Measure Twice, Cut Once
I kind of had the type of day on Monday. Last week following my appointment with my primary OB practice, I realized there were a few things I needed to talk with one of their receptionist about.
The first one being that my bi-weekly appointments with their practice were currently scheduled a day apart from my appointments with the high risk group. Seemed a bit like overkill one week, and draught the next, so I moved my appointments with my primary practice one week later so I'll only be seen once a week - every odd week by my primary practice, and every even week by the high risk group.
The second was to inquire whether or not the group ever received the ultrasound report from my high risk group. It seems that when I met with my primary practice, they hadn't received the latest ultrasound report from the week before (I had my ultrasound on the 13th, and my primary appointment on the 18th). The doctor I saw on the 18th had asked me to follow up with the high risk group to ensure that they had sent it over. I had called the high risk practice prior to calling the primary practice and they assured me that it was sent over on the day of my appointment (rule in their office), and that they always send it to the main office in Hartford. In explaining to the woman on the phone from my primary practice what had occurred and inquiring whether or not they did receive the report, she replied that it was, "right there in my file," and she didn't understand how the doctor could have missed it. Okay, cross that one off the list.
Finally, I had asked to have the last two ultrasound reports (including the first trimester screening results) as well as the doctor's notes from my appointment on the 18th forwarded to my rheumatologist as I would be seeing her for a check-up on the 25th. I was kindly told I needed to sign a release, and after agreeing, she said she'd stick it in the mail. This way I'd get it on Wednesday and be able to fax it back so that they had plenty of time to forward the reports. I hadn't requested they fax the release to me as our fax line is the same as the phone line and it's a bit of a hassle for me to keep running up and down the basement stairs (where our fax is) each time the phone rings to switch it over to the fax. Stupid me.
Fast forward. Monday morning I realized that I had never received the release, so (call twice, forward once) I called the primary practice back and explained that I hadn't received my release and I needed the files sent prior to my 1:45pm appointment that day. The woman I spoke with this time was a bit shocked that I had never received the release, and of course, I asked her to stick another one in the fax - I was willing to deal with the inconvenience.
It came through, I filled out the form in detail even providing the dates of the ultrasounds and appointments. Within minutes of sending it back the woman I originally spoke with called to say that they could send the doctor's notes from the 18th, but that they never received copies of the ultrasounds - either one. Strange as the first ultrasound was tied to my first trimester screening and I had gone over those results with a doctor from my primary practice at a previous appointment. Additionally baffling as last week the office had both ultrasound reports. I explained this to the woman on the phone, and her reply was that she, "saw nothing." I further explained that all reports are sent to the Hartford office - would there be any reason someone else would have this information...the answer, no.
Arg. I asked her to call the high risk group and get what she needed, and she said it would probably be faster for me to call (arg, arg) and they could just fax it to both places at the same time...ensuring that my rheumatologist had the information for my appointment that afternoon.
Gotta love the laugh I got from the kind woman (who I talked with last week about the "missing ultrasound") when I explained that it was now missing again. Her response was that they have this experience on a fairly regular basis with that group. Something I'll definitely raise with the next doctor I see in a week and a half. She did fax both doctors both ultrasound reports, and by the time I was at my rheumatology appointment, the physician had all the information she needed. Only took several calls, and a lot of proactivity on my part. What kind of gets me is that I was basically chewed out by the practice that's "misplacing" my reports for not having had my rheumatologist forward my diagnosis report...but now it's completely fine for them to not follow through on my requests.
Good news is that the appointment with the rheumatologist went very smoothly, no noticeable changes in my status (other than the weight gain from the pregnancy). I did talk with her a bit about the dry skin, and have to be more diligent about dishpan hands and applying cream every time I wash my hands...which these days is like once or twice an hour between diapers and my own bathroom trips. As I had blood drawn right before my appointment (as a follow-up to my first trimester screening), my rheumatologist wrote me a slip to combine with my next pregnancy-related blood draw...so I won't have to feel like a pin cushion. Her words, not mine. Thought that was nice. Regarding my dosage for Plaquenil, I'm going to keep taking 200mg every other day until the pregnancy fatigue dies down, then I can go up to 200mg a day. I'll be back to see her in another 2 months. Hopefully my RA will remain minimal and by then the dry skin will have improved. Not sure I can expect any improvements from my OB practice.