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Aug. 24th, 2009 12:20 pmOkay you know what, really, I have no idea how this whole "doctor" thing works. Was there a seminar on this and I missed it? I did skip a lot of class in high school...
I think in the end it's one of those "Grownups do this" things, and I'm still relatively new to Being A Grownup. I've never had a regular adult doctor (school clinics to free clinics to orthopedic clinics, that's me, with a few ER stops inbetween). I'm still sorting out how to translate "this thing is what I want" into medical terms. Most of the time it's fine, whatever, the point is I get my broken ankle fixed, but it's still disconcerting to:
1. Call to make an appointment with a doctor only to discover he doesn't actually operate in the city proper, he just has an office there (??) and actually only sees people in the suburbs. This has happened to me twice.
2. Call to make an appointment with a doctor, ask for him by name, and show up to find out that I am actually seeing a totally different doctor, one whom I did not research on my insurance website, sometimes one of an entirely different gender. This has happened to me three times.
My insurance calls what I want a "General Practice" doctor, though![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
drgaellon tells me that's outdated terminology, and Primary Care Physician is the term I want. The doctor I found is listed under Internal Medicine at his office's website, which is also basically what I want, I think, but sounds like it involves a lot of biopsy needles. :D
All I want is to talk to someone with a medical degree about the headaches, the falling down, and the occasional leprosy (it sounds more exciting than "why do my fingers keep peeling"). Still, I've printed out his profile page and the number of the office, so here goes nothing, eh?
Additionally, I've just been giving out the last place I saw a doctor as somewhere to get my medical history, but I have no clue if they have it, or if they just have what they did to me. I doubt a coherent medical history for me exists. I certainly couldn't give one. "Hit by cars a couple of times, fell down a bunch" maybe?
Anyway, whatever else my life may be, let nobody say it is uninteresting. I feel a little bit sorry for people for whom the mundanities of living are not an adventure :D
Though do I think it would probably be easier on my soul if everything in my life weren't competing to be on a level of epic akin to the Quest for the Grail.
I think in the end it's one of those "Grownups do this" things, and I'm still relatively new to Being A Grownup. I've never had a regular adult doctor (school clinics to free clinics to orthopedic clinics, that's me, with a few ER stops inbetween). I'm still sorting out how to translate "this thing is what I want" into medical terms. Most of the time it's fine, whatever, the point is I get my broken ankle fixed, but it's still disconcerting to:
1. Call to make an appointment with a doctor only to discover he doesn't actually operate in the city proper, he just has an office there (??) and actually only sees people in the suburbs. This has happened to me twice.
2. Call to make an appointment with a doctor, ask for him by name, and show up to find out that I am actually seeing a totally different doctor, one whom I did not research on my insurance website, sometimes one of an entirely different gender. This has happened to me three times.
My insurance calls what I want a "General Practice" doctor, though
drgaellon tells me that's outdated terminology, and Primary Care Physician is the term I want. The doctor I found is listed under Internal Medicine at his office's website, which is also basically what I want, I think, but sounds like it involves a lot of biopsy needles. :D All I want is to talk to someone with a medical degree about the headaches, the falling down, and the occasional leprosy (it sounds more exciting than "why do my fingers keep peeling"). Still, I've printed out his profile page and the number of the office, so here goes nothing, eh?
Additionally, I've just been giving out the last place I saw a doctor as somewhere to get my medical history, but I have no clue if they have it, or if they just have what they did to me. I doubt a coherent medical history for me exists. I certainly couldn't give one. "Hit by cars a couple of times, fell down a bunch" maybe?
Anyway, whatever else my life may be, let nobody say it is uninteresting. I feel a little bit sorry for people for whom the mundanities of living are not an adventure :D
Though do I think it would probably be easier on my soul if everything in my life weren't competing to be on a level of epic akin to the Quest for the Grail.
