A Day (almost and entire day) at the Doctors

Random thoughts of a day in the doctor's office...

The big sign stating that they ONLY validate your parking ticket for 2 HOURS should have been my first clue about how things were going to go. Appointment time? 10:30 Saw the doctor? 12:30 Time with the doctor? About 40 seconds. Waiting for referral information? Another hour.

Still cost me $13 dollars to park – no insurance coverage there.

Why was my appointment at 10:30 when I didn’t see him till 12:30? Although the waiting room is inviting, comfortable, and well decorated, I have better things to do than read through 2 copies of Good Housekeeping, 3 Parent Magazines, 1 Highlights (I hate when the little brat before you circles all the objects in Can You See It), play at least 10 games of Tetris on my phone and send a few texts to my Sweetie.

A phone call saying something to the effect of, “you’ll be here a while, you might want to show up an hour after your appointment time or bring rations” would have been nice.

You still pay a specialist copay even if that specialist only spends 40 seconds with you referring you to another specialist. That was a dollar a second I paid for his time. If I made that kind of money I would rake in about $10,713,600.00 year, not including overtime.

I am thankful for my specialist's honesty and humility – I think it takes a good doctor to admit someone else, in the same specialty, can do a better job. I would rather hear, “I’m going to refer you to Dr. Better-than-me” than hear, “let me give it a try and we’ll hope for the best.”

Now that I am home I have a little more perspective. I am fortunate enough to have good medical benefits and have access to good medical care, and even more fortunate that I rarely have to use it.