Okay, not exactly, but I am sure as Hell pissed off!  I have kept track of my referrals for my Orencia infusions.  Two months prior to my last referral in May I notified the staff of the status.  They’re all like, “Yeah, we’re aware of it.”  On my last visit in May I told the Office Manager that the next time I came in June I needed a new referral.  She was like, “I’m on it.”

On Thursday I got a call from one of the office admins who said she was calling me to confirm for my Monday appointment for Orencia.  I said, “Oh, so everything is fine, I have received the authorization?”  “Um, well no not yet but “Tracey” has made all the necessary calls and is waiting to hear back.”  “But it is only two business days until my appointment.”  “Look”, she said, “I’m calling YOU to confirm that YOU can make it on Monday.  If there is any problem we will call you before your appointment.”  She couldn’t have been any nastier.  I’m thinking Well, I’m confirmed, but my medication is not.

So my appointment was for 1:00 today.  I walk in at about ten to one and “Tracey” sees me and “Uh-oh” is written all over her face.  She never got the authorization.  She starts to explain to me and I said, “Look, I received a call from your staff saying that my appointment was confirmed and that if there was any problem, YOUR office would call me.”

But what I really wanted to say was, “Fuck you and your goddamn office staff!  Is my time, gas, health and energy not as important as yours?!”  I wanted to scream.  But I can’t because I need them to make copies for me, appointments, get authorizations, etc.  That’s why I am screaming here.

“Tracey” made all these calls (which should have been done Thursday, Friday and today before I was here) and an hour later I got my treatment.  Which completely threw off the rest of the afternoon.

I’m not only just venting.  Sometimes I just can’t stand dealing with office staff’s’ rude attitudes and I get intimidated into not calling.  But ultimately, they are idiots, and I should have called today to make sure everything was set, even if they angrily told me that everything was confirmed.

I spoke to my IV nurse about what happened and she told me this is hardly the first time this has happened in this office.

So lesson learned, even if I feel nervous due to my anxiety and to staff that is rude anyway, I MUST make these follow-up calls, because when it comes right down to it, the only person that cares about the patient is ultimately the PATIENT.