Urgent Care Visit

We were in a rear end car collision last week. We were driving down the GW parkway when the car behind us smashed in to us. I immediately felt discomfort in my neck and upper back. I was hoping it would go away. Well, it didn’t. Yesterday after walking in the morning, my neck was getting more uncomfortable. So we got in the car and drove to the urgent care clinic. Even though the car had damage and is scheduled to get repaired - which is inconvenient enough - now we have to waste time in a clinic. Luckily we are retired, but nevertheless this incident has taken the joy out of my life since it happened. Now I have two prescriptions to take because my neck muscle is “strained” as a result of the accident. So we got the prescriptions filled and we are keeping records of any health care encounter. I did report the findings to the insurance company. Today I am nauseated from the medicine and feeling very tired and crappy overall. The urgent care process went exceptionally well considering. I know this could have been a lot worse - and thank goodness my husband is okay. Why can’t people just pay attention when they are driving? We were minding our own business. 

MedStar Prompt Care

For the last three weeks my right knee has not been right. The first two weeks I hobbled along hoping it would go away. It didn’t. Then I started taking aspirin two times per day for another week. It didn’t help much. The pain is now in both my knee and my hip. So I called my doctor’s office to see if I could get in. Forget it. They recommended that we go to the Prompt Care service across the street. So we walked in and took our place in line at this urgent care clinic. Having never used it we didn’t realize you could book a time on line, but also once you are there, you can leave and they will text you thirty minutes before your appointment. So we went back home and waited to get notified. We did, and there was going to be a thirty minute delay. So we could at least plan accordingly. When we got back to the clinic, the place was packed with patients. I was called back to the exam room within a few minutes, but ended up waiting another forty five minutes. The staff acted like they didn’t want to be there, but the nurse practitioner was on point. The exam took all of five minutes and I left with a referral to see a sports medicine physician - who was there - but was booked for the day. So we made an appointment for Friday at his Chevy Chase location to take the next step. Now I have a bandage wrapped on my knee, waiting for an inflammatory drug to arrive from Express Scripts, keeping my leg elevated, and stopping our 2 1/2 mile walks every day. Both my husband and I were health care practitioners - he a surgeon and me a nurse. Things have changed since we both retired. It’s times like this when we miss our dear colleagues and friends. That’s when you want to see a friendly face and be taken care of like we always did.