So Frustrated with Doctors!

I am so frustrated this week with doctors! Now for those of you who are doctors, my wonderful cousin-in-law Sarah P., whose parent, sibling, spouse, etc. are doctors please don't take offense to this post. I am well aware that there are very good doctors out there other wise Russel M. Nelson could not be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Bixente's pediatrician is wonderful as well. I just seem to have bad luck with them myself.

So, for the sake of venting =) :

I've had an ear ache for several months now. Not in the canal, but pressure behind the ear. Over the months it's gotten so bad that I can feel the tubes. Even though Nat had this same infection back in the spring, I didn't bother going to a doctor myself because I have TMJ from a neck injury that sometimes causes me to feel like I have an ear ache. I didn't want to risk going to the doctor and being told that was all it was. Well, recently it's started spreading down my neck and up through my head. I can trace the path and it's full of water and swollen. Then my throat started hurting and I've got swollen lymph nodes in my neck and under my chin. When I shined a flashlight down my throat there were blisters everywhere. Not white spots, but blisters.

I finally got feeling bad enough that I was convinced to go to Urgent Care on Sunday. With the exception of pregnancy doctor's visits and chiropractors I haven't been to a general doctor since I was 18. Why? Because those were both awful experiences that I won't bother posting about right now. So, for me to decide to go to the doctor and on Sunday I was feeling pretty badly. I ended up waiting for 3 hours. If the room was jam packed I would've understood, but it was simple laziness. They took a person back approximately every 20 minutes. When I finally got my turn to go back I was then left waiting in the examing room for 30 minutes.

The doctor came in, asked what was wrong listened to the first sentence and tuned me out completely. I tried to explain what I did above about the fact that yes, I do have TMJ but now that my throat hurts and I have swollen lymph nodes I'm sure it's an infection. But no, he listened to "I had an neck injury in the past," jumped in and said "Oh, nothing's wrong with your ears. You just have TMJ." Then started trying to explain it to me like I didn't know what the heck that was. No matter how many times I tried to finish my explanation he'd cut me off. Finally I said, "Well, will you at least look in my throat?" And as if he were talking to a little child he said "Now didn't we just do that?" No!!!! We didn't just do that. So he shined the light in briefly and said it wasn't strep. And like he said it was just TMJ. That I could have an antibiotic if I wanted one, but I didn't need it. I could have one like you'd give a kid a Scoobie-Doo bandaid on a bruise to cheer them up. Oh, I was so mad!

And here was his wonderful solution! Let's prescribe me with Darvocet! That's a major pain killer from the Schedule II closet. In other words, if even one pill is unaccounted for at the pharmacy the pharmacist could go to jail. Why would he prescribe me that? I didn't come in complaining of unbearable pain. Then someone came in and said "Dr., Nancy needs you." And he jumped up mid-sentence and left me in the room and never came back.

I was so furious. When I got home Nat tried to call and reason with them. But of course the arrogant man thought he was a god and was incredibly rude to Nat even though Nat didn't even have any hint of irritation in his voice. Then he said that his nurse would prescribe me my "bandaid" antiobiotic. And what was it????? A Z-Pak. For those of you who don't know, that is a heavy duty antiobiotic usually used for respiratory infections. I am not a fool, that doctor was.

Anyway, for those of you who were brave enough to read this lengthy post, I thank you for "listening" to me vent. And again for those of you who are or are related to doctors, please don't be offended. I know this isn't an example of every doctor out there.