second medical opinions
I got a call from my oral surgeon's office this morning. The woman asked me if I had dental insurance and I said no. Then she tried to tell me that they couldn't pre-certify the procedure because it was dental. I said, "A screw in my skull protruding into my gums is dental?", like, are you bat-shit insane?
She seemed a bit surprised and asked if I'd been in an accident. I said, "No, I have titanium bolts from corrective surgery. The doctor is supposed to remove one of them." Then she has the nerve to say, "OH! Let me take a look at your file...hmm, "extraction - deep...which is medical". Ohh-kay. Let me talk to the doctor and I'll call you back."
Step 1, lady, is to look at my file before trying to get pre-certification from my health plan (what the hell were you certifying?).
Step 2, lady, is to look at my file before calling me about some bullshit dental question, because the diagnosis is 100% medical.
So I called a few other doctors to make an appointment for a second opinion because these clowns from this morning a) made me wait an hour and a half even though I was on-time for my appointment, b) the doctor was super-hurried and off-handedly said, "Hmm, it's pretty deep, I hope I don't have to do a bone graft.". This kind of thing should not be lightly "thrown out there" in the presence of the patient, in the same tone of voice as, "I wonder if this shirt comes in red.". Explain! and c) the woman this morning.
The receptionists I spoke with sounded shocked about the screws. Not the problem but that they are in my head in the first place. I can't help but wonder how they can work in an oral surgeon's office and be unaware that such things exist in the world. Am I the only person, in the history of jaw surgery, who had titanium bolts put in?
More good news, I think I have another infection and there is a bump in the back of my throat on the left side. Kind of looks like a polyp but could also be an enlarged version of a much smaller bump on the right side of my throat. Oh, and I think I might have that thing that is worse than gingivitis and can't be reversed.