Moving On

I went into my August doctor's appointment frustrated and left discouraged for different reasons. During that visit I asked my doctor for her opinions around the path she saw for me after she didn't seem to like some of the ideas I brought up. She finally started shaking up some of my treatments and whether or not they worked, I felt like we were trying different things; not just another dosage change or another medication in the same class.

I know I've been contemplating a different doctor for some time, but I have a good rapport with her. There is a lot of back and forth between us. Even though I felt like things were finally changing, I was still frustrated from that visit. I needed to do a lot of deep thinking, but I had/have a great number of things going on and even found myself less prepared for my next visit than I like.

I had another appointment this week and I've finally reached that fork in the road where I can't procrastinate or use my shabby reasoning any longer and must move on. As I entered the waiting room, there was a sign on the window that said she was dropping my insurance. I was a bit shocked, but I also knew that was the big kick in the butt I needed.

We had a nice visit anyway. I told her I don't go out of network and she totally understood. She ended up giving me the names of four different neurologists. We both wanted to make sure that any of those doctor's could handle, let's say, my personality. I found part of our conversation a little amusing when she said she shares patients with one of these doctors and had seen one of these patients the other day.

Alrighty now, what question comes to your mind? Well, I flat out asked her why a patient from the other practice would come to see her. The answer? This is not a quote, but she basically said if a patient is too complicated for the other practice, they will send the patient to her. She grinned as I smiled, nodded and didn't say what was hanging on the tip of my tongue. If I've been questioning my doctor, why would I ever think about going to a doctor that gives away her patients?

I really do like my doctor. She is the best doctor I've had to date and we've really been through plenty together, but I know or have known for some time that I needed to move on. She even told me that if I ever need anything, she would be there and help me. I thought that was really nice especially because I believe that came from the heart.

I know what I've been planning on doing for a while, but just for giggles, I figured I would research these doctors anyway. Three of them ended up being out of network and the one who was in network, was the one who gives away her more complicated cases. Hahaha! I also looked at several of the doctor rating reviews. Yea, there would be no way I would ever even think about going to this doctor. However, while I was doing all of this, I was also gathering all of the research and paperwork I had done last February.

Yes, the first thing the next morning, I placed another call to my next doctor's office. As expected, I was put on the up to 5 days callback list. I like knowing what to expect, but that was another reason for my procrastination in calling this office back. The last time I called the office, there was some confusion in our trying to get together and every time I have thought about calling back, I tried to find 5 days in a row that I have free so I can drop whatever I am doing to take their call.

It's a good thing I have no choice to keep stalling this time. So now I play the waiting game and if there is confusion in our getting together on the phone, I have to keep pursuing it anyway. No excuses now and my phone is practically glued to me.

To finish off my doctor's visit this week, I had to have my iFMLA recertification form filled out again. I guess this is an example of how some doctors may view me as a little challenging, but I need a doctor who will work with me on important things like this. To avoid the same issues I had when I renewed my last iFMLA recertification, I told my doctor that I had the forms and to try to avoid some of the same 'confusion' from the last time, I had pre-filled them out, but also included a blank form if she preferred that.

She smirked as we made eye contact and communicated a lot without saying a word. I don't think she was very happy with the way the whole situation was handled by her office either. She took it the right way and managed it as it was already in my fax by the time I got back to work. This is something I will miss in a relationship with a doctor, but I want a cure! Ok, I'm back to reality now, I know there is no cure yet so I'll settle for a preventative measurement that controls my Migraines for now. Is that too much to ask??

More to come on the journey to my next doctor.

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