Second visit with Dr. Boo

Yesterday was my second visit with Dr. Boo (that's my nickname for the pain management doctor). I wasn't sure what to expect at this visit, so I was feeling nervous about going, but B offered to come with me and drive, so that helped a lot. He had to miss some work in order to come, because my appointment was at 10:10 a.m., but hopefully next time I'll feel more confident about going by myself.

Last time I was there, the doctor wanted me to have all these x-rays done, which ended up costing me an arm and a leg, so I figured he'd discuss the x-rays with me. Wrong! He never said a word about the x-rays. In fact, I don't think I would've even seen the doctor had I not expressed uncertainty about when my next appointment should be.

I had to wait about a half hour to finally be called back to the exam rooms, and then one of the nurses or assistants or whatever just said, "You're here for refills? OK, here you go. See you in a month," and handed me refills for my two prescriptions. I said, "Do I need to come back in a month?" and the guy said, "Uh, uh, you need to talk to the doctor." Then I had to wait out in the hall for another 15 minutes until the doctor was done with whoever he was talking to.

When I first got there and signed in, I was given a piece of paper to sign about receiving injections. I thought it was odd, because I don't get injections, but they said I needed to sign anyway just in case I ever did, so I signed it. While I was waiting in the hallway to see the doctor, he burst out of one of the exam rooms and reamed out another nurse or office assistant or somebody, saying, "Why are you guys having peole sign these injection forms when they're not even getting injections?!" The woman he was yelling at explained that someone else told her they had to be signed by everyone, but the doctor continued to yell at her and told her not to waste paper. As he walked away, he said, "Geez, what is wrong with you? Use your head!" So you can imagine how eager I was to see him after that.

Finally it was my turn and basically he just asked if my prescriptions were still working for me, told me I should continue to see a chiropractor (after I said I'd been to see one recently) and sent me on my way while hardly looking at me. So the good news is, I got refills, but the bad news is, I do have to go back again in a month. When I was checking out, the woman he was yelling at early was at the desk and she said, "You need to come back in a month?" and I said, "Well, I don't know. The doctor didn't say." She rolled her eyes, gave me this oh-my-god-you-are-so-annoying look and said, "Well, usually you come once a month for prescription refills," so I said, "OK then, I guess I do need to come back in a month," and she made me an appointment.

I'm guessing that when I go back again, I won't even see the doctor unless I have a question or concern, and you can bet I won't be asking any questions. I'm just gonna go in there, pick up my refills and leave. I don't need to stick around just to get attitude from these people.

Some good news is that I found a very nice chiropractor here in town and I've been to see him twice now; once on Monday and once two weeks ago. I've been having a real problem with pain in my lower back and butt on the left side when I'm sitting, and I seemed to have some improvement after I saw the chiropractor the first time, but then it came back, so that's why I went again on Monday. He said he wants me to come again later this week, but I'm hoping I'll be feeling better by then and won't have to. I did feel a bit better yesterday and this morning, but I'm not feeling so great right now. I finished my work for A really early today, so now I'm waiting to see if I R has anything they can send me. If they don't, I'm going to lay down and get off my butt for a while. That's what really seems to help.

The chiropractor gave me a handout on fibromyalgia when I was there on Monday. That was nice, but it really didn't tell me anything I don't already know. I've done a lot of reading about it online and B tells me what kind of treatments the doctors he transcribes for are currently using for their fibromyalgia patients. I talked to my dad on Monday morning and told him that I have fibromyalgia, which I'd never talked to him about before. He'd heard of it through commericals on TV and stuff, but didn't know anything about it, so he asked me what it was and how it affected me, etc. I didn't go into a lot of detail because I didn't want to bore him with a lot of whiny details, but I kind of gave him an overview, and I imagine that he'll go online and look it up if he wants to know more. He's really taking advantage of the internet now that he's retired and has the time.