[Hitch]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I finally saw the doctor and... the stupid ear infection had already healed on its own, sigh.

You know, we need some sort of discount card that we can present to those in the HCB (HealthCareBiz) about this type of event. Something like:

"Having suffered, treated myself, and healed entirely, before I could even get in to see you, I declare that this visit was FREE."

And just leave it.

Warning, ranty:

Spoiler:

(A very very long time ago, seriously, the early 80's, I was suffering with adult cystic acne which was horribly painful and of course, fugly. The fugly was unhappy-making, natch but the painful was no bueno. My much-loved dermatologist--sniffle--had had to move across country to relocate with his researcher wife. He blithely ignored my suggestions about divorce, for some reason. Anyway...) So, I had a new-to-me dermatologist.

I go in there, he looks at my face and i swear to GOD, he looks at me and says, "Well, what do you want ME to do about it?"

Suffice to say, I never saw him face-to-face (yes, yes, some punnage in there) again. But..

A month or so later, his BILL shows up in the mail. For like...I think it was $125.00.

Scottsdale, amirite? Anyway...I was livid. I mean...hot. So, I copied it for my records and wrote across it "Well, what do you want ME to do about it?" and sent it right back. That putz had the nerve to try to have his in-house bill collector call me to pay it, and I told her exactly what the note meant, why I wrote it and how I felt about being treated the way I was. And I never heard from them again. They never made another attempt to get paid, etc.

Man, I was some kinda pissed-off. SURE, agreed, it's not pancreatic cancer or the like. No argument. It wasn't going to kill me. And I get that and I did, even then. It was just painful and hideous and all that. it also impinged on my career--I mean, who expects to deal with a Veep of Development with ACNE, for crying out loud? 30's or not? Sheesh. but surely, he could have said something even remotely less...vexing? Annoying? Cavalier? Only a person who has never had a subcutaneous adult acne cyst--they never head and can take 6-12 MONTHS to heal, yes, really--could act like such an ass about it.

Anyway, I mean it. I have an OBGYN, same thing it literally takes MONTHS, like 3-6 MONTHS to get in. What do they expect you to do in the meantime? I had to hire a concierge doctor--not kidding--just so that if I get the flu or a cold or the usual crap that you actually see a doctor FOR, I could get in the same week-ten days, and not 10 months. Why even HAVE a PCP (Primary Care Physician) if you can't get in and see them?

Hitch