February 15, 2012

• This and That.

  Went to Dartmouth Tuesday for my six month post-op check-up.  Dr. Sengupta was very happy with my ability to walk. He doesn't need to see me again until the two year mark, I am doing that well.  He is very pleased that I walk as well as I do. He says the weakness in my left leg will never go away, but encouraged me to keep doing my pool work to develop the other muscles so they can compensate for the weakness.  I am probably always going to have to walk with a cane. I find the prospect disheartening even as I am grateful that I can still walk in some way. 

  The three hours spent in the car were very uncomfortable. We skipped staying in a motel in Hanover because I really didn't feel we could spare the money. And what we saved in money, I paid for with sciatica and aching. I'm not sure we did the right thing. However, done is done. 

   

  Work has been slamming busy. I am still only working three days a week. The days bleed into evening. I'm trying to do five days' work in three. The Prior Authorizations are in avalanche mode as people's new insurance formularies no longer cover what these folks have been on in the past. There's a brief period of time where the Medicare D plans are obligated to supply the patient with the medication. They send a letter to us and the patient, supposedly enough time to be able to replace the medication with a formulary alternative or try to appeal the decision of the insurance company. There is not enough time in the day to give these the attention they deserve. And I'm not getting much help from my co-workers. They're busy, too, for the most part. Although if I hear many more conversations about boyfriends and spouses and broken down vehicles while I'm under a mountain of work, i might have to employ ear plugs. 

  I haven't made it to the pool this week.  I feel it in my body.  I will remedy that with a visit to the pool tomorrow. And I need to get back into mat work to strengthen my core. I'm grateful that I can get up from and down on the floor. But it's a lot more awkward than it used to be, so I have avoided it. Need to get back into it. Tomorrow.

  One of the patient's mother complained about me. Said I was abrupt and rude to her on the phone and that I hung up on her. I don't remember hanging up on her before we'd said good-bye. I had to be abrupt with her because unlike the newbie secretary who was reading the thirty something child's chart to the mother, I knew we didn't have permission to disclose health care information to the mother. In addition to that, I was trying to get off the phone to call the patient to be fit into the opening we had for her. I could not get the mother to Shut Up. I had to repeat to her that I did not have signed permission from the patient to discuss her care with mommy. I told her we were trying to get her in. I even said I was trying to get off the phone to call the patient to get her into the office. 

  So she complained about me. My practice leader talked with me about it today. And threw into the mix that the new front desk people were intimidated by me. Then she mentioned that I sometimes have an edge in my voice and I needed to soften it.  So sorry the years of therapy haven't made me more mellow. Or at least not mellow enough. I don't have time to chit chat as often as I'd like. I have work to do. There are four to five providers in the office at any one time and a good deal of their phone and insurance work comes to me. And I find what they need, or what i need to ask of them and spit it back out to them. It's tiring and it's hard to keep track of things.  Then there's the whole thing of correcting other people's mistakes or errors of omission and being soothing to the patient while trying to efficiently deal with the thing that wasn't dealt with in the first place. I hate mistakes. I especially hate it when I make mistakes. 

  My Xanga is turning into a whiny bitch forum from me. Not a very sympathetic character, am I?

  Blessings abound.

   

  On

  • 9:28 pm
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