I abhor going to the doctor's office for one over-arching reason that I think propels all of the unpleasantness about my visits there:
Clinic personnel fails to realize that normal citizens didn't go to med school, and also don't go to the clinic every day.
Just getting signed was rocky, and getting all my vitals checked was even worse, but I won't go on about those details.
When I got to the exam room, the nurse immediately began asking me the same questions I've answered over and over and over again for the past two weeks. I'm pretty sure the entire medical world should know by now that I'm five foot seven, have a problem with my elbow, and am allergic to medical tape. He then verified what I came to have done, "so you're here for a pre-surgery physical..." I added the ellipses for a reason. Everything he says he says with so little end-of-sentence inflection that he never sounds done. I keep waiting for him to finish his sentence and by the time I realize he's done he's already been impatiently staring at me for an answer for a few seconds. I never know if he's asking a question, making a statement, giving instructions or just mumbling to himself. But I answered affirmatively.
"For what?"
Please stop asking me ambiguous questions.
"For my elbow."
"What kind of surgery?"
"A biopsy."
"What kind of biopsy?"
.....? The kind on my elbow? I don't know.
Then my doctor came in. I really like her. She's very nice and very helpful. But she, too, can get caught up in the thought that normal people have any idea what she's talking about. She told me I needed to get my hemoglobin checked before surgery and then we'd be done. "Okay. Sounds good." I said. She left the room. I googled "hemoglobin."
Mr. Mean Nurse came to the door. Now in my experience, doctors/ nurses knock and them immediately walk through the door. I've always actually wondered why they knock. This particular time I heard a knock, but no one entered. I went back to reading only to be disturbed by another knock. This time I said "come in" but no one entered. I figured it must be the door next to me. Then there was another knock and he said "can I come in?" I responded affirmatively but he still didn't enter, and then knocked again. I finally just let him in.
He came to take me to the lab, because apparently hemoglobin is blood. He sat me down in a waiting room, that was really more like a hallway. And then walked away. I just went ahead and kept reading my book, wondering what the crap I was doing and still not totally sure what hemoglobin was. Then I head a voice say my name: "Joanna!" I didn't know where it was coming from. I perked my head up and sheepishly said "yes?" Nothing. No one answered. To give you an idea of my confusion, this is a diagram of my location.Where is that voice coming from?
Someone finally emerged from that tiny room on the top to tell me to sit down in a different chair. Without saying much of anything, she drew my blood and then put medical tape on it. I don't know how many times I have to tell these people that I'm allergic to medical tape, but it seems I haven't done it enough quite yet. After she was done she told me to go back to "the room." I asked her to clarify which room I should return to, but she only pointed in the direction of both the waiting room and the way I entered the waiting room. So I just sat down in the waiting room and resumed reading. Then the mean nurse came. "Are you done?" "Yep." "Okay we can go back to the room now." Which room? He led me to a hallway with six doors on either side and said "You can go in." Which room? I eventually figured out which room was the one I was in before, but it still is amazing to me that no one could think of any way to indicate which of the twelve numbered rooms I should go to.
There were many other details which were extremely frustrating at the time, but would only bore someone to read about them. The main takeaway from this is that I absolutely hate trips to the doctor's office.
Clinic personnel fails to realize that normal citizens didn't go to med school, and also don't go to the clinic every day.
Just getting signed was rocky, and getting all my vitals checked was even worse, but I won't go on about those details.
When I got to the exam room, the nurse immediately began asking me the same questions I've answered over and over and over again for the past two weeks. I'm pretty sure the entire medical world should know by now that I'm five foot seven, have a problem with my elbow, and am allergic to medical tape. He then verified what I came to have done, "so you're here for a pre-surgery physical..." I added the ellipses for a reason. Everything he says he says with so little end-of-sentence inflection that he never sounds done. I keep waiting for him to finish his sentence and by the time I realize he's done he's already been impatiently staring at me for an answer for a few seconds. I never know if he's asking a question, making a statement, giving instructions or just mumbling to himself. But I answered affirmatively.
"For what?"
Please stop asking me ambiguous questions.
"For my elbow."
"What kind of surgery?"
"A biopsy."
"What kind of biopsy?"
.....? The kind on my elbow? I don't know.
Then my doctor came in. I really like her. She's very nice and very helpful. But she, too, can get caught up in the thought that normal people have any idea what she's talking about. She told me I needed to get my hemoglobin checked before surgery and then we'd be done. "Okay. Sounds good." I said. She left the room. I googled "hemoglobin."
Mr. Mean Nurse came to the door. Now in my experience, doctors/ nurses knock and them immediately walk through the door. I've always actually wondered why they knock. This particular time I heard a knock, but no one entered. I went back to reading only to be disturbed by another knock. This time I said "come in" but no one entered. I figured it must be the door next to me. Then there was another knock and he said "can I come in?" I responded affirmatively but he still didn't enter, and then knocked again. I finally just let him in.
He came to take me to the lab, because apparently hemoglobin is blood. He sat me down in a waiting room, that was really more like a hallway. And then walked away. I just went ahead and kept reading my book, wondering what the crap I was doing and still not totally sure what hemoglobin was. Then I head a voice say my name: "Joanna!" I didn't know where it was coming from. I perked my head up and sheepishly said "yes?" Nothing. No one answered. To give you an idea of my confusion, this is a diagram of my location.Where is that voice coming from? Someone finally emerged from that tiny room on the top to tell me to sit down in a different chair. Without saying much of anything, she drew my blood and then put medical tape on it. I don't know how many times I have to tell these people that I'm allergic to medical tape, but it seems I haven't done it enough quite yet. After she was done she told me to go back to "the room." I asked her to clarify which room I should return to, but she only pointed in the direction of both the waiting room and the way I entered the waiting room. So I just sat down in the waiting room and resumed reading. Then the mean nurse came. "Are you done?" "Yep." "Okay we can go back to the room now." Which room? He led me to a hallway with six doors on either side and said "You can go in." Which room? I eventually figured out which room was the one I was in before, but it still is amazing to me that no one could think of any way to indicate which of the twelve numbered rooms I should go to.
There were many other details which were extremely frustrating at the time, but would only bore someone to read about them. The main takeaway from this is that I absolutely hate trips to the doctor's office.
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