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After going to the hospital last week and waiting to see a patient advocate, I have an appointment this coming Tuesday. The patient advocate I saw went so far as to have the operations director for gastroenterology for the whole hospital system call me. I now have his personal office as well as work cell phone number. This is a big step in the right direction but only the first step.
The person who called me to set the appointment was the head of nursing for gastroenterology at the main hospital that I go to. He was not happy with the facts at hand for how long I had been waiting to be seen and also gave me the extension number to call the nurse's desk right in the gastro clinic space.
He talked to me for quite a bit and even agreed that some of my questions would need tremendous answers and a bit of care from someone like him.
And here is why. I cannot go in and get my situation looked at and then wait a year to do something about it. I also cannot wait after they do something for months on end to approve treatments because I have to see a doctor that is impossible to see. O, yea... I am not seeing my main GI doctor but someone new. My main GI was so booked up that even the head of GI could not get me in to see her because she works at other hospitals and he does not have the authority to change her schedule because she is a Medical Doctor/ Director of operations herself so she gets to keep doing what she is doing but he did put a log into her file that the head of the hospital has to review due to my case not being overseen well.
So now the thing is that I am not starting from square one but I am also at a place where I cannot wait much longer due to how I feel all the time. Even my GF who is a long-time ileostomy person herself is like WTH is going on with you? I feel so sick all the time that she was going to make me go to the ER this week but I was like I just got to get to Tuesday so I can see this new doctor.
Ultimately, I am facing a reversal of my ileostomy which means back on meds and back dealing with all the issues. All so they can do tests to see if an ileostomy was the right choice in the first place.
This sucks but I have accepted it. Now I just have to make sure that the hospital realizes that they have to set everything up ahead of time because fighting to get appointments is not going to happen anymore.
Even the D.O. said that it is not okay that my care has not been overseen for this long so I hope this is the kick that the hospital needed to get my health figured out once and for all.
The person who called me to set the appointment was the head of nursing for gastroenterology at the main hospital that I go to. He was not happy with the facts at hand for how long I had been waiting to be seen and also gave me the extension number to call the nurse's desk right in the gastro clinic space.
He talked to me for quite a bit and even agreed that some of my questions would need tremendous answers and a bit of care from someone like him.
And here is why. I cannot go in and get my situation looked at and then wait a year to do something about it. I also cannot wait after they do something for months on end to approve treatments because I have to see a doctor that is impossible to see. O, yea... I am not seeing my main GI doctor but someone new. My main GI was so booked up that even the head of GI could not get me in to see her because she works at other hospitals and he does not have the authority to change her schedule because she is a Medical Doctor/ Director of operations herself so she gets to keep doing what she is doing but he did put a log into her file that the head of the hospital has to review due to my case not being overseen well.
So now the thing is that I am not starting from square one but I am also at a place where I cannot wait much longer due to how I feel all the time. Even my GF who is a long-time ileostomy person herself is like WTH is going on with you? I feel so sick all the time that she was going to make me go to the ER this week but I was like I just got to get to Tuesday so I can see this new doctor.
Ultimately, I am facing a reversal of my ileostomy which means back on meds and back dealing with all the issues. All so they can do tests to see if an ileostomy was the right choice in the first place.
This sucks but I have accepted it. Now I just have to make sure that the hospital realizes that they have to set everything up ahead of time because fighting to get appointments is not going to happen anymore.
Even the D.O. said that it is not okay that my care has not been overseen for this long so I hope this is the kick that the hospital needed to get my health figured out once and for all.
