Now, Wait Just a Minute!

I checked in a few minutes early. I noticed that the waiting room was packed. I usually ask for a morning appointment for this exam, but I saw my dentist this morning, the crazy one who makes me laugh every time I see her waving her arms around while she talks. So I had a 3:45 appointment on my day off. It was ok, really. I'd been running like crazy all day long, trying to get errands completed. I was all right with sitting for awhile and just doing noting. (All right, I confess, I checked my email on my stupid Blackberry - rats!)

I was called to the back within 10 minutes. Excellent. Uh-oh, asked to wait in another waiting room. This was different. I was told that she was double booked and was interviewing applicants. What the hell? Well, I was there, I had to have this stupid test, I settled in with a fashion magazine from October 2006 and began to wait. And wait. After 20 minutes, I noticed that I was the only one left in the little alcove. I stood up and peeked around the corner. The medical assistant noticed me and told me I hadn't been forgotten. I pulled out my Blackberry.

I finally got into the room an hour and a half after my scheduled time. Surprisingly, my blood pressure was normal. I waited, half-naked, another 15 minutes for my exam. My doctor was appropriately apologetic. She explained that they were short-handed, and some other stuff that I don't even remember now. She told me she was waiving my co-pay. I told her I appreciated it. She reminded me that we need to keep performing these tests. I won't be in the clear for awhile yet. Excellent. Wonderful.

I will be taking a vacation next week. But I have 2 days worth of opportunities ahead of me. I will do everything in my power to make my patients' visits go as smoothly and as quickly as possible while still giving them the information they need. The dentist visit was nothing. Now that I think about it, I had to wait 30 minutes past my appointment time. But there was no stress involved. There were also no abnormal cells involved. That was the difference between my two appointments. My patients deal with this shit day in and day out. It was a good day. It's always a good day when I learn something.