AlisonH
Years ago, one of my kids had an eye emergency and I was told they had no openings for six weeks.
The appalled pediatrician told me, You go to that department you put your baby on their counter and you tell them you’re not leaving till they fit your kid in. Now.
I did and they did.
So.
The good and bad news is the receptionist earlier this year moved my appointment forward by a day, which meant the insurance company bounced it; it had to be rescheduled, and three months out was the best they could do. I was able to get a simple vision test last month and the new glasses I badly needed but the actual eye checkup had to wait. To today.
The good news is that had that goof not happened, what they saw today might not have so apparent in September and adding nine more months to that could have been catastrophic.
The bad news is that the retina specialist can’t see me till the end of January.
The good news is that I now have that appointment. And a second one, because,
the bad news is that two weeks ago I found a lump above the other eye socket, the one that had a squamous-celled growth removed.
The good news is that I’ve lived 37 perfectly good years since then with no cancer from it, and this is probably nothing.
My dad was told that if he’d seen a retina specialist right away (and not flown across the Atlantic Ocean first!) they could have saved his eye. He went straight from the airport to the doctor and was sent straight to the hospital.
But he lost it. I refuse to. Mine’s not an emergency yet–but I won’t wait for an appointment if it becomes one.
I know how to sit on a counter.
Typing this out is my equivalent of having a good cry, because yelling, NO!!! in the car on the way home to try to tell it all who was the boss of it just didn’t quite do it. (Having now tested the theory I’d heard of whether such shenanigans are helpful, I’d have to say that for me, no, not really.)
I will forever be grateful for the empathy of our Dr. S of thirty years, who was closer to tears than he might have thought was professional as I left, but I saw it. It helped more than he could have known. We were in this together, even if he won’t be the one managing this.
And life goes on.
12 Comments so far
Leave a comment
Major hugs to you. Loving prayers and good wishes, too. Scream as loud as you need, so you will be heard.
Comment by Anne 12.12.23 @ 12:50 amOh, man, that is scary. I’m glad you got an appointment with the specialist – even if it’s 3 months out. Lots of prayers going to you.
Comment by Pegi F 12.12.23 @ 3:07 amOh. My. So glad you got the appointments when you did, and hope you’re at the top of the if-there’s-a-cancellation list. So hoping nothing is worse for the wait, and it’s all easily treatable. ((Big hug))
Comment by DebbieR 12.12.23 @ 8:05 amWell. Unacceptable. Completely unacceptable. This shall not be allowed. Nope. Nope, nope, nope.
And that is the way it shall be.
Comment by Afton 12.12.23 @ 8:06 amMy love and prayers are with you. Sometimes we recognize miracles in timing, sometimes they’re not so obvious. “Coincidences are God working anonymously.”
But to correct the record, Dad did NOT lose his eye. The retina detached while he was in France, he knew something was wrong and he changed his plans to come home immediately. He saw the eye doctor the same day he arrived home, and was admitted to the hospital that night. The eye was saved, and over time that was in fact his good eye. I visited with him during his last month, 30+ years later, and while his vision was not good at 93, he was still able to use his laptop.
Comment by morgan 12.12.23 @ 9:30 amA thank you to Morgan for the correction. It was the other eye Dad lost.
Comment by AlisonH 12.12.23 @ 10:23 amOh my goodness, that is a lot! Hang in there, hugs to you from here.
Comment by ccr in MA 12.12.23 @ 12:49 pmTake care of yourself please.
I think you are definitely doing that by
being such a strong advocate.
Maybe call first week of January to ask if you
can be on cancellation list as someone else mentioned.
Lisa RR in Toronto
Yes, actually the eye surgeon, as I recall, after that emergency transatlantic flight, told him afterwards that his retina was just sitting there in place, waiting to be reattached–a miracle. The result on the second retina, later, from home, was not nearly as good.
We want yours to be the best result possible. Love and prayers.
Comment by Marian 12.12.23 @ 11:08 pmMy dad didn’t have that problem – but my husband sure did. Twice. Same eye. Two weeks apart.
Thank goodness for our health care system. All we paid for was a hotel room each time so we could be at the hospital (a significant drive away) at 7 am.
He’s fine now.
Prayers coming at you.
Comment by Chris+S+in+Canada 12.13.23 @ 10:50 amBring some pillows so you’ll be comfortable when you go sit on the counter in the doctor’s office if it comes to that.
I hope things work out well for you!
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>