their own labs now, so we don't have to go to the lab in the front of the building and wait for a turn as the blood was drawn right there in my doc's office. The x-ray did not take long either though I had to wait a minute while one lady questioned the nurse as to why I was called ahead of her to go into the imaging lab. The reason was I was getting a chest x-ray and she needed a CT scan, so she would need to wait for that equipment and I could go on back.

I was in generally good spirits throughout the whole thing and I was nice to the people who made a mistake that cost me 20 minutes of my life, so maybe I am not quite the ass that some people think and publicly state that I am!