new pdoc, 2nd time around

My pdoc is retiring, and I saw an awful new pdoc at the beginning of March. First, she barely spoke fluent English. She would not prescribe me a single med until I went around a got copies of my med lists from my pharmacy, my mail order pharmacy and CBC results and such from Medical Records from my recent hospitaliztion. This was 2 weeks post-surgery. I still had a ton of pain. I wasn't in the least inclined to do that, especially as my old pdoc could see all the prescription info on her computer, right in her office. The final straw was I asked if she or the place had a number I could call for an urgent matter that was not a 911 case. She didn't seem to have a clue that you could have an urgent non-911-issue. She said she had an answering service. I asked, do you check your messages daily, such as during the weekend and while on vacation? Oh no, she said, she only checks the answering service when she gets back into the office to work again. I honestly feel like calling the credit card company and denying the $129 she charged me because she did not render me a single service.

I got an appt. with the other pdoc in my old pdoc's practice. He had a long waiting list, but the staff squeezed me in for this Thursday. That would have been OK, but I've started to have symptoms of hypomania and am worrying it will get worse. It is also a 45 minute drive (luckily, light traffic, an easy drive), and I have had 5 hours of sleep in 2 days. I can't imagine going another 2 days on next to no sleep. I'd surely be a driving hazard. The staff wouldn't work me in, but I called my old pdoc there, broke down on the phone with her, and she is the senior member there. She knows how my hypomania can spin out of control, especially when I don't sleep. She got the staff to schedule me early with the new pdoc for today.

OMG, what a relief. I will always miss my old pdoc (she has only 5 star reviews, lots of them online, for good reason), but this pdoc told me he has similar practices to hers. He called in some new meds for sleep and anxiety for me, and I can pick them up from the pharmacy this afternoon. I hope & pray they work. I have to go back next week, but that is pretty standard practice when they tinker with your meds so much and you are having major sleep issues. I am SO grateful to my old pdoc for making sure I got help before I ended up with crazy mania, spending all kinds of money we don't have to spend, alienating my family, nearly ending up in a psych hospital. Also, I really need to gain weight (I've got a past with an eating disorder not too happy about that, but that's for the ED forum). However, when I'm manic, I just don't eat much. It's not even an eating disorder issue. I just don't think of it or feel hungry. It's really strange. I am a pretty low weight now after the surgery and then a bad bout of stomach flu last week. I definitely cannot afford another hospitalization on top of the medical one I had last month. Bills are starting to come pouring in, and we just don't have the money.

I am glad I had better luck the 2nd time around

What a relief!

I am glad you've gotten the help you need!
I hope you can get some sleep tonight.

WC

Glad you got your appt. sooner. There is nothing worse for us than a crappy pdoc. I have been blessed that the two that I have had have been great.

So do you get to keep the other guy in your old pdoc's office beyond this squeezed in appointment and follow-up? I hope so, without too long a waiting list, because the other new one sounds absolutely horrible.