It actually start last Thursday. I had a pre-op physical with my PCP and wanted her advise on my hurting knee since no one else I’d seen had figured anything out. Remember those useless injections? So she ordered an x-ray and said the Knee Surgeon could decide if he needs the MRI. I got the X-ray on Friday.
I had the funeral Monday. On Tuesday we picked up the X-ray CD. Tuesday night Sentara Scheduling called, saying Ms. PCP had ordered more tests but wouldn’t tell my husband what they were since I wasn’t home. Their office closed while he was telling me so I didn’t find out until Wednesday morning when I called. Ms. PCP had ordered the MRI anyway.
Knowing time was limited due to the upcoming back surgery, the lady scheduled me for the first available Thursday evening at a distant location and said she would check on the insurance authorization. I hung up and headed to Knee Guy’s appointment. The X-ray showed nothing (Murphy’s Law) but he said I could wait on an MRI until after my back recovery. Ms. PCP was a block away so we stopped to update her. They were still waiting for response from Back Guy so I went home to await the phone call. When I didn’t hear back, I called only to find they had closed at noon. Thanks a bunch!
Thursday morning dawns. I still don’t know if the insurance has been OK’d and I won’t go without it. I leave a message with the original scheduler and with Ms. PCP’s office. We took our two dogs to the vet so they don’t fall in the cracks and miss meds because of my surgery and to inquire about boarding them a few nights to keep them out of the way while we’re dealing. We decided to bring them home before getting lunch.
While we’re home I try calling Ms. PCP again, leaving another message. After discussing with Danny a bit later, he calls and gets a person, who is updated and says they will call and let me know what to do. Person tells us the insurance authorization was there when they arrived at the office that morning. At least that’s done. We head to lunch.
Lunch was the best part of many days. After eating we stopped by the thrift store so I could pick out a couple of books to have on hand during recovery. I’d just picked them out when the phone rang… it was the MRI Guy! Instead of waiting until 6pm they could do me at 2:30. It was 1:35 – The checkout line was too long so I shoved my books back on the shelf, grabbed Danny and we headed out. The appointment went smoothly from the moment I arrived. I filled out my form while a man entered my data. Then they took me back after just a few minutes. Oh, if all appointments went like this, what a happy world!
We headed home, wondering how the results would turn out. About a mile from home my phone rang. Guess who? Why, it’s the office of Ms. PCP returning my message from that morning. She informed me that if I wanted to wait until after my back surgery to get my MRI that would be fine and they’d cancel the order. My response: “You are a day late and a dollar short – I just finished having the MRI.” She said she thought it wasn’t scheduled until 6pm and I let her know of the opening that had occurred. But I also thought to myself that even if it had been at 6pm, her calling when she did still wouldn’t have cut it because we would have left before her call to arrive on time. She’d still have been a day late and a dollar short!
I was told it would be a couple of days before getting results, but results were available the next day. On one hand I was kind of excited – I had been right in my self-diagnosis. There are tears. On the other hand, this looks like bad news altogether. I now own crutches (which, I might add, were free from the thrift store).
