How do you handle going to your doctor appointments and when you get there they tell you that its th

Coloman

I have the appointment on my portal through the hospital, but the doctor wasn't even here today. I want to scream.

Bug

So the portal information was wrong? Yes, that would want to make me scream.

Kp2018

Oy veh! I would not handle it well at all.

GregP_WN

We had a similar thing today. I was given my follow up appointments when we left the hospital last week. The first up was to get the staples out of my belly. That was today. We have a portal too, I like it because it keeps me organized. We were to be in a certain section of the hospital at 10 am to have them out. When I got to the clinic in that area, one of the techs said, " I want to take a look at your "buttons". Apparently, some sort of button thing that holds the feeding tube and my belly tight to the abdomen wall while it's healing. Here's the catch, I don't have any. Since my surgery was abandoned midway through and changed to a full-on cut me open and do it old-style, things changed. But, I still had a full zipper, 30 something staples.

He looked at me and said, well, you're good to go then. As in, I can leave now. It's 3 hours up there.

I said, (wrote), I was told to be here this morning to have these staples out.
He said the surgeon does that.
I said OK.........where is the surgeon?
That tech went to get another doctor, and a whole thing started. So the surgeon happened to be having clinic today and could take them out, "anytime after 1 PM". Great, it was 11 AM.

So we went to the other side of the campus, found that clinic, and pulled up a chair.
1.5 hrs. later, the zipper was removed.

Aggravating for sure, but better than driving back on another day.

andreacha

I hope Donna spoke up about the inconvenience caused. He certainly must know that not everyone lives in Nashville and that you, in particular, drives 3 hours to see him.
I was aggravated last night. I went for my scans today. 1 CT of chest, 2 MRIs, one for abdomen and the other of the pelvis. I use a patient portal also. I did my confirmation for each and express check in for each in the portal 2 days ago. The phone rang and they wanted a confirmation for the CT. 10 minutes later another call for a confirmation for my MRI of abdomen. And, you guessed it, 10 minutes later I had to confirm again for the MRI of pelvis. I had to hear instructions each time about paperwork at check in. I had already done my "express" check in!! All the staff had to say when they saw me today was, "it's been a while, how are you". I'm ashamed to say I completely lost it and told them how I was. The two girls were very gracious but called their supervisor to the desk. They asked me to repeat what I had just said and though embarrassed, I did. The girls have heard the complaints for days and the Supervisor insisted that they must have been isolated incidents. I finally caught on as to what the girls were doing, and by the time I was finished with the Supervisor - she was a believer.

JaneA

Inexcusable. My cancer center has my appts. in their portal, but they always text two days prior to confirm. They also call to rearrange. I'm fortunate when I see your experiences.

legaljen1969

@JaneA, I am glad you have a clinic that texts to confirm a few days before and that they call to re-arrange. My "portal" experience has been much the same as the others. Incorrect appointment dates/times and they seldom let you know at all ahead of time. It's usually when you arrive that they let you know something changed. I may not have Greg's 3 hours drive, but I do have an hour drive one way to get to my appointments. I usually end up calling the day before now just to confirm the appointments for myself, and make a note of who I talk to that tells me I should or should not come and what time.
@Andreacha,My appointments immediately after surgery were the worst. They would change things 3 or 4 times a day and switch me from one clinic site to another. One day after 3 changes, I called my PCM and asked for a referral to a different doctor because I was so mad at their disorganization. I explained the situation to the PCM. About 30 minutes later, my surgeon's called to ask why I kept changing my appointments and to "explain" why it was so important to keep them. I told her I hadn't changed anything, that the receptionist/scheduler told me that she (the nurse) was changing the appointments. I told her I was not going to be chastised for something that wasn't my fault and was inconveniencing me and my transportation source because it kept changing by the minute. She assured me that she had not changed any appointments and would take care of everything. She personally called me back to tell me I had an appointment for X day at Y time and to be there. When I walked in, there was a complete change of staff in their office.
Apparently the entire surgery center's schedule was getting mucked up.
Now if the oncologist's office could get rid of their sour faces everything would be great.

meyati

This happened to me. I had whooping Cough-and wasn't too bright. Like the others above, my oncologist wasn't even in town. The clinic is in a different county, and my son just said-- When is her appointment? They said they didn't have one. My son told them to make one. He drove. When we got home, I showed him the appointment on the calender, and the appointment paper that was given to me. I had to accept that it happened and move on with my life--then doctor offices wonder why I call several times to confirm the upcoming appointment

meyati

Since that happened, my doctors has the system send me 2 messages on My Chart, and most of the time call me the night before--I doubt that this was caused by my problem, and maybe it happened to a mayor, state legislature or governor's family

LiveWithCancer

I have only had it happen once and if I remember, it was my fault. I had the date wrong. I think. It's been awhile back. I wasn't particularly happy because it is an hour drive in traffic each way and i had already had the car valet parked (the only way your car can be parked) and it was just frustrating. I don't recall being angry, just frustrated, but again, i think it was my fault. I no longer remember the details.

legaljen1969

@meyati, I am glad the situation has changed and you are getting follow up prior to your appointments to make sure they are correctly calendared.
I know a lot of times people get annoyed when the world starts focusing on an event because it happens to someone famous or rich or powerful. As real as COVID has been in this world, our community really sat up and took notice when the son of a very influential citizen in our town passed away. I said "Well at least now everyone knows that it can happen to anyone and this mess doesn't discriminate." His family gave a big donation to the hospital to help with masks and PPE.
Sometimes we DO benefit from someone when someone comes along to grease the wheels of progress.
However it happens, if it happens to make our lives easier or the path a little less rocky- I am good with it.

Jayne

I have had good experiences with my appts other than the Oncologist running 2-3 hours late!

alivenwell

I remember waking up to gothic staples on my abdomin. A health coach called me and said that I should get an abdominal binder. Nobody in the hospital mentioned it. We have an official calendar but I also add the dates to my phone.