The Journey Continues

I wanted to write about this last night but I was in no shape or mood to even consider using the computer.  Chiari was being especially bratty yesterday.

Remember those Careerbuilder.com monkeys I talked about in the previous post?  Apparently they also run the hospital IT department.  Yesterday at 11:15am was my scheduled Pre-Op Screening appointment at Albany Med.  Figuring it may take a few minutes to get through Central Registration I arrived at 11:00am.  Thus began an odyssey of hurry up and wait.  It started with waiting at least 5 minutes while the woman at the “Stop Here” desk was on the phone trying to figure out why the patient in front of me wasn’t in the system.  Apparently the other two women in the same area as her aren’t allowed to help since they were busy doing nothing but looking at us with that “sucks to be you” look.  After 5 aggravating minutes it was my turn to check-in and…wait for it…get a number so I could go sit and wait to be called to the next available registration desk.  I got number 2; I was feeling pretty good about getting this low number until I saw that they were still on number 46.  I began praying that there were only 50 numbers in the pile, I mean after all how long could it take to check-in 6 people.  Perhaps I should take a moment here and let you all know that I don’t handle waiting very well, waiting results in me having great difficulty in keeping my temper and mouth in check.   It took 38 minutes to check in 6 people at 4 registration desks.  It was finally my turn, that’s when they decided to tell me that they were going live with a new system and they were having “issues”.  How about a sign at the “Stop Here” desk telling us what’s going on…damn monkeys!  I slogged my way through the slow check in process and proceeded to my next stop.

It’s almost noon when I arrive at the Pre-Op Screening check-in, which is across the hall from Central Registration.  I am greeted by a very nice woman, at least I thought she was nice until she handed me another freakin’ number and told me to go sit and wait until my number is called.  Oh for Christ’s sake!  This time I only had to wait for about 20 minutes; at least they had a television to keep us all amused.  It takes another 8 minutes to check-in, after signing a ton of forms I was sent back to sit in the waiting area and fill out some medical history paperwork and wait again.  At least this check-in area had a sign apologizing for the long wait, and informing us that they were using a new system.

It is now 12:30pm and I still haven’t been seen for my “appointment”.  For the next half hour I watched TV and looked around at the other inhabitants of the “fish bowl” waiting area.  Why refer to it as a “fish bowl”?  Because it’s a glass enclosed area just in from the main entrance so everyone that walks by can see us.  I would randomly wave to people when they made the mistake of making eye contact with me.  To further amuse myself; as I looked at each of the other inhabitants of the “fish bowl” I tried to figure out what their medical issue was.  I went with heart condition for the two guys across from me because they both seemed even more uptight then I was.  I went with cancer for the old lady next to me for the simple reason that she called everyone she knew to tell them she was being operated on for her cancer on Wednesday.  For the dude in the corner I went with neurological disorder since he was about my age and was using a cane.  For the lady on my right I went with stomach problems since she kept holding her stomach.  I’ll keep the rest of my amateur diagnosis to myself since they weren’t exactly family friendly.

At 1:15pm I finally heard the sweet sound of the nurse calling my name.  I wasn’t exactly shocked when the nurse told me that my blood pressure was a bit high…My exact response was “Jeesh I wonder why”.   I was then told to wait in the exam room for the Nurse Practitioner to see me.  Don’t worry I didn’t snap, I was cool with this wait.  I then got poked, prodded, questioned, told what I could and couldn’t do the next few days and was out of there by 2:15.

So thanks to the IT monkeys and their slow, barely working new system my appointment lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Albany Med wasn’t done torturing me yet.  I still had to get my pain prescription refilled.  Time to call my primary care doctor in Albany Med’s Internal Medicine Group for the refill.  I was on hold from the time I left the Albany Med parking garage all the way to Exit 25 on the Thruway.  For those not familiar with the area, it takes about 20 minutes depending on traffic.  Don’t worry, my car has bluetooth, I wasn’t “on the phone”.  Since it was late in the afternoon it must have been too difficult for them to enter the prescription into the computer and send it along to the pharmacy because when Joyce went to pick it up it hadn’t been called in yet. 

Thank God I know the medical staff at Albany Med is awesome because the support staff, well let’s just say they aren’t so awesome…Freakin’ Monkeys!

3 days to go!!!!