Some Days I Just Shake My Head

On Wed., Jan 28th, CD1 arrived & threw a wrench in the day I had planned.  I called my Dr because he was going to order a blood draw to check my estradiol level the day I started.  I left them my work fax in case they had any trouble sending it to the hospital.  I was so happy that they were going to let me get my bloodwork done in town rather than driving an hour away to the lab they use. 

I also called my acupuncturist who had me come in right away at 10:30AM.  Normally I find acupuncture really relaxing.  She puts the pins in and does this extra electrical current thing called "Relax & Balance" - it's amazing.  But today, some jackA$$ doctor decided to stand outside the door & talk loudly on his cell phone about his recent skiing trip.  I even coughed loudly a couple of times, thinking that'd get his attention & signal that someone was in the room, but no. Acupuncture ended & it was not the blissful experience I'd had the last few times.

My acupuncturist is in the same building as the blood lab, so I stopped by the registration desk to ask if any orders had been faxed in for me.  I figured I might as well - I was already there.  Why would I think it would be THAT easy?  I still laugh at how naive I am.  The lady at the desk told me that she didn't know anything & I'd have to wait to talk to an intake specialist.  You mean to tell me you can't just look up my name on that handy dandy little thing in front of you called a computer?  So I took a seat and waited until an intake specialist was open.  I asked if any orders had been faxed in for me.  She looked in her computer - what a novel idea! - and also on the fax machine, but had nothing.

On my way out to my car, my cell phone went nuts.  I had 2 missed calls from my Dr's office.  The voicemails were the IVF nurse explaining there was no answer on my work fax.  I called them back with the lab's direct fax line, since I was already there and they were having trouble with my work fax.  I waited about 30 minutes and didn't hear anything, so I left to grab a bite to eat.  While I was eating, my cell phone rang again.  It was my Dr's office, but they hung up.  Then they called back.  So I grabbed it an answered it, only to have the sound of a fax in my ear....

Apparently someone at my Doc's office is LEARNING to use the fax machine today....perhaps we should work on following directions next?

So after I finished my lunch, I was walking to my car and the Doc's office called me again stating that they'd sent the fax & had confirmation that it went through.  Funny, I'm pretty sure you just tried to fax it to my cell phone, but whatever...

At 12:30pm, I went to the blood lab where I again had to wait my turn to talk to an intake specialist, who walked me through the registration process this time & sent me to the lab to get my blood drawn.  Two women walked me back & I complimented one of them on her pretty Pandora bracelet.  She scoffed and said that it wasn't Pandora and anyone that had a Pandora bracelet had more money than brains.  At that point, I showed her my Pandora bracelet...Hey Jacka$$ #2 today: Open mouth, insert foot.

Then, the other girl put on gloves and began looking at both my arms.  She told me she was a student & would be drawing my blood.  Yes, I now have a giant bruise on my left arm...

At least it was done.  Or so I thought...

I got a phone call from my IVF nurse at 4:30pm saying she'd called the blood lab and for some reason they don't perform this particular test in-house.  The Doc expected test results the same day.  Apparently, at my lab Estradiol tests have to be sent away and they would not have the results until Friday or Monday.  If we didn't have the results by Monday morning, I was to hold off on my first shot of estradiol valerate.  Ugh.

I called the lab myself just to see if I got the same story.  At first, the woman on the phone told me that she didn't know who I was so she was not telling me any information.  Now, aren't you just the cherry on top of this day?!  I explained that I wasn't calling for my results - that I just wanted to know if in fact this test was not done in-house and when they would expect my results.  Her tone changed and she said that was all true & they should have my results by Friday.  That made me feel a little better, although I'm still a little unnerved that the blood draw order had STAT written all over it & no one bothered to tell me this was not a test that they could run in house...So now, since they've proven a little incompetent with the tests, I now have to drive to the blood lab by my Doc's office more than an hour away for the rest of my blood draws.  I guess I'd rather have to drive and have it done correctly and on time.

Here's the kicker-when I finally got to work at 2PM that day, there was a fax with my blood draw orders in my mailbox from my Doc's office.

Some days I just shake my head.