As expected, the ear appointment didn't go much better than my doctor appointment last week. We had to get Gary up early, get him showered, and dressed and out the door for an early appointment.

Kelly sat with Gary while I filled out the forms on an electronic tablet - all the personal info. they needed before the appointment. We were then led back to an examining room, where the assistant asked "what are we here for today?" I told her I made the appointment to have his ears flushed since he had hard wax buildup in his ears and was having trouble hearing. She proceeded to type the info. into a computer, then began asking me all the same questions I had just answered on the electronic form in the outer office. I told her I had just answered all those questions and she said "well, I don't have that information here, so we need it again." I guess it doesn't transfer from one electronic computer to another in that office - go figure!!

We were then led into another examining room, where Kelly and I had to transfer Gary to a chair for his examination. We waited a few min., the assistant left the room and Kelly and I asked each other - do you think we'll have to repeat the answers to all those questions again? Sure enough, in walks the Dr. - takes one look at Gary and then toward the nurse where they both rolled their eyes at each other. Kelly and I both read that as " Oh crap, I don't want this patient." Turns out we were right! Doc asks "what are we here for today?" I had to repeat my answer to him. Then he asks "how long ago did he have his stroke?" Again, I'm answering same question for 3rd time. Repeat several more questions and answers before he asks if we're planning to have his hearing tested for hearing aids. I told him Gary has already insisted he won't wear them, so we're hoping just to get the ears flushed. He said they don't do the flushing (would have been nice to know that before going in) then pulls out some tools to examine Gary's ears. Gary gets scared and starts to yell out, doc backs off and says - I can't get to the wax buildup - it's too far back and too hard. So then he says he will call in a RX for some "eye" drops that will help loosen the wax and we should bring him back in a week and he will try again. Kelly and I both got the impression that the min. I said we didn't need the hearing test as Gary would not wear the hearing aids anyhow - that doctor decided he didn't want to mess with us - his main focus was to sell some hearing aids.

We left the examination room after a few min. Kelly thanked him on the way out - I kept my mouth shut as opposed to saying "thanks for nothing." We got home and I got a call about an hr. later from Walgreens to inform me that the RX was out of stock and they would inform us when it came in. I questioned what exactly he had ordered and the pharmacy assistant said it was eye solution for infection or irritation of the eyes. When I told her that he prescribed it to put in Gary's ears to loosen ear wax, she said she had never heard of that before, so I asked to talk to a pharmacist who also told me the same thing. I told them don't bother ordering it just for us as I would not be picking it up. I'm going back to putting ear wax removal in his ears, flushing with warm water and hydrogen peroxide and already I've seen a little improvement.

In the meantime, it's been a whole week since my appointment for the shoulder and my doctor has never returned my call. I never got the MRI because she didn't re-write the RX for it, and I have yet to get a hoyer lift for Gary because we never got that RX either. I gave up calling them, as the office people keep telling me they scanned my messages into my chart and the doctor will call when she reads them. So, if I'm lucky I might get a call by June when I am due for my next annual physical. I should send them a message and tell them to change their answering machine: Press 1 for English, Press 2 for Spanish, Press 3 if you think we're actually going to call you back once we've received your co-pay.

I have lots of new material for a comedy routine:

You might live in AZ if your Dr. made it through the third grade.

You might live in AZ if your ear Dr. prescribes eye drops for your ears.

You might live in AZ if you go to the Dr. for papsmear and find out later the examining Dr. was a shrink.

etc. etc. - I have tons more I could do on contractors ....if you get my drift!!!

Sarah