more about Healthcare

The doctor who saw me at the hospital asked that I make an appointment to see him in 10 days time. On Tuesday morning I telephoned the hospital and left a voicemail with appointments, they called me back at 4pm and I stated my request. I was informed that the doctor's schedule had him in Pond Inlet that week and they don't have any appointments until May 30 anyway. We had a frustrating dialogue in which I repeated my request and she got more and more rude and her grating Newfoundland accent became even more pronounced and irritating. I should say that as a rule I am not bothered by Newfies but she had a particularly nasal whining voice that was exacerbated by the accent.

I learned that there is not always a doctor available for same day appointments, this week the service would only be available on Wednesday and Friday. For the rest of the month there are only two days on which a doctor is available for appointments, May 26 and May 30. May 26 is already booked with "patients who are coming back to see the doctor" she said this as if it made them more important than me which I found confusing since I too fit in that exact category. She then gave me a lecture that "we are not in the ER you know, the clinic is in the old hospital" informative as this may be I still cannot see the relevance.

Her recommendation was that I wait in line at 8:30 on Friday and get my appointment time, then come back for my appointment. Sure that sounds just fine. I can barely stand up straight, can't sit upright, haven't left the house for a week because I am in so much pain but I'll just pop on up. I have to admit that I got so upset by the whiny-voiced cow that I hung up in frustration.

Blaine is going to go up to the clinic on Friday morning and get my appointment time. Not sure how I will get there though, clearly walking or driving the quad are out of the question but I am not sure that I can get in and out of a taxi, which are mostly beat up sedans, plus they drive like idiots. We may just have to defy city rules and have Blaine drive me there and back, also he can then pay attention to what the doc says. Between the pain and the drugs I am not so good at taking things in.

I did learn that lots of medical supplies came in early this week. My booze order is still sat on the tarmac waiting for its turn and I was informed by the First Air cargo staff that there are other much more important things to ship up like food and medical supplies before personal liquor orders. Really? I have to disagree, you are charging me enough freakin money, now ship it up already! Fortunately we took receipt of a care package so I was able to supplement my meds with a couple of G&Ts last night, most welcome indeed.