Happy birthday to me! My gastroenterologist asked me the next day, which was Friday, if I had a gynecologist. I told him that my GP always performed pap smears and exams, but had not done so in over a year. He said, "You need to see a gynecologist as soon as possible. It's not an emergency, but you need to see one as soon as you can." He provided no other information from the colonoscopy I had the previous day or from the report he had received about it.
My husband, Rick, and I headed over to my GP's office to ask for a referral as soon as possible to see a gynecologist. My GP's nurse assistant said she had been working on getting me in to see a gyn doc the next week. She asked me to wait a minute and came back with a couple of sheets of paper that were stapled together. There was a post-it note with the name of a gyn doc and his office number written on it. The nurse assistant said if I wanted, I could try to catch up with him in the ER at a local hospital where he was on duty.
Rick and I walked out to the car shaking our heads, wondering why on earth would we chase a doctor down at an ER instead of seeing him in his office for a scheduled appointment? I began reading the paper out loud as Rick drove. It was the report from the colonoscopy, referring to several tumors and their sizes. I experienced the same feeling I had when the gastroenterologist was so distant the day before. We got home quickly and googled the name of the gynecologist written on the post-it note. He was an oncology gynecologist. We looked for others in the area to see about getting a second opinion. He was the only oncology gynecologist in Little Rock who was on my insurance provider's list.
When we remembered to check the answering machine, there was a message from the nurse assistant that the appointment with the gyn doc was scheduled for Tuesday. I phoned her right away, bursting at the seams with disbelief, anger and lots of questions. The recording said that they were closed at noon on Friday. We could not believe that no one had sat me down to tell me about the report and what it meant for me. My husband emailed the GP's office manager, explaining our disturbance and wanting more info as soon as possible. There was no immediate response. My husband and I sat with that information and our many questions all weekend. We planned to call their office first thing on Monday morning, which would also be my 58th birthday.
