Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Dear Doctor

Since I understand that you must be a very busy man I shall make this short and sweet. I suspect that I might have cracked/broken/smashed a teeny weeny little bone in my right foot. I say suspect since I'm no professional in the medical area, but have had plenty bones broken, ligaments torn, bones completely smashed etc, and therefore I think I'm entitled have an opinion on this.

I realise that you will probably tell me the same thing you tell every other unsuspecting patient be it over the phone or otherwise..."make an appointment and come and see me". I have 2 problems with this.

First of all I am absolutely petrified of doctors. As in I get completely hysterical, I cry, I become a spoilt little child who likes throwing tantrums.This is a big problem. You'd think that after the 2 weeks in hospital and all follow up visits I'd have grown used to you people in white lab coats..but no...I'm still petrified.

The second problem is more of an ethical one. I have a problem with the fact that a doctor can charge me anything between R200 and R400 per visit of 10minutes max! jeepers! and I thought my charge out rate was ridiculous! It doesn't cost you a cent to quickly glance at my foot, write a little note to the lady at the x-ray centre and send me on my merry way within 2 minutes...this of course after you made me wait for 40minutes...despite the fact that i pitched up on time for my appointment. I think, since I am paying you a small fortune, that you should at least have the decency to see me at the appointed time.

Maybe you can just e-mail me a little note which I can produce to the sweet little lady at the x-ray lab? that way I don't have to see you and nurse a stomach ulcer due to the stress caused by this and you can save the 2 minutes you are going to spend talking to me.....lets say at a fee of around R50?

I'll describe the foot to you. Its blue, slightly black, green, purple and very red around the point of impact. Extremely swollen, though I dare say I managed to get rid of the worst of that by applying some herbal stuffies. And it hurts like hell when there is any physical contact, when i have to walk...hell, actually it just hurts like hell all the time....have found that large amounts of alcohol works for a short while, but a more permanent solution would be nice.

I hope that you and I can come to some sort of arrangement in this regards

Regards

Ruby

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Shite. That foot sounds hectic. You better have a happy pill and wobble over to the doctor, before it's too late and they have to amputate!

Ruby said...

*wailing loudly* gluggy!!!! i'm already scared enough!!! stop making this worse!
At least I know they cant amputate.....too much metal, they won't be able to cut through it....LOL

Unknown said...

LOL. True. I forgot about that.

Sweets said...

they have really excellent machinery to cut through metal these days...! go to the doctor you ninny! really you are you're own worst enemy at the moment... i do feel sorry for you, pls don't wait till tomorrow, go today, if you don't i'll never talk to you again...*stomp foot*

Ruby said...

hey! i'm the only one allowed to through temper tantrums on this blog*stomping even harder*

I really appreciate the support...but i do think I'll wait until tomorrow and see how it feels. I promise i'll go to the dr if it doesn't feel or look better...howz that?

Sweets said...

*stomp*

*stomp*

*stomp*

;-)

Ruby said...

goodness! First of all, I meant throw, not through...that would just be weird.

Second of all.....sweet ass! that aint fair! i'm right handed but I can't stomp very hard with the right foot since it's all injured and the left one just can't stomp that hard:-( so i'll just go ahead and be like a sulky 5year old then...he he

Patchwork said...

OWIE! That foot sounds murderous!

*scribbles illegible note*

Take this to x-ray lady and they will believe it's from a doc.

Hope it gets better hun.

Elise said...

Ow foot sounds painful! You should get it checked out.

I don't know how your health system runs out there but here in the UK we have the trusted free NHS. I can't believe you get charged for a doc to look at something!

Can't you just run away after you've been diagnosed and treated? Oh yeah your foot... um try hopping away.

Ruby said...

Bridge - thanx lady! you're a life saver!! hugs

Elise - unfortunately we don't have the same system here:-( thanx for the well wishes;-)

But I have some good news all!!!! It feels a lot better today...promise!Still limping, but i can move all my toes, the swelling has gone down quite a bit and its a little less sensitive.....all the colours of the rainbow at the moment tho

Vimbai said...

Suck it up missy and head to the doctor!

Just stay clear of all the contagious people in the waiting room (i swear, you end up getting something extra after sitting next to sneezing toddler)

Unknown said...

Ruby, you know I said in my blog that I almost broke my ankle? Well, I feel like I have broken a tiny bone in my foot too! It hurts so bad!

Ruby said...

Nats - I wish i could tell you to go to the doc...but I can't, since I refuse to go....so i'm a bit stuck..Hope it gets better soon!!!!