Oh Bon Jovi. Thank you for being so incredibly corruptible to meet my needs. Because this is how I feel - like I'm getting shot down in some sick, apologetic hailstorm of crap. I have had a bouquet of GPs since the accident, and aside from the one that had a stroke and can't be blamed, only one of them has had any real idea of how to treat me. The others - well, I've been called a junkie, had a whole team of doctors refuse to assign me one person to oversee my case, and now I have one so fixated on my weight that she disregards my perfectly logical requests.
I went to see my family doctor on Monday morning, armed with the information from the occupational medicine doctor from Calgary. I was anxious to see her as she is going on medical leave for 4 months to have a hip replaced, and I wanted to make sure I had some things sorted out while she was away. The first thing she always does is ask how many times a week I swim, to which I respond "twice" because it is currently the upper echelon of my physical ability. Shaking her head as though I've done something wrong, she then asks me how much I weigh. When I stand on the scale and it hasn't changed since the last time, she tsks me. TSKS ME. As though swimming and gaining muscle is going to somehow make me lighter. She doesn't mention the inches I've lost around my stomach, even though I can now fit into clothes I last wore over a year ago. Still not daunted, I launch into my story about the specialist visit in Calgary.
The first thing I bring up is the issue with pelvic fractures affecting fertility. I ask for a referral to a fertility clinic to explore it further. She shakes her head again, with the response that any referral to a clinic of that kind is such a huge investigation that unless we have been actively trying to 2 years to get pregnant and haven't, she won't even consider referring me. I indicate that it's been two years since the accident (two years exactly on Monday), and that we haven't been using any contraceptives since. She then suggests that maybe the fault is with Matt. Deadpan, I inform her of his four children with his ex-wife. When she sits and stares at me blankly, I counter with asking for imaging of the area - MRI, ultrasound, xrays, all of it - since I'd like to know what it all looks like now, 2 years down the line. Again, a shake of the head and she tells me that there is no imaging that will show the amount of scar tissue build-up (a complete lie) and that it won't prove anything. Her last parting shot on the subject? "You don't even know if you want to have children, so you need to make up your mind first."
Excuse me?
How is it even possible that the health care system is so broken that, instead of trying to figure out if it is even possible for me to have kids, I have to decide if I want to try and then try and fail before they'll do anything. It seems backwards to me. Don't see if it's even possible - just put yourself through all kinds of mental anguish trying to decide and then not getting pregnant anyway.
The second issue I bring up - the nerve damage and possible effected reflexes - is met with complete ignorance. She has no response for me, even when I ask for a neurologist's opinion, as if we've reached the point of no return and she can't be bothered with me any more. Indicating that she'll wait until the specialist's report is in her hand, she berates me for my weight again, a parting shot before she opens the door signalling the end of the appointment, and tells me to make an appointment for December when she's back from her surgery.
So what now? What am I supposed to do for 4 months without a GP and no direction? Apparently losing weight should be on the top of my agenda, but the way I feel about my doctor right now, she can go rub salt. I'll weigh what I want, I'll swim as much as I want, and I'll feel good about doing it. If my weight goes down, then fine, but if not, then fine.
I don't care.
I'm waiting for the specialist's report, just to see what my lawyer has to say, and my psychiatrist, and my physiotherapist: professionals that actually give a crap and care about my care. I'll go from there. And if my doctor doesn't happen to be involved for the next four months, whatever.
It'll all be in the reports anyway.
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