Because he is busy, he has some assistants. But Mark's insurance prohibited him from seeing an assistant and insisted that he see only the doctor. That requirement was very limiting. We had an appointment in July that had to be rescheduled because Mark had a conflict. Rescheduled for October but that had to be rescheduled because the doctor had a conflict.
We thought we had an appointment last Wednesday at 11:15. All I needed to do was confirm which location he was supposed to be at. I phoned at 9:00 am and was told that his appointment was at 9:15. Wow. It doesn't matter which location it's supposed to be at, we can't get out of the driveway in 15 minutes, much less get to McKinney or Frisco. The next appointment available would be in mid January. Had they sent a reminder text or called the day before like most doctor's offices do, we might have got it right. Even my hairdresser sends me a text confirmation of my appointment time.
I've only been trying to get him in there since May or June. Is January really the best they can do? And I don't really understand why there has to be a consultation before they can do the colonoscopy anyway. They told me it was so the doctor could determine if he needed one. We've got a general practitioner, a cardiologist and a hematologist who have been on us since May or June to get this done. Is this doctor going to go against the advice of the other three? I understand it's his specialty, but I really don't see why he'd say no when the other three say yes. And it's usually enough to get one based on age alone, even if your doctor hasn't specifically requested it. In the end, we were able to make an appointment for the following day with the assistant because the insurance company decided that it would now cover visits with the assistant - effective November 1. Apparently the assistant can make the determination (with a phone call to the doctor) to go forward with the procedure. First available date? December 31. Seriously, who deliberately schedules a procedure on New Year's Eve? Even if we planned to be in town, that would not be part of our plan. So he's now scheduled for mid-January and we'll have to pay the deductibles and co-pays, which we would not have to do if they could get it in before we went to Florida.
In the meantime, I was told during my last doctor visit that I needed to get one, as well. Apparently it has been six years and I was supposed to revisit that after three. (What can I say? If you don't send me a reminder, I probably won't think of it.) I wanted to go to the same doctor that I'd been to before, the one who is no longer in Mark's network. I'm on a different insurance plan so the network isn't a problem for me. I called a couple of weeks ago to make the appointment. It couldn't be scheduled until they had a copy of my most recent physical. No problem. I phoned up our GP and was told they'd send it right over. No doubt they did. But the gastroenterologist's office did not call me. I went off to Las Vegas and figured I'd deal with it when I got back.
I phoned them last Monday and was told they got something that might have been the physical but that the "medical" person would have to okay it and they'd call me back. When no one did, I figured that I'd see if I could get in to see a doctor at the practice Mark was going to. I thought I'd just ask while he was there rather than go through the BS of calling their office. (I've heard "your call is important to us" more times than I can count this week.) Had I been there before? No. Had I had a colonoscopy somewhere else before? Yes. Did I have a preference of doctor? No. They would need for me to fill out a form so they could get the records from the other gastroenterologist. No problem. And that office was only one floor down from theirs. She would run it down herself. She came back and let me know that she'd given them the form and she'd been informed that it would have to go through their "copy center" which could take up to two weeks. Seriously? Two weeks??
I had to ask myself why I was willing to move over to a practice where it had taken nearly six months for Mark to be seen. But I wasn't getting anywhere with the other office.
Keep in mind that this is for a colonoscopy. I put it off about six years past the time it's recommended to have the first one because, quite frankly, I didn't fancy it. Still don't. The idea of the procedure is distasteful and the preparation for it is agonizing. I don't like trying to sleep on the bathroom floor. I'd rather have a mammogram every day of the week than have a colonoscopy. But given that my mother had a history of colon cancer, I know I must. But to be truthful, it's very difficult to be diligent in setting up the appointment when they throw so many roadblocks in front of you.
We'd only been home about 10 minutes from Mark's visit when I got a call from the doctor's office that I'd initially contacted two weeks ago. They were prepared to schedule my appointment but were confused because they had a request to send my records to another doctor. Well that worked! I'm ready to schedule. I only contacted the other doctor because they hadn't called me back.
At least they don't require a consultation first. We could go straight to the procedure. First available date - December 31st. It's still a "no". We kicked around a couple of dates in January when she suddenly realized that she had an early morning available on the 13th. I'll take it. Before I have time to change my mind.
