Wednesday, April 05, 2006

The good news is that they want to shoot dye up my tubes

My RE appointment this morning didn't exactly go well. We got there plenty early, and discovered that we had to go to the OB/GYN clinic. That's right, they put the infertile people in with all the happy pregnant women.

I kind of broke down at that point because really, that's just cruel. But there wasn't anything else to do except walk in, and try to sit facing a wall so I didn't see any of the other patients.

After about 45 minutes of waiting, I went over to the desk to ask them how late our doctor was running. While I was over there, she walked into the room and called out my name. When I said "Here" and motioned to J to get my coat, she asked me if I was going somewhere. I explained that I'd been asking how late the clinic was running this morning, and she LECTURED me about how doctors sometimes run late.

Right then I decided that I didn't like this woman.

We went back to her office, and she proceeded to spend the entire visit talking to J, hardly looking at me at all. When I brought up our move, she accused me of being "tense" and told me to put my charts away (which I had brought in case she wanted to see them, and were just folded on my lap) because I was stressing myself out and "stress can hurt fertility." She also told me that I need to exercise more, and should try yoga "or something" to help with stress. I couldn't get a word in edgewise to tell her that I'm actually taking a class right now to help with stress.

She never asked me how I was doing. Never asked what I do for a living, where I'm from, or anything personal. She did ask J what he's studying, whether he's looking forward to moving to Texas, and whether he wants to move to Hawaii someday. She also went on and on and ON about her kids, which shocked me. It seemed like she was missing the "caring and compassionate" gene or something.

In the end, she ordered some bloodwork and an HSG. She told me that with my spotting it's possible that there's a uterine defect or polyps, and that an HSG should show that.

After we left the clinic I was a mess. I couldn't believe the shitty way she'd treated me. I've never felt so thoroughly ignored and dismissed by a doctor who was treating me. When I told Juan that he mentioned that she actually wasn't a doctor. He saw her name badge and she's actually a Nurse Practitioner.

That's when I got really mad. When I called for the appointment they called her DOCTOR, and she didn't correct me when I called her Doctor in the appointment. I still can't believe it. My "RE" appointment wasn't with an RE.

J has his follow-up urology appointment tomorrow morning, and he's going to stop by the clinic and ask to speak to the director about her behavior. Not only was she incredibly rude to me, but she misrepresented what she was. That's wrong on so many levels. Needless to say, I will not, under any circumstances, be seeing her again. After the HSG J will try to pull some strings to get me seen by an actual RE.

2 comments:

MJ said...

That is such a nightmare! I'm so glad you have Juan there to support you.

C said...

LOL. It's always nice to have friends in high places, Carole.