The Waiting Game

Once you are a patient in the healthcare system, you become a player in The Waiting Game.  You will learn to wait for an appointment with the doctor, then wait for a referral, wait for test results and the follow-up with the doctor, and then wait for the diagnosis and treatment program, and on and on.  Can anyone wonder why patients are frustrated and anxious, particularly those with cancer where the watchwords are “early detection, prompt treatment?”

Harvey has found himself in this situation since seeing Dr. Graves last Wednesday.  As we left the doctor’s office, we were told that the referral to the gastroenterologist’s office would be sent immediately, and that we should hear from them in a day or so to set up an appointment for the EUS and colonoscopy.  Well, Thursday came and went, and by Friday afternoon, Harvey was concerned and phoned Dr. Graves’ office.  The office assistant seemed surprised that he had not heard anything and suggested that he contact Dr. Dredar’s office directly.  Following her suggestion, he spoke to Dr. Dredar’s office assistant, and after a lengthy patient identification process, he was told that she did not see any referral for Harvey.  I really expected to see the telephone handset slam down and pieces of the phone scatter across the room, but to my surprise, he was quite sanguine, and telephoned Dr. Graves’ office again.  Of course, it is Friday afternoon, so he knew nothing would be done before Monday.  No call on Monday morning!  After several more rounds of phone calls, the two doctor’s offices finally connected around 3:00 p.m. and an appointment was scheduled.

Please continue to keep Harvey in your thoughts and prayers, and particularly on Tuesday, June 14th at 11:00 a.m.  The procedures will be performed on the same day in Sacramento.  We are hoping that the tests will show no spread of the cancer to the surrounding lymph nodes and no metastasis to the colon.  Once the results are reviewed, hopefully Harvey can leave the diagnostic phase behind and begin the treatment phase.

I find it curious that, in this world of fast internet connections and instantaneous newsfeeds, it took close to five days for the referral to go from one doctor’s office to the other a block away.  Well, that’s The Waiting Game for you!