Doctors

I don't know how I feel about people in the medical field anymore.

A nurse once told me that I "am heterozygote for blood clotting factor 5." I tried to clarify in a way that wouldn't make her feel as stupid as she just sounded by asking: "So, I have a dominant gene?" And she replied by repeating herself.

Now, I'm not going to assume she is stupid. I figure nurses have to learn a lot of terms and things and zygote happens to be a biological term, it's just the wrong one. Heterozygous is the one she was looking for. So, points for being close!

Anyway, I want to assume the same thing for what happened today. I was told at my last appointment that 1) the phlebotomist was not in and would not be in for 1 1/2 weeks. 2) I would be able to pee in a cup and get some blood drawn without at appointment.

The phlebotomist was in as soon as I called today (which is a week). And I had to set up an appointment to pee in a cup. Also, I actually didn't have to pee in a cup, but I had to collect all my urine for 24 hours in some special, complicated process and container.

Again, I'm not going to blame a super busy doctor for trivial things like this. He's not a PKD specialist, why should he know these things like the back of his hand?

The issue I have stems from the many visits I had made prior with multiple doctors who brushed me off and told me to take more fiber and drink more water. This is just the icing. You'd think after the 5th visit that someone would take me seriously. It was always: "Drink more water, take more fiber". It wasn't until this doctor noticed the continuous weight loss and abdominal pain that he even looked into it.

This doctor, who had the mix up with the schedule and peeing thing. I can't thank him enough for what he has done for me, but he makes mistakes. Everyone does. It just scares me when it happens with medical people. I guess that's my point: everyone makes mistakes, I'm just being crabby about doctors.