There were more, less notable instances when MS showed
up in my life, and my legs have never been "my legs" since 1980, but
it wasn't until 2002 that MS was considered a possibility by doctors. I
was working as a bindery and delivery person for a locally owned printing
company. I woke up one morning, and my left eye was a little foggy, and
felt kind of "gummy." That happens to a lot of people, and had
happened to me before, so I was not worried. I knew that as I woke up,
and blinked a bit to clear my sight, things would return to normal. They
didn't. I called, at the insistence of a friend, and made an appointment
for that Friday with my doctor. Over that week, the sight in that eye
deteriorated until it was like I had stuffed a wad of cotton in my eye.
It still felt weird, and I couldn't really see.
Friday came around and I was glad I had my
appointment, but still not overly concerned. That morning I got a call
from my doctor's office. He refused to see me, and had cancelled my
appointment. Instead, he told me to go to the emergency room. I was
more angry than anything. Why should I pay to go to an emergency room
when I had had a perfectly good appointment scheduled with him all week?
Seriously. And why now, if he was so "concerned," instead
of calling sometime earlier in the week? A "real doctor" who
had concern for a patient would have made time for that patient as early as
possible, not send the patient so some unknown doctor. At least that was
my thought. (Anyone living in the Olympia, Washington area who wants to
know this doctor's name, please comment and I will share.)
I waited until the end of my workday instead of
becoming alarmed after a week of waiting for my doctor appointment. Once
I was able to be seen by one of the emergency room doctors, he told me he
couldn't see anything wrong with my eye, but thought I should go in to see an ophthalmologist.
I was okay with that, but as it was Friday evening, around 6:30-7:00 pm,
I was very surprised when he came in with a business card, and on the back of
it was the name of the ophthalmologist I was to see, and the appointment
already made for 9 am on Monday morning. Ok, so this guy did see
something, and was concerned. I had all weekend to wonder what, but I
still figured I would find out in time, and that was that.
No comments:
Post a Comment