Doctors

Last week Harmon had an appointment with the Endocrinologist (for his Thyroid). The office called the day before the appointment and said they needed to reschedule the appointment because the Dr. had a meeting. I was okay with that until they said it would be 2 months before they could get him in. I didn't really understand that because they should be accommodating ME since they canceled his appointment (and they say if you don't have your child checked regularly they report you to child protective services). They finally said there was another Dr. in the office that he could see today. So off we headed to a 10:00 appointment. I arrived 10 minutes early to find that the office is being renovated and to head to another location in the building. I went to that office and upon entering hoped that I wouldn't have to wait long because it was filthy. There were toys and books for the kids that had probably NEVER been cleaned. Anyone who has kids knows it is impossible to keep a 17 month old off the floor and I had the baby with me, which I've been trying to keep away from germs as much as possible. After waiting 45 minutes in the waiting room we finally got called back, we then waited another 35 minutes for the Dr. to come in. At this point my patience was GONE. I've never been a big complainer and I don't like to make a scene, but I felt like I should say something. The Dr. beat me to it and came in complaining about the office, it's staff, and how unorganized everything was. He also had a little tirade about Obama and health care, so I settled down a little. He was a good Dr. and was great with Harmon. He reviewed his last lab results and expressed his concern that the labs were filed in his chart before they were signed off. This concerned me because Haley had lacework done at the same time. He was nice enough to pull her chart to check on her and lucky that he did because her labs were elevated so off to the pharmacy we go for some stronger meds. Sorry for my little rant, I usually try to stay as positive as I can with Dr. offices--I've worked in plenty of them and I know how things can go wrong. I also know that things don't have to go THAT wrong. I guess a two hour Dr. appointment just doesn't sit well with me especially when it's for the one child who can't sit still for more than 5 minutes. I hope our next experience in the office will be better--we'll be back next month for Haley's appointment. (FYI--this is the only pediatric endocrinologist in town)