Hours after the ol' stent removal yesterday, I developed the bladder pain from hell. More hours passed, with no relief, so I decided to call the physician's assistant who'd done the removal. She was with a patient, so I left a message and then called the urologist's office in Wichita to seek advice. I should have known better. Since my doctor is part of a group practice, a phone service took all incoming calls. In other words, I had to listen to a robotic litany of possibilities. "If you are a patient doubled over in pain who doesn't mind being further irritated by this lousy recording for the next 10 minutes, press 4...."
When the menu finally came to my physician's nurse, I pressed her number....only to learn from her voice mail that she was "out of the office." An alternative number was given; it was busy. Son of a.....
When I finally got through, the agony increasing with each passing second, the substitute nurse said my doctor was also out of the office and she'd have to page him and call me back with an answer. By the time that happened ("Try to deal with the pain."), I had already talked to the local physician's assistant who'd removed the stent. She explained that I was having bladder spasms, which would ease up if I kept drinking water, and she was right. After four hours, I was feeling better, no thanks to the telephone "service" from the urologist's office.
I've had the spasms on and off today but they haven't been as bad or lasted as long, so I guess I'll stay off the telephone, keep my sanity, and suck it up. Tomorrow will be a better day.
2 comments:
i am so sorry. that is the reason i hate those kind of phone systems; fortunately we don't really have one---you get a nurse who grabs one of the doctors and gets you an answer without being on hold. (it's frustrating if i'm in the middle of things, but certainly better for patients, especially after hearing about your tribulations!)
Next time, I'll call YOU!!!
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