Frustration

Forget all I said earlier about being able to go to a specialist without a referral from my primary doctor.

This fellow in charge of the presentation I attended didn't know what the devil he was talking about!


Let me tell you how my day went yesterday.

First, I got a call from my dermatologist's office, the one where I'm supposed to go tomorrow morning, saying that WellCare had no knowledge of me. The gal who called said she'd like to check all my information. Turns out one of the numbers had been incorrectly written down. We got that all straightened out.

She called back later, and asked if I'd be bringing a referral letter with me. (!?!) I told her that I'd been informed in the latest WellCare briefing that one was not necessary. She said they needed one.


Well, it's now afternoon. I'm trying to get out of the house. Have some errands to run before bridge at 6:30 with Bob, but I have to now call Dr. Bauer's office and see what the deal is, do they know?


I talk to three different people at his office, including his nurse. At one point, I'm 'on hold' (hate that!) for almost 20 minutes. Each one tells me something different. !!

Do I want to make an appointment? Dr. Bauer can see me sometime in November. !!!

They have a dermatologist on staff. Why do I want to go someone else? (They didn't have a dermatologist last time I was there! How was I supposed to know that?)

The third one tells me she's sure that Dr. Bauer would like to talk to me first, but she thinks he'll have his office fax a referral letter to Dr. Nelson tomorrow (today now). She gives me a number to call tomorrow (today) to double-check whether or not the referral letter has been sent.


I come out of Kroger's (last stop before bridge) with my groceries, and see that I have a voice mail message. I listen to it. It's Dr. Bauer. Says he's sent me an e-mail and will talk to me tomorrow (today).


OK. I get home from bridge. I'm exhausted, and I know it's just from stress and being upset. I delete all of my 'Spam', and then hit the pillow. I put the phone next to my pillow just in case he calls before I'm up.


I woke up about an hour and a half ago. Phone's now in here with me, right next to the computer.


First thing I did was check out his e-mail from yesterday afternoon. In order to open it up, I have to enter my password. I did. Wrong password. I entered another password. Wrong password.

I filled out a short entry form to officially change my password. Got an e-mail giving me instructions about how to make my new password permanent. Followed those. Tried to open Dr. Bauer's e-mail using my new permanent official password. Denied.


So, I'm sitting here typing up this griping blog and feeling the frustration seep out of my body little by little. Thank goodness for blogs!


Meanwhile, I'm waiting for his call. If he hasn't called within another hour or so, I'll have to call Dr. Nelson's office and cancel my appointment for tomorrow. Running out of time here.