A Most Unusual Day

We have been fortunate regarding maintaining generally good health. Thanks to the pandemic several doctor visits were put off and we both feel a lot older. I just went for an annual visit and need another prescription. I also need to have an X-ray because of horrible back pain in the supine position. My husband has had an issue crop up over the last ten days. Yesterday we spent time on a video chat with his doctor. That ended with a prescription, and a referral. That meant calling the referral, getting an appointment, filling in the on line health screen, sending in ID and insurance cards, having a medical record faxed from one office to another - all of which took multiple phone calls. I’m also reacquainting myself with provider handbooks and health care benefits. When we went to pick up the prescription the line was so long we went back in the evening - two trips to the store. When we picked up the mail there were two bills from the lab saying our insurance didn’t cover my husband’s lab work  - that means more phone calls and run arounds next week because there was no one to talk to late Friday afternoon. I just had blood work done and my claims were processed so I’m not sure what the glitch was. When I checked the claims and invoices on the website I didn’t have access to my husbands information. In the mean time my husband hasn’t been himself over worry - he’s a retired surgeon, reads in to everything, and not used to any of this. We haven’t been eating because he lost his appetite and of course I’m worried - and have a painful back at night. On top of that I scheduled a hearing test for Monday and know what that means. There are more dental visits next month. In the grand scheme of things it could be a lot worse. The pandemic is an overwhelming cloud that has no end, and all these things make us feel even more vulnerable. And our diversions have been reduced - no trips, no dinners, no visits. I guess you can only take one day at a time and be thankful things aren’t worse. Having just lived through my mom’s last few years on earth doesn’t help either. It’s incredibly sad watching a loved one deteriorate. Hopefully everything will start to calm down. It was just too much in one day. 

The Eye Doctor Visit

We don’t want to go anywhere unless we have to - especially when it comes to doctor visits. Some are unavoidable; others can wait. We both have had virtual doctor visits that went very well. But you still need to go in to get blood work drawn and other routine xrays. My husband had cataract surgery in February and then in March - just before everything closed down on March 13. He hadn’t had a follow up visit until yesterday. It was rescheduled a couple of times because we didn’t want to go in to the office. The sad thing is is that we always do everything together. Now, you have to go alone. It’s a very odd experience for us. Luckily, we purposely moved to a neighborhood where not only the dentist and doctor are literally less than one block away, the eye doctor is located across the street. So my husband got his mask and gloves on and walked over. I watched him from the balcony and since it was so nice outside, decided to wait for him there. He came back in about forty minutes. He said everything was managed very well and the staff was wonderful. It still amazes me that you can take an eye pressure without direct contact. He needs to go back in four months. I’m supposed to go in July but am in no hurry. Next week I need to walk across the street and get some blood drawn. It seems when there is nothing going on the routine activities of daily living become an annoyance. Speaking of routine activities - it feels just like yesterday when I did the house dusting. It’s already time to do it again. Time is passing us by rather quickly. It’s just not what I had in mind when I retired four years ago. One of my friends from the Midwest always said you needed to have something to look forward to. I’m not sure what that is. 

Physician Video Visit

It’s just so much easier! I always dread going to the doctor office for just about anything. But having high blood pressure and assorted other things, annual visits are an expectation. Lately it’s been every six months. But since we moved from Capitol Hill to northern Virginia it took a while to find a new doctor. So my husband and I made appointments to see Dr. R in an office that is literally right across the street from where we live. Since my husband needed a pre op screen in January for cataract surgery, he saw another physician at the same clinic and decided to stick with him. He was having a little health issue a couple of weeks ago and we set up a video conference call with his doctor. It went really well. So when it came time for my new patient visit, I decided to have a video call as well - rather than go in to the office. I made sure everything was set up - using the medical clinic app and the zoom app on my iPhone, and completed all of the paper work and medical history on line. I had already requested my old medical records be transferred over months ago. Dr. R was right on time, and the conversation was easy. It took the entire half hour reviewing all my meds and past history. Basically I wanted to establish a connection with a new doctor primarily for prescription refills and routine exams. In the end I still need to have blood work drawn and get a bone density and mammogram done. If anything changes because if this virus, virtual visits are very convenient for everyone on all levels - even when you live across the street from the office. My blood pressure and I wouldn’t want it any other way. 

ZocDoc Reminders

I worked in health care for thirty years. Lately it's been very difficult to make appointments at our primary care physician office. It used to be both my husband and I were well known to the physicians we used to see in Milwaukee and rarely had any difficulties. In late June I was looking for a dermatologist and stumbled upon ZocDoc. I was sent emails about that appointment before, during, and after that visit. Since then I've been constantly reminded about all kinds of routine appointments that I should make. This one was for a gyn exam. I suppose if one is very haphazard about planning and scheduling health care visits it's a good thing. But we aren't, so this can be somewhat irritating. Now, after trying to make an appointment for an annual exam for the last four months and finally succeeding, I have to reschedule it because of a work related conflict. I think the idea is to see whatever practitioner is not busy to keep productivity up for everyone and scheduling systems in some offices don't work anymore. Or, as both my husband and I are finding, we're just out if the loop on how things are done these dats - even though we were both making a living at it for all those years. 

ZocDoc With Dr. Marjan Yousefi

Making appointments with physician offices can sometimes be painful. It wasn't always that way. I've been trying to make an annual appointment with my internist for the last three months. Every time I call they say I need to call back at the end of the month, the scheduling system has been updated, or some other nonsense. I wanted to switch physicians over this but decided that changing all the prescriptions is even more of a hassle. Recently I needed to schedule an appointment with a dermatologist and started looking on line and discovered ZocDoc. You enter your insurance and see who accepts it, read reviews, and office locations and select someone - in this case it was Dr. Marjan Yousefi. The rest is a piece of cake. Once the appointment is made, forms can be filled in on line so as not to deal with all that in the office. A confirmation email is sent, the physician office calls to verify, a reminder email about the appointment is sent a week in advance and then the day before. Following the visit, another email is sent to evaluate the visit, and a final notification is sent if a follow up appointment is required. I tried using this system with my internist, because she was also listed - but couldn't even get past step one. I notified ZocDoc to ask why it wasn't working, and they followed up right away and said there was an issue with her office - MedStar. All I can say is after working thirty years in health care and having a retired surgeon as a husband, it's simple to figure out which approach is more acceptable. One reminds me of Milwaukee, and the other reminds me of DC. Can you tell which one is which?!