searching for a doctor | Mama Cormier

… I wasn’t worried until I got the phone call

I always feel that no news is good news. It had been two weeks since my surgery; I was feeling good; the doctor who did the surgery hadn’t call me.

Then on Tuesday night when I got home from work there was a message on the phone to call my family doctor. It could only be one of two things; something showed up in the pathology report after the surgery or something showed up after my mammogram.

The next day from my office at school I called the clinic to find out why I had to see the doctor. The problem, however, is that you don’t get to talk to the doctor or even a nurse for that matter when you call the number they give you. All appointments are routed through a main switchboard and you speak to a phone receptionist who is nowhere near the actual clinic.

I know that you shouldn’t “shoot the messenger” but it was so frustrating trying to get any information from the receptionist. I knew she didn’t have access to my files and all she could tell me was that the visit had something to do with reviewing the results of the surgery.

The next problem was setting up an appointment that didn’t require me taking off an entire day or even part of a day to see the doctor. As I’ve probably told you before I’ve lost all my accumulated sick days because of a provincial government bill and I’ve already used up 3 of my 10 days for the year. The other complication is that my so called family doctor has moved further away to an area that is a little sketchy and the clinic he did work from has shut down.

My frustration on the phone was obvious and the receptionist, to her credit, was trying to help me find a solution. Apparently it doesn’t matter which clinic you visit your records can be accessed by any of their doctors. After being close to tears, we finally figured out that there is a clinic much closer to home and that I was able to get an appointment on Friday after work.

When I hung up the phone I turned around to find a small group of my library helpers standing at my door looking a little concerned. They told me I sounded a little stressed. What an understatement. I smiled and assured them that I was fine and gave each of them a job to do.

On Friday I left school early (4:15 instead of 6:00) and drove to my appointment. My friend, L, made me promise to call her as soon as I found out what the problem was. I thought I had left myself plenty of time to make it to my appointment but I ran into some unexpected traffic and I arrived 15 minutes late. It didn’t seem to matter though because the doctor was running late as well.

I had made reservations to meet friends for dinner that night for 7:00 and when I still hadn’t gotten in to see the doctor by 6:00 I started to fret about being late. I tried to call my husband but my phone had died so I hooked it up to the doctor’s outlet while I waited. As soon as I had enough juice to make calls I started calling my husband but he wasn’t picking up anywhere. Another thing to worry about.

When the nurse came into the room to see me she asked me why I was there. I explained the phone message I had received and she looked through her records. She then asked me if the appointment was for the breast screening results. There had been no mention of that before, so now I started to worry that maybe something had shown up on the mammogram. She repeated the same question and when I told her that I didn’t think so she told me that the doctor would be in to see me after one more patient.

I think that the next 15 minutes were the longest 15 minutes of my life. It’s funny how you think the worst and how many bad scenarios take hold of your mind. What will I tell my friends at dinner that night? Will I have to take more time off of work or will I just retire early?

Finally when my ‘new’ doctor arrived he put me at ease immediately. He went through all my charts, the letters from my surgeon and the breast screening results and couldn’t find any reason for me being there. The surgery went well, the mammogram was clear and I appeared to be very healthy. He double checked everything and couldn’t figure out why my last doctor underlined and question marked some of the details of the surgery. He asked me if there was anything else he could do for me while I was there so I had him give me my flu shots.

When I finally left the office I had 10 minutes to get to the restaurant. There was no time to go home first so I called my husband for the 3rd time, still didn’t get through to him so I left another message and told him to meet me at the restaurant. When I got there our friends were already waiting and the restaurant owner offered to called K again. Still no answer. A new worry! Eventually we did connect with my husband and he finally joined us at the restaurant but that’s another story for another time.

At least I was able to enjoy the rest of the evening and I didn’t have to tell people that I had a new health issue. I’m not sure I could have stayed quiet if there had been a problem. Unfortunately I forgot to phone my friend L back and I caused her some stress for a good chunk of her evening. She did eventually reach me at the restaurant and she figured out that everything was okay.

So what did I learn? …..that no news is good news!

I wish I could have been as relaxed as this little guy was while sunning himself outside my kitchen window this morning.

…. apparently I do!

It took me over a year to find a new doctor when the last one I had decided to retire. Not that I begrudge anyone the decision to retire. Quite the contrary but when both your doctor and your husband’s doctor decide to leave the medical profession at the same time (no relation to each other) it makes the search doubly hard.

My husband was definite about wanting a male doctor and I didn’t care one way or the other. My former doctor had her own business but for some reason no one wanted to buy it from her and consequently all her patients had to look elsewhere for a new medical facility to meet their needs.

My husband’s former doctor on the other hand was quite young and we’re not quite sure why he left the profession. His office was in a clinic shared by numerous physicians. It was always curious to me why his patients weren’t divided up amongst the other partners.

More than a year after losing our family doctors I went into a tail spin and started to panic about not having my own personal physician. I know that the walk in clinic up the road would do in a pinch but there’s nothing like having a doctor that knows your personal history and recognizes you when you walk in the door.

You may recall my experience of having a feeling of dread the day after my first 5 k race. I felt like I was about to die. It turned out to be an anxiety attack but it spurred me on to find a doctor for each of us.

I called the clinic where my husband used to go on the off chance that someone in the office had taken on some of Dr. S’s former patients. They hadn’t but they did have a new doctor that was taking on new patients and another clinic down the road was also taking new patients. I couldn’t believe my luck.

My husband got his male doctor and I chose to see the female doctor in the other clinic. We both had appointments the following week. Our experiences were quite different, even though both clinics were part of the same organization. We were interviewed by our new doctors and my doctor arranged for me to see a specialist right away for a minor problem that I’ve had in the past. My husband was given numerous tests right away while I had to make another appointment for a full physical.

After one cancellation by my doctor I finally made arrangements to take the day off for 2 separate appointments that were to take place today. When I got home last night there was a message on the phone from the medical clinic’s head office. Not a good sign.

I couldn’t believe my luck. Not only was my appointment cancelled again but this time it happened because the clinic closed down on the weekend for good. No one could tell me if my doctor was relocating or even continuing to practise medicine. After voicing my disappointment I made some inquiries as to whether my husband’s doctor was still taking patients. Apparently he was so I booked another appointment with him for later in the day.

I called my principal and we decided to cancel my supply teacher. I still had my second appointment with the specialist but it was scheduled over the lunch hour and I could easily get to that appointment and back again without too much disruption in my school day. The new appointment was after school hours.

At the end of the school day I attended a budget meeting and then I headed over to meet my newest doctor. I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t get my physical today but I knew that I had to get the process started again.

Dr. V is very young. I’ve always felt that the next doctor should be younger than me so that I wouldn’t have to worry about him or her retiring as I enter into my twilight years. Did I really say that? Anyway the first words out of his mouth were that he wouldn’t be staying at that location for much longer. I was gobsmacked but the good news according to him was that with this organization I could go to any of their clinics and would be looked at by anyone of their doctors.

I was and still am dismayed. The whole reason for this journey to find a new doctor was to establish a personal relationship with one individual who would know me as a person, not as data on a medical chart. The other kicker was that before I can make an appointment with him I have to find my old medical records and bring them with me to my next appointment…. if he’s still there.

What am I to do????????????