Same old broken record. Since my orthopedist appointment about a knee replacement on March 5, I have not heard anything about a strategy to remedy his reason for declining such surgery.
You may recall that the orthopedist was concerned about the redness in my lower right leg, fearing it might turn into cellulitis and spread to the joint with surgery. He advised me to see my regular practitioner as soon as possible to evaluate the situation, and get a referral to a cardiologist or lymphatic doctor.
I got an appointment with my NP on March 9. He said it looked like lymphedema, and was going to refer me to the Wound Care Clinic for evaluation and possible remediation such as pressure stockings and exercises. While in the exam room, I twice asked him if I should call there for an appointment. He said no, that THEY would call ME.
So I waited for my call. And waited. Gave them a week. I know these things don't happen overnight. Then sent a message through YourChart on March 18 to make sure that was the plan. His nurse's response was that she saw it in my file, and since they didn't seem to be able to reach me, that I should call them.
I called the Wound Care Center on March 20 and left a message. Then called back later in the afternoon when I had no response. The gal said they didn't do lymphedema at the Wound Care Clinic. That it should be Physical Therapy. She said she would talk to my NP about it, and that somebody from Physical Therapy would call me about an appointment.
So I waited for my call. And waited. Then sent another message through YourChart on March 25, asking again if I was supposed to be getting some kind of appointment for treatment, per my discussion with NP and Wound Care. YourChart says to give 48 hours for a reply. That passed on Friday afternoon.
So I am waiting. For any kind of response. Even Farmer H has quit nagging me, and says he has no idea where to go from here, since I have tried and tried to get a response and advice.
I suppose I will call on Tuesday (March 31) to talk to a real person, who will listen disinterestedly and type up what I say and put it in a message for my NP, whose nurse will look at it and give me more useless instructions, or ignore it altogether.
It has now been three weeks since the orthopedist said I should get an appointment right away to deal with the issue. I am supposed to go back to the NP in May, to see how two months of intervening therapy have affected the problem. Right now, I don't see any point of that appointment, since it will just be the passage of two months.
I know this is not an emergency situation. But you'd think by now, I would have encountered at least one person who can do their job.
4 comments:
Here in Aus, the orthopedist would have written a referral to the correct department and sent them an email as well. The referral would be for you to take to the department when they call you to make an apointment after reading the email from the orthopedist. Given his concern over the redness, you wouldn't have been waiting too long to get that appointment. Your health system seems to be lacking somewhat.
River,
Tell me about it! Since the whole "Obamacare" bill passed, our health care has been in a steady decline. Especially out here in the middle of nowhere. We used to have two hospitals in Bill-Paying Town. Now we have one. The big corporations started buying the rural hospitals, and closing some down to save money. So we have half the hospital beds and half the doctors/nurses that we used to have back in the early 2000s.
My favorite doctor (a former US Army doctor) left my hospital/clinic to go work at the Veteran's clinic. He was the one who got me through my thyroid operation. He was not happy with being dictated the new "standard of care" procedures, which affected testing and referrals, right after our hospital/clinic was taken over by BJC health.
Also keep in mind that you are in a city, while we are limited to what's available around here. Some specialists may only be in our area one day a week. Some come out of the city, and some, like my orthopedist, travel to several rural hospitals to do surgeries.
I did forget about you being so far from a city and remembering now why I won't move too far away from what I call the essentials, clinic, hospital, shopping.
River,
Yes. At least there ARE specialists who come down from the city for office hours on certain days of the week. But for Farmer H's endocrinologist, he has to drive 90 miles to Casino Town. I'm sure they could also give him one in St. Louis that's "only" 60 miles away, but with traffic, it would take the same amount of time.
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