Waiting for app't with Surgeon, just found out my Dr. hasn't even sent a referral!!

I am sooooo angry right now....I have been waiting for over 2 months to hear about an appointment date with an Orthopedic Surgeon regarding my hip and the potential surgery I need to correct the torn tissue and hip/socket problems 

I've asked my doctor 2 or 3 times now if they've heard anything and the answer has been no. I finally decided to call the surgeons' office myself to inquire as to how long it takes to get an appointment. I got the answering machine, left a message and got a call from the surgeon's office this afternoon. They have a copy of my MRI that was sent to them from the Alberta Hip and Knee Clinic (where my MRI was first sent for potential treatment, but they declined me as a patient as my case is more complex than they deal with). And that's all.

They have nothing from my doctor's office requesting a referral, just the MRI and a note from the AB Hip/Knee clinic suggesting my case may be of interest. They can't do anything with that though...a proper request for consultation needs to come from my doctor.

I have no idea what's happened. Each time I asked at the office if they've heard anything, the answer is no, and he's the only surgeon who does what I need, so I probably haven't heard anything yet because he's busy. I feel like I've had months of my time wasted because there's been a lapse in communication somewhere. It's just so frustrating to sit here in pain and wait for months for something, only to find out nothing was ever started to get this process rolling.

I tried calling my doctor's office about this today but couldn't get thru to my doctor or her assistant. I'll have to try again tomorrow. The lady at the surgeon's office was really nice. She told me that the surgeon likes to triage any referrals that come in, so he can decide which ones he wants to see first, etc. I hope my case will be of enough interest to him that he will "pick me" quickly...but I just feel like this is one more blow to absorb in this whole chronic pain process.

Thanks for letting me vent...I sure hope God shows me favour by making things happen quickly from this point on.

Hope everyone is doing as well as possible today.

hugs,
Pam

Pam,
I know what you're feeling all too well. I had a PM doc a long time ago who was supposed to get approvals for me for a medication and an MRI and they kept telling me they were waiting for people to get back to them. Turned out when I took matters into my own hands, like you did, I found out they had never made any calls or sent anything. I was not in a good mood when I appeared in my (former) PM's office, that's for sure. It was a couple of months of wasted time because they had a stack of charts - that I could understand, but at least don't lie to me.

Let's hope that you can get things moving yourself. Even though we have to be careful about becoming an annoyance to our docs (especially if we don't have many choices where we live) sometimes they don't leave us much choice, do they?

Vent away!

PaLady