The doctor

Have you ever been referred to someone and after you met them decided you really didn't like them? I heard about a woman whose medical insurance referred her to a doctor for her young daughter's ear infection. Upon seeing the woman's piercing and tattoos, the doctor refused to see or treat her child.

Talk about the sins of the father...er...mother in this case.

The doctor had a set of rules about appearance which he had based upon his Christian beliefs. These rules included no tats, body piercings, or chewing of gum. I think somewhere along the line, i missed the part of the Christian belief system that included excluding people in need....but i obviously REALLY missed the whole part about not chewing gum...damn! i guess i'm damned to hell for sure now!

This month's scare

About a week and a half ago, i went in to the doctor for a personal issue. (we won't name the issue because its PERSONAL!) The doctor looked me over, took various liquid samples and diagnosed me on the spot. She then said she's send in these samples to be tested but she was 90% sure it was exactly what she said it was, which was nothing to worry about.

I went on my car trip knowing that if it turned out to be something serious, she'd call me. Upon my return, i found a letter from my doctor. It informed me that i needed to visit her again in regards to my URINE sample. The letter concluded with a reassuring line that the issue was not urgent.

I thought to myself, what information could she have about just my urine sample that would be not urgent? The only thing that came to me was that i was pregnant. All morning i worked myself into a knot because of it. I called my nurse friend to find out if a doctor would label pregnacy as "urgent" or "not urgent". She said it was up to the doctor's personal disgression.

I paced back and forth for much of the morning, finally, i went into the doctor's office 20 minutes early. as soon as i arrived, the nurse looked at me sympathetically and said, "she'll see you next". there were 5 other people in the waiting room and i was bumped to the front of the que. i was really nervous now.

After a mere 39 seconds (yes, i was counting) i was ushered into the back room where the doctor discretely shut the door. She searched around for my file for 1 minute and 42 seconds and finally found what she was looking for.

"AH! your tests came back exactly as i expected. your test show that i was right in my original diagnosis. your urine sample shows nothing abnormal, nor does your other [samples] Take this piece of paper out to the nurse and she'll bill you for this visit".

i was not pregnant. there was nothing wrong me with. she had no questions about my further health since i had seen her last, instead i was called in so she could tell me she was right. as i numbly walked to the nurse's station and handed her the paper, i was in a daze. It didn't last too long though, because the nurse billed me for $34!