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So my doctor, last week, whipped me into her office to make sure she'd told me I have cancer. She's supposed to refer me to the GYN oncologist. She wasn't sure if she'd done the referral or not. The doctor was afraid the oncology department would call me and I'd be saying, "But my doctor didn't tell me anything." Oncology was to call me this week for an appointment.
I know the doctor told me it was curable with surgery, but she wanted to get me on the schedule quickly because, while it isn't that aggressive, it's still cancer. I have a million questions (okay, I exaggerate, but still) for the oncologist and was assured he would answer them all when I had my appointment. This was on Friday of last week. Weekend goes by, I'm cool.
Monday--nothing.
Tuesday--nothing.
Wednesday--nothing.
Thursday--nothing.
Friday--I call. I have Kaiser as an HMO, so I don't directly call my OB/GYN's office (or any other doctor's office, for that matter), I phone a Call Center that takes messages and relays it to the doctor's offices.
I leave a message for my OB/GYN, saying I was supposed to hear from oncology this week and I've had no word. They wanted me to be in surgery by the end of April, which is the end of this coming week. So--where's my call?
This is the one day this week I am tied up in the afternoon. So when the operator tells me my doctor won't get it till Monday, I'm not bummed. At least I'm assured the message will be seen when she gets in.
I check my messages later and I get a call from my OB/GYN's nurse giving me the number of the oncology department and the name of who I need to talk to for an appointment. The message goes on to say she's just left my information with the oncology department, and the woman who handles the appointments should be calling me after she comes back from her lunch. So, I might want to wait a couple of hours. If I don't hear from oncology, then I should phone to get an appointment.
Two hours later I got a call from oncology with the same information on who I should ask for, phone number, and the office hours.
Of course, I'm out. So by the time I call to pick up my voicemail messages, the office is closed. This part is my fault because of my schedule today--lunch with a friend from out of town who is only available today.
What gets me at this: I had to prompt them. My OB/GYN told me they were going to move aggressively on this, getting me into surgery by the end of April. This is their schedule.
Still, I had to prompt them.
Is it just me, or does it look suspiciously like I fell through the cracks here? I got the distinct impression that my OB/GYN never made the referral, or the oncology department buried it under something and got verbally bitch slapped by my OB/GYN's office. Or, maybe the OB/GYN's office didn't follow up when they should have. It makes me want to go into the OB/GYN department and the oncology department, each in turn on Monday morning, and yell at the top of my lungs, "Hello! Cancer? Ever heard of it?"
Offing unbelievable.
Thanks for letting me rant.
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