So far the treatment we have received at the Carolina Cancer Institute has been great, we like the doctor, any of the nurses so far have been great, heck we even like the lady in billing, but, and we are not sure where this is rooted, communication about changes in appointments have really been shoddy. The first involved rescheduling of pre-treatment tests and the initial doctors appointment.
Friday we got another surprise. After the first chemo treatment last week we were given two appointment cards, one to come in at one week and have blood drawn and a second to come back in two weeks to see the doctor. The blood work was scheduled for 8:30. Seeing as Donna was still taking one Ativan in the morning and we have an unfamiliar car, she wanted me to drive her over. No problem, we both told our bosses that we were going to leave the plant at 8:15 and would be back in 45 minutes at the latest.
When we checked in at the desk we were told that the doctor wanted to see us today too. After the blood was drawn, we asked where was the doctor? He is not here yet, but should be in about 15 minutes would we wait. OK but not too much longer. We were seated in an exam room and we waited. We were just about to give up and leave when we heard his voice through the thin walls. OK, he’s here we’ll wait a couple more minutes. After waiting some more, all the while hearing him talking, we got up to leave. As we passed by the chemo room we could see him talking to patients. Had no one told him we were waiting? On our way out we told the nurse to reschedule us an appointment. She said could you wait, we can write you an excuse.
We didn’t have time to explain that it wasn’t that the excuse wouldn’t have been good or anything, it more the fact that we had already told folks we would be only gone a short time. Work has been wonderful about the missed time and they would have said, no problem, had we come back later than we originally mentioned, but it was more the principle of it all. When had the doctor decided that he wanted to see us? Sometime during the week? And if that was the case why weren’t we notified. Was it normal procedure to see the patient after giving blood one week into chemo? If so, 1) they need to work on their description of the appointment because we both understood it to be just a blood draw and 2) they should schedule it differently so that the doctor is in the building.
Turns out the doctor does have a legitimate reason to talk to us, Donna’s white blood count was a notch below the lower limit on Friday. The normal range is 4.1 to 10.9 and her’s was at 4.0. Her pre-chemo level was only at 5, so the drop, while not huge, is still cause for some concern. The nurse left a long message on our answering machine asking if we could come in at noontime to see the doctor or if not could we be there Monday at 3:ooPM. We of course couldn’t go in at noon because we didn’t get the message until 4:30PM when we got home. I guess the nurse didn’t get the hint that we were leaving because had to be back at work.
We have had major follies of this sort involving missing school for half a day and then the MCG Dr. does not even TOUCH Jacob. I could have easily attended the appointment w/o him and gotten the scoop and left him in school all day. Finally I insisted at every visit that they explain what they would do at the next visit. If it was a talking visit then Jacob would stay in school, if it was a touching visit then he would attend the appt. They weren’t happy for me to ask all these important questions and especially not happy when I complained long and loud about the length of our wait at each appt. and how upset I was that we were left for hours at a time in the waiting room or exam room while we could hear the Dr.’s down the hall discussing selling a home or at other times there seemed to be no one there at all. One time we attended an appt. and were met with the Oncologist. You can imagine my aggravation when he announced himself and the fact that the Hematologist wasn’t there because he was out of the country. COUNTRY!?! Couldn’t they have phoned me and requested another appt. date? They surely had some advanced warning. There is another interesting connection between your experience and ours. We were visiting a clinic that handles Hematology patients along with Cancer patients. It is one thing to treat your run of the mill patient in this way, but a CANCER patient?!?
Welcome to the world of constant Dr. appts and CONSTANT frustration. Hang in there.
I can only echo the frustration with medical people playing free and easy with our time. We have been to certian offices that I know I can show up an hour late to. Others are gems of efficiency, but they are rare.
Donna is working through chemo? That is one very determined lady you have there! And how wonderful is it that therapy is to such a point as to allow that. Amazing. Jean went through sessions that put her in bed with need of help to do everything. Only amazing support from her father allowed me to continue work.
We are thinking of you,
Brent of Brent and Jean
Chemo is such an individual thing. What you are getting, because of what you have and how *you* react to the drugs all are variables that determine the experience. In our research into the aspects of this disease we discovered so many differing effects on the recipients that almost any strange reaction could have happened. So far, knock on wood, Donna has not really been hit to bad. But as I titled one post we are waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Don’t get me started on the general quality of service in anything these days because I will definitely sound like your Dad. 🙂