Opinion #3

Before I launch into the newest news on my back, lemme ask a question:

If you are scheduled for a 10:45 appointment, is it really too much to ask to be seen at least somewhere within that hour? Is that really too much?

I guess it depends on the type of doctor you are going to see. In my field, most of us are sticklers for doing things on the hour. On the Dot. In fact, it's one of the nicest aspects of my job - you know when you'll be seen, you know when you will leave. There's not much leeway there. Nice, firm limits. Everybodys time is equally important. Everyone's happy.

And then there are the medical doctors (for those of you who are doctors and reading this, please bear with me if you do not fall in this group, and if the following does ring true for you, please take note). In my life recently, these doctors are orthopedic surgeons, "rehab" doctors, etc. But even my gyne has this issue, so let's not discriminate.

Today was the second appointment in the last few weeks that it took over an HOUR for the doctor to actually make an appearance. AN HOUR. As I neared the 60 minute mark, I actually began to cry out of frustration. Cry. Like a baby. Because I was mad.

If you schedule someone for a certain, at least make an attempt to see them in a reasonable amount of time, and one hour is by no means reasonable. This was not the county hospital, this was a prestigious medical center with renowned physicians - we respect you, please respect us. See, we patients also work, have jobs to go to, just like you. Booking eight people in the same 5-minute slot may guarantee you some type of payday, or ensure that your time will be of use, but for us patients, we are wasting half of our days that we needed to take VACATION time to see you because it already took a month to even get the f-ing appointment to begin with-

AUGH!

Enough.

Moving on.

Rainbows, puppy dogs, bluebirds.....

And......I'm back.

So I saw the rehab doctor today. I actually thought I was going to physical therapy and I thought when I walked in, "Wow, this is some fancy physical therapy place." But alas, it was not physical therapy. I even said so much when the doctor finally saw me (and to her credit, so was just about as sweet as apple pie and genuine as all get out, so I forgave her. In my mind.) So she informed me that she was not, in fact, a physical therapist, but rather a rehab doctor that will "coordinate" my services. She said she would be the one to refer me to physical therapy.

And that's exactly what she did.

That's all she did.

Seriously? This is what she does? Why couldn't the ortho doc just refer me to physical therapy? Did I miss something? Perhaps, but whatever at this point.

The good news is that she told me that the other doctors were basically full of shit because I WILL run again, and my injury was likely caused more from the hours on the bike and not the running. So phooey to the other docs.

Funny how I believe the one doctor that tells me what I want to hear. If you just look around enough, someone will eventually tell you what you want, and then you go with that. Right? Good idea?

Just kidding, but she did really say that. She said that my back MRIs do not look as bad as everyone has been telling me and that "there is no reason that you should not be able to compete in April." Ah-Men!

But seriously, I figure that the truth lies somewhere in the middle of all the opinions. But at least it feels good to be moving forward, getting my broken ass into PT and maybe coming out of this whole thing with a new set of abs and a rockin' tough back.

Oh, a girl can dream.

Now if you excuse me, I have to pack my bag for the gym tomorrow. There's an empty elliptical with my name of it.

(wink)