Posted by CyndiS (205.188.192.54) on April 12, 2000 at 18:16:29:
In Reply to: My Husband is dancing today with the demon.... posted by Cheryl on April 12, 2000 at 10:45:49:
I have a few suggestions for you that you can try to get in touch with your doctor.
1) Call the doctor's office again and tell the receptionist that you want the doctor to call you. Don't ask her, TELL her.
2) Go to the doc's office in person when you know he is seeing patients and ask to speak with the doctor for a few minutes.
3) When you know that the doctor's office is closed, call the doctor's phone number. Try around 6:00 or 7:00 P.M. When the answering service operator picks up, tell him/her that you need the doc to call you ASAP and that "Yes, this is an emergency". Don't be shy, that is why they have pagers and answering services.
3) If your doctor had to admit your husband to the hospital, which hospital would he send him to? Here is why I am asking this. Let's say it's General Hospital, okay? Call General Hospital and ask for the Page Operator or tell them that you need to have 'Dr. Clusterhead' paged. The operator will page him, he will answer the page and then you can talk to him directly without having to deal with his receptionist running interference for him.
I had an experience about 10 years ago with a doctor whose receptionist was also his wife. She scheduled the appointments so her husband (the doctor) would be able to leave the office the same time she did. She didn't give a rat's butt about the patient's well being, just wanted hubby to drive her home every night.
I was about 10 minutes late for a 4:45 P.M. appointment with this doctor one time. I told him that I was sorry and tried my best to get there on time but couldn't leave work early to see him. He asked me why I didn't schedule the appointment for a later time such as 5:00 or 5:15 so I wouldn't have to worry about being late. I replied that his wife told me that they never schedule appointments for 5:00 because the office closes at 5:00. Boy, was he ticked!!! Guess what? When I called the office a month later to see the doctor, I got a 5:15 appointment!! Some docs have no idea of how their staff is running the office.
When the doctor calls you, be sure to tell him exactly what your husband is going through. If the doctor states that there are no earlier appointments available, ask if he or the office staff would call you if there is a cancellation. If your husband needs meds, ask the doctor to call something in for him in the meantime.
Don't be afraid to be bold or strong and tell them what your husband needs.
If I can be of any further help, please mail me. I'll be glad to help you.