I saw my gastroenterology doctor for my initial evaluation visit on the 26th, he sent me to a neurologist the next morning. The neurologist didn't find any issues but did theorize it might be behavioral and sent his notes back to the gastroenterologist maybe 20 minutes later.
After calling the gastroenterology department every single day since that afternoon, plus also sending multiple messages through the patient portal, each time saying I would be happy just to talk to a nurse, I was finally told today that the doctor I saw has been out since last week and will be gone until the ninth!
I asked if I could see someone else. No I couldn't.
Thank god I saw the neurologist after him, so at least I could call them and see if I could get a referral, but I’ve been waiting a week and no one told me until today!
So I wrote a very long and angry email to the patient advocate, although I did avoid the words ‘malpractice’ and ‘lawsuit,’ but I sure thought about it. Then I sent another message to the patient portal and called the neurologist to see if he could refer me to a behavioral specialist since he theorized it was behavioral. They don’t know if they can get me in by the end of the week.
We already extended our stay here until Friday. We were supposed to leave today. They told us expect 5-7 days (minus the weekend).
I've gotten no answers. A couple of theories, but that's it.
Why did I even bother coming? We had to drive 8 1/2 hours and my mom spent a bunch of money on this AirBnB. Now we'll have to drive 8 1/2 hours back and I may not even get the referral.
If they tell me I have to come back at some future date, as I feel right now, I'm going to tell them to get fucked.
This is supposed to be the top medical clinic in the country and I've been treated like shit.
I have no idea what to do now. I guess if they can't get me in, go home and hope there's a behavioral therapist worth a shit in Indiana that my insurance will accept and hope it really is a behavioral issue.
Just now as I was writing this, the nurse from the gastroenterologist got back to me. She said I'd have to wait until he got back on the ninth. Thanks a whole fucking lot for that.
Edit: Well since I wrote that, it's been a whirlwind.
A couple of hours ago, I got an extremely apologetic phone call from a different GI doctor who saw that I wrote a big, still cordial, but in my mind huge fuck you, to the nurse. He scheduled me for a blood panel right away, a meeting with the GI behavioral specialist tomorrow and is trying to get me into the ENT.
Apparently the original doctor didn't even take good notes, because this doctor wanted to send me to a dermatology clinic for pain and I had to explain to him that pain was never an issue, which greatly confused him.
Anyway, I got the apology that was warranted (although admittedly not from the right doctor) and even though it will mean staying the rest of the week, at least things are back on track.
My father was a very angry man and he died angry. The dementia didn't help, but he was very angry before the dementia. And I do not want to die like him, so I try not to get angry, but I hit my limit and actually lost my temper and it worked out for me for once.
I'm still not going to be an angry person, but maybe I won't be as polite as I used to be before either, at least not in a medical setting.