Repercussions of a Fall. (or) Kneepercussions.
Hooray for the health system here in Ontario/Canada…
I mean that with the most extreme sarcasm possible that can be felt through a computer screen… 😡
I’ve been stuck in the house for almost 3 weeks now. I was up in Timmins at the parental homestead for a week over Xmas, but I was still “stuck” in the house. I am waiting on an appointment with a specialist, no let me rephrase that… with ANYONE here in Ottawa. I just want to know what’s next… *(Was waiting… funny enough, they called me back while I was writing this…)
Here’s what’s played out so far:
I messed up my knee the night of December 23rd 2010. Just slipped on ice, not a great story but if you’d love to relive it, you can find it here. My dad took me up to the emergency room in Timmins the next morning. I got an Xray done there, they braced me from thigh to ankle and propped me up on crutches. The emergency doctor is going to forward my file to a doctor in Ottawa, she gives me the specialists’ phone number and I head home. *(Throughout the whole week, I attempt to call the specialist, but they are closed for the holidays, til January 4th 2011)
Fast-forward to Ottawa about a week later (January 4th, 2011). I leave a message on the answering machine, I assume it was turned off for the holidays. FINALLY, in the afternoon, someone calls me back. I explain the situation and they tell me… “We can’t just book an appointment based on your phone call, we need a referral from someone.”
WTF??? I’m angry at this point… just a little.
Apparently the emergency room hadn’t forwarded anything to the office in Ottawa. Now I’m responsible to call the emergency room in Timmins and have them fax the file to Ottawa. I call my dad, he gets me the proper numbers, I call the hospital in Timmins, I get hung up on 3 times while being switched to “Health Records”, finally I get to talk to someone. The girl in Timmins says she’ll take care of it and call me back, I hang up.
January 5th, 2011. Timmins hospital calls me back, stuff is sent. 😀 I thank them and call the Ottawa office. They have it and will call back with an appointment. Now I wait…
January 9th, 2011
8:23am. It’s Monday morning, I have just spent another hermit-like weekend cooped up in my apartment. I’m a little more crazy for the wear, my roommate is that much closer to killing me in my sleep and I am running out of indoor patience. *(A beautiful day yesterday mocked me with it’s sunshine and snow-free roads, as I sat bitter and still one-legged in my house.) I call the Ottawa office, I’m tired of waiting. Answering machine answers, the recorded message joyously telling me that I obviously have no idea of the times they are open, that I should call back when they are. I wait for the beep even though she doesn’t say, “Leave a message after the tone.” I leave one anyways. At 9:21am, my phone rings, I grab it and answer. YAY!!! It’s the Ottawa specialists’ office. Finally, they have an appointment for me. Of course it’s not til the 19th of January… that’s not all that bad for a specialist, considering that I have a 4 month wait for my cardiologist’s appointment.
And in retrospect, compared to the three weeks I’ve already spent inside, what’s another 10 days???
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