Since last spring, I’ve had problems taking deep breaths, and I get winded very easily. I went to see the nurse practitioner twice this summer (that’s probably my first mistake, I should have seen my primary care physician, but I’m scared of him, which is stupid, but I’m just the shy and nervous type and he’s tall and intimidating, see, I’m stupid), and she could find nothing wrong. So we chalked it up to the muscular dystrophy weakening my trunk muscles and making it harder to breathe.
Of course, I can’t live like this, so Tuesday I went up to the MDA clinic at OHSU to see what help they can offer. The doctor there told me I’d better visit the pulmonary lab and also have an EKG. She told me to go to the cardiac lab right away for the EKG and bring the results right back to her. So I did. According to the EKG, I’ve had an “inferior infarc.” The MDA doctor gave me a copy of the print out and a prescription to see a cardiologist asap. I asked her if I should see my regular MD to get a referral and she said yes. This was probably mistake number two.
Wednesday morning, 9:00 AM sharp, I call from work and leave a message with my doctor’s referral desk saying I’ve just been up to OHSU, I have an abnormal EKG, and they want me to see a cardiologist. Do I need to come in to get a referral or can they just give me one over the phone? Then I sit by the phone and wait for an answer (and I work, of course).
10:30 AM I call back and leave another message. I reiterate that this is urgent and I’d like a call back.
2:00 PM I call back and ask the receptionist if I can speak to a live body. The lady at the referral desk tells me she’ll put a note on my file and give it to the doctor. She says I will not have to come in to get the referral.
6:00 PM I get home from work and find a message on my answering machine saying I’ll need to come in after all. I call back and ask to make an appointment with my primary care physician (even though he scares me). I’m told that Wednesday was his last day in the office until Oct. 11. So I make an appointment with the nurse practioner. She is out on Thursday, so I have to make one for Friday. I am out of sick leave, so I make the appointment for the evening after work.
Thursday I sit and stew all day.
Friday I visit the nurse practioner. She refuses to believe I’ve had a heart attack. She sends me to their lab for another EKG. Unfortunately, the EKG machine decides not to work. The technician gets the nurse practioner and together they push me all over the table, they stick and restick the electrodes so many times that they lose their stickum and need to be taped down, and they generally torture me for about a half an hour until they give up. The nurse tells me it’s too late in the evening to contact a cardiologist anyway, and says I’ll have to come back Monday.
Saturday I get a notice in the mail from the Salem cardiology clinic saying I was referred to them by my PCP.
What the hell?
What was that phone message Wednesday night all about? Why did I have to be jerked around (literally) Friday by the nurse the practioner, wasting an hour of my life and a $10.00 copay? Why didn’t it occur to the nurse practioner that I may need more extensive testing during my prior visits?? Why doesn’t the referral desk lady check her messages and return calls in a timely manner? I swear to God, if I ran my desk like this, I’d get a severe talking to from my supervisor. And why didn’t these people (doctor, referral desk lady, nurse practioner) talk to each other and get on the same page? How many freaking times did I call Wednesday? Wasn’t any of this recorded in my file? I work in freaking workers’ comp, my phone messages aren’t usually a matter of life and death (not at the stage I work at), but I still respond quickly and let my supervisor know if something is urgent or unusual. I mean, this is my HEART! You know, the thing that, if it stops working, will KILL me?
Geezus, I get all worked up just thinking about it. These people are going to be the death of me.