About 4 months ago, my left wrist started hurting. Since I play ice hockey, I assumed it was a hockey related injury and I’d get over it relatively soon. After a 3 months of off and on pain, I decided to go to the doctor. Now, mind you, I have no fear of doctors. But, I don’t like going because they always take way to long during the day to get to the office and get seen and get out.
I make an appointment and I go to my regular doctor to have them take some x-rays. This went amazingly smooth. I got in and out within an hour or so. But, they didn’t find anything wrong with my wrist. No breaks, no fractures, nothing of the sort. So, he gives me a few weeks supply of some medicine (free samples) and tells me to take them every day and if after 2 weeks it’s not getting any better, he’d send me to a specialist. 2 weeks come and go but the pain is still there. Truth be told, it was actually feeling worse than before. While the pain had been sporadic before, it was becoming more and more a “constant” thing. He gives me the referal to the specialist and I make my appointment…
My appointment is for 9:30 am, but they tell me to arrive 15 minutes early so I can fill out some paper work. Since I didn’t know exactly where it was, I left the office a bit early so I could make sure and get there before 9:15. I arrived at the office at exactly 9:05. I sign in and sit down. 5 minutes later they call me up and hand me 6 pages to fill out. Not only is this a LOT of information to fill out (did I mention it’s my writing hand that is hurt), but, I had to fill out my name and address at least 3 times, my insurance information 2 times and my medical history 2 times. Sheesh! I wonder if they have ever heard of a computer and/or database??? I complete my mondo packet of info at 9:25 and hand it back to the receptionist and sit back down. 90 minutes later I have read most every magazine in the place, stared at the fish tank and helped an old lady with her Rascal. I go up to the counter and ask if it’s going to be much longer since my appointment was supposed to be at 9:30. She goes in to the back and returns a moment later to tell me the doctor is running “a few minutes behind” and that there are still 2 charts in front of mine. I failed to mention that “a few minutes” was the understatement of the year! I sit back down and grab a magazine I have already read… 40 minutes later they call my name. By this point, I’m BEYOND mad. But, I stay calm, walk back and have a seat in the little room… and begin to wait.
After about 5 minutes the doctor comes in and sits down. The first thing he does is start asking me a series of questions about my medical history. It becomes VERY obvious that my spending 20 minutes filling out the forms at the beginning was a complete waste of time. He asked me nearly every question I already answered. This is NOT helping my mood any.
He puts me through a series of tests and checks out my x-rays. He comes to the conclusion that there is nothing physically wrong with my wrist and that it could be something like tendonitis or a bunch of other such things with names I can’t pronounce (much less spell). He tells me to have some blood work done and see him again in a week.
Total time at the office, just under 3 hours. Total time spent with the doctor, 8 minutes.
If you went to a restaurant after making reservations and they took 2 hours to seat you, there’s no way in hell you’d go back. If you had an appointment to get your oil changed and they didn’t start for 2 hours, same thing… Why in the hell can doctors get away with this??? Unreal!
