His Practice Has Grown...

came from an island
longing to be a doctor
until patients call

We all remember Dr. Jose from previous discussions. He had a cute office that he shared with this Haitian woman who also practiced medicine. His wife Connie answered the phone and did blood work. There were large windows and sunlight. When you had a problem you could speak to someone quickly, often the doctor himself. It was your mom and pop doctor's office. Well that was the old Dr. Jose.

The new Dr. Jose has moved into an even larger office with more partners. His wife Connie sits at home. Morenas take blood and answer the phone... only to direct you to a voicemail box that is checked probably as frequently as I go for a vaginal pap smear test. There are few small windows and a sickly color green painted on the walls. His practice has grown and his time for personalised patient care has diminished.

(* Some of the names may or may not have been changed to protect the innocent...)

I'm sure you have read the post before this one (chronologically folks, go to the 19th), if you have not I suggest you read it. After I woke up today from my 103º fever with one slightly higher than normal, but not nearly as extreme, I noticed a voicemail on my cell phone. For the fuck of it I checked it, I thought maybe it was my boss checking up on me because she cares about me like that. No, instead it was Shaquanda*, from Dr. Jose's office suggesting that I make an appointment to come in to be seen. Her message was left at 10 in the morning.

Bear in mind folks, I called that wretched office three times the day before as I was sweating at work, seeing double, congested, trembling and with a fever. I was sent to a voice mail box each time for no one could speak to me. As they were clearly busy and my father seemed to have a similar condition two weeks before, I said why not just have him call in a Z-Pak and call it a day. Shaquanda transfered me to the "Nurse's Station" (voicemail box), because I would have to speak to one of them for something like that. I got the voice mail box and left my message. My day continued and my symptoms got worse;

At 4:45 clearly ill, and still with no response, I gave it one last try, and much to my surprise, there was no one available, and I left another message. Without recourse or advice from the doctor, I returned home from work early because of my debilitating condition.

I spent the evening (17:00 hrs) in the bed with my temperature fluctuating betweetn 104º - 101º, cold sweats and very little to eat except for aspirin and vicodin to help break the fever. I did not leave the bed all night, except for perhaps three times to go to the bathroom, all that water makes u gotta piss. I kept waking up in 2 hour intervals only to roll over onto the dry side of the bed. I swear to god I LOST ten pounds that night from sweat alone.

When 06:00 rolled around I took some Xanax to put myself down to sleep for a period of time longer than 2-3 hour blocks, as I was tired of the wake up go back to sleep thing. That worked wonderfully as I woke up around 11:15, when I finally checked the message. In a fit of rage I called them back.

Thank you for calling My Doctor, this is Leticia* how may I be of assistance?" I explained, "Well you see Laticia, I called three times yesterday afternoon trying to speak to Dr. Jose, and each time I made my way to a machine, someone finally got back to me this morning, is he available now?" She followed with, "No, he's with another patient, have your symptoms changed?" I told her, you see Leticia, I went from 103º fever to around a 99º fever. As you can tell from the sound of my voice I am still congested and feeling gross, however my mother has been taking care of me and made me chicken soup." Oh well you see, she replied, "The Dr. doesn't usually prescribe antibiotics over the phone, would you like to schedule an appointment?" I replied, "You know what Leticia, it's not even the antibiotics not being prescribed, I have plenty laying around the house, it's the fact that it took a day to get back to me when I called three times thru out the day." Again she wanted to know if i wanted to make an appointment, and it was with that that I told her, "No Leticia, I do not want to make an appointment today, I don't have a car at the moment which is why I tried to get in touch with him yesterday. Do me a favor tho, make sure you deliver the message that I'm glad his larger practice is working out for him and that he has the time to call those who were there from the beginning back when they've suddenly fallen ill. Also, if you could have him call me back that would be great"

Leticia said she would deliver the message, however I never received a phone call from Dr. Jose. Perhaps he's still with a patient. I honestly wasn't expecting a phone call back anyways. That would have been some kind of customer service miracle, a professional response to your seemingly out of the blue condition.

I'm not planning on calling back. If his practice had grown this big, I can imagine how much larger it will be tomorrow -- I might end up waiting two hours before the machine picks up. If Leticia did indeed deliver the message, then he's well aware of what he has to do. He should still have my phone number. I've been here pushing two years and it's still the same Rhode Island number it's been since 2000. I will remember this in the future tho when it comes to people who have skills that you can and can not depend on.

I can depend on the Tow Truck guy to tow ten cars over the course of an hour, but I can't depend on my Primary Care Physician to return my call in a timely manner... Ain't that some shit.