So frustrated with the Everett Clinic... (today is a bitch bitch bitch day)
Three days ago I called in a refill for my hypertension drugs, and a day later, got a message from the pharmacy saying "You cannot refill that prescription at this time" and it dawned on me later in the day that it couldn't go through because my doctor doubled my dosage, so I had gone through my medicine twice as fast, and then came to the conclusion that my doctor had never given me a new prescription for the higher dosage. So I called the doctors office this morning around 11, and finally they got back to me at about 5:15, 6 hours later!!! GAH!!! I hate waiting for such important things. So the nurse told me she was going to send in a new prescription IF she she could find another doctor in the office to fill out a new prescription because my primary care doctor was out of the office today and will be out of the office until tuesday. So she then told me to call the pharmacy in half an hour to see if they had gotten it by that point, which they hadn't, which then of course got me freaking out because I only have one dose left, but the pharmacist said she would call back if they had gotten it before the evening ended, and thankfully they did. But gah!!! I don't need the stress of jumping through a bunch of hoops just to get a simple refill on my prescriptions. I shouldn't have had to go to such lengths for a refill. In fact, I don't think I should have gone to any length for a refill beyond calling the pharmacy and saying I need a refill. The doctor should have eliminated those hoops and hassles and given me a new prescription the day she doubled my dosage. But then I guess if I had been an attentive patient I would have just asked for it then. But I guess my thought process that day had been that she would just fax over the prescription, after all, that is how it is normally done. I have also been toying with the idea of getting a new primary care physician. I want to do this primarily because I think I would rather have a male doctor because as I get older, I'll be getting mens problems. Hopefully that will be a long ways away, but still. Mainly I think its just a comfort thing. But my confidence in my current doctor has kind of ebbed a little too. There isn't one big thing that I can just put my finger on and say "Yes, that is the reason why I don't want her as my doctor." It is more of just the little itsy bitsy teeny weeny things, like this whole prescription mishap that happened today. Also, I don't always feel like I can talk to her. My pediatrician and I had a very close bond. And of course having my pediatrician be there for the first 18 years of my life certainly didn't hinder that relationship, but I just don't feel like I could ever have that same relationship with my current primary care doctor, no matter how long she would be my primary care doctor. Also, the whole gay thing. Being gay really doesn't have a whole lot to do with ones overall physical health. I mean really, nobody gets cancer because they're gay. People get cancer because they're people. Sexual health, however, eventually will become an issue. Now honestly, I'm not really planning on going out there and getting every STD or HIV/AIDS infection there is out there, but I will eventually become sexually active, and such issues will need to be discussed. And it is not really something I think I can discuss with my current doctor about. But I'm not really sure I would know how to go about finding a gay friendly doctor at my clinic. Its easy enough for me to say to my current doctor "Gee, I appreciate being your patient the last six months, but I think it would be better for me to be under the care of a male doctor," that is something I am totally comfortable doing. But since I am in no way comfortable talking to her about the gay thing already, it just makes it that much more difficult for me to say "I want a male doctor who is also gay friendly." So yeah. There are plenty of male doctors in both family practice and internal medicine, although I would prefer staying in internal medicine. So we shall see. I'll probably hold off on doing anything about any of this until after December. I have to much going on health wise that needs to be wrapped up before I think I would change. So yes. This post really wasn't meant to be going on this long, but I guess I had a lot more on my mind than I was really admitting to myself. Or at least I had a lot of stuff that I hadn't really processed until now.