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Squeaky Wheels And All That
Sep. 27th, 2013 06:32 pmApparently it is much harder to deny and/or ignore a stern-voiced male than it is a young-sounding female, especially when that female is doing her best to be as conciliatory as possible after past negative experiences.
After my week of calling and begging and nagging my health providers,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
umbran took on the task of calling the Pain Management Center for me today. And he pushed and prodded and was stern and persistent at the receptionists until he got them to actually look through my record. And admit that, actually, the doctor *had* answered my question. On Tuesday. And that no one had bothered to relay the message to me, and that apparently the person I had talked to on Wednesday hadn't actually checked before telling me that it hadn't been answered.
(For the record, the support staff at Brigham & Women's Pain Management Clinic are, in my experience, nigh universally.... ungood. I have no idea whether this stems from lack of skill, lack of give-a-damn, or lack of enough bodies to do the work, but ALL of my problems so far have been due to support staff actions.)
And anyway, my doctor there has granted me a referral to a neurosurgeon. Sing hallelujah, praise all the Powers That Be, and let my gratitude be known to all the world.
It's not the finish line - I still need to actually schedule an appointment with said surgeon, which I can't do until I'm officially insured next Tuesday. And the surgeon needs to agree that I'm a valid candidate for surgery, and we need to schedule the procedure. But it's a hell of a lot more than I had yesterday, and a lot faster than I feared, and for that I can't express in words how glad and grateful I am.
After my week of calling and begging and nagging my health providers,
umbran took on the task of calling the Pain Management Center for me today. And he pushed and prodded and was stern and persistent at the receptionists until he got them to actually look through my record. And admit that, actually, the doctor *had* answered my question. On Tuesday. And that no one had bothered to relay the message to me, and that apparently the person I had talked to on Wednesday hadn't actually checked before telling me that it hadn't been answered.(For the record, the support staff at Brigham & Women's Pain Management Clinic are, in my experience, nigh universally.... ungood. I have no idea whether this stems from lack of skill, lack of give-a-damn, or lack of enough bodies to do the work, but ALL of my problems so far have been due to support staff actions.)
And anyway, my doctor there has granted me a referral to a neurosurgeon. Sing hallelujah, praise all the Powers That Be, and let my gratitude be known to all the world.
It's not the finish line - I still need to actually schedule an appointment with said surgeon, which I can't do until I'm officially insured next Tuesday. And the surgeon needs to agree that I'm a valid candidate for surgery, and we need to schedule the procedure. But it's a hell of a lot more than I had yesterday, and a lot faster than I feared, and for that I can't express in words how glad and grateful I am.
