Doctor Appointment Fail

I had a doctor appointment today for my dizziness. Since I was going in, I called this morning to move Sebastian's flu booster from tomorrow.

I see the Nurse Practitioner who is only in every Monday and Wednesday, then every other Friday she and the doctor have another office they split in another town. Though I can drive to the other town, I stay here since I have to take my two boys with me, something I told them when I made the appointment.

So when I showed up today and they wanted to hook me up to the EEG (a test that measures the electrical activity of your brain), I was a bit surprised. This procedure takes at least 30 minutes, usually 45 and possibly an hour.

With a 9.5 month old crawling around and a 3.5 year old walking around? Not likely. It would have been nice if the office had told me I would have this procedure either in a phone call, or even when I'd called to get Sebastian in. Then I could have found child care ahead of time. As it was, I scrambled to find anyone available.

I called my aunt - her number was disconnected. I called my friend - she didn't answer. In a last ditch effort I called my day care provider. She said she could, but it would be a few minutes. After I hung up I worried she wouldn't have a car seat for Sebastian. I asked the nurse if I could drop them somewhere, then come right back. She went to ask the NP.

With doors wide open, I heard the NP. If I couldn't be seen when she could see me, I would have to reschedule. She wouldn't even come talk to me unless I had the EEG. If she had, I could have told her the EEG would be negative - as in normal. I could have told her I'd had the test many, many times before and it had always been normal. As had my MRI, EKG, ultrasound of the heart and arteries, glucose blood tests, hormone blood tests and a whole slew of others. All that had come back positive was a tilt table test when I was 16, and all that tested was if I would faint if my heart rate was artificially accelerated.

So, I called my day care provider to let her know I was rescheduling, and thankful she'd been willing to gather all her kids up to come and get my boys. Sebastian got his shot. There's the upside. He didn't even cry, my brave boy. He's sleeping it off right now.

I have a rescheduled appointment in two and a half weeks. This time I know what's going to happen, so I'll have a place for the boys. I'll get the test done, watch her wonder where to go from there. Maybe she'll listen to me this time. If not ...

Have I mentioned I've had many, many doctors?

Here's to hoping despite this rough start, there's a successful ending.