Adventures in ACA: In Which I am (apparently) fat, anemic, and a hypochondriac

Let's get something straight. I am not a big eater. I like food, I just don't have a huge appetite and I can be a fussy eater (partly because I am so sensitive to taste and smell). I calculated out my caloric intake and I get roughly less than 1,000 per day. I don't think that's normal.

But, eventually, I had to see a doctor here in Baltimore. First, there was the gynecologist. I was underwhelmed there. I honestly felt just rushed through the whole affair and I really hate when people tell me that something doesn't hurt after I tell them it does. Pap smears HURT for me. No, I have no clue why. Yes, ma'am, the brush is soft like a baby toothbrush. If I say it hurts, it hurts.

After that, I was supposed to hear back about the results of all the tests she made me get, including a blood test. I even called them (I have serious phone anxiety, I don't do that often or well). No reply. So, I figured I had an appointment at the same facility to see a Personal Physician, maybe I'd hear something then.

I feel like this whole appointment devolved into "what can go wrong?"

--They didn't get my ethnicity right on the paperwork. In fact, they didn't bother to ask. They just put me down as white (I am so not white).

--The doctor shot down any of the research I'd done on possible tests and conditions, saying he didn't put any creedence in patients doing their own study. Uh, excuse me?

--The doctor then proceeded to feel my neck for a goiter. He was squeezing the wrong place. When the guy who went to medical school can't find a major gland, there is an issue.

--He told me I wasn't hypothyroid, just fat. When I pointed out what I eat in a day, he told me I needed to be counting calories. What.

--He told me the only test that came back badly from the gyno visit was my iron and that I was just anemic, without seeming to care why.

--The final blow was the fact that he kept laughing when he replied to anything I said. He genuinely sounded like he thought I was a total idiot or a hypochondriac.

I don't care how stupid you think a patient is, none of this is professional or acceptable.

Next appointment is next week. I think it goes without saying that I am not seeing anyone at this facility.

State of the GimpyGeekyGirl

Well, first of all, I'm not dead. Frequently wish I was, but still breathing and mobile. The move to Baltimore has shaken me up far more than expected, largely due to the fact that the move was forced a week ahead of schedule. The apartment management decided to kick us out way ahead of our November 15th intended move out date. I'm still jobless in a new city and don't usually have the spoons to do more than lie in bed and watch YouTube (no money to reopen our Netflix, which makes me a very sad geek). Granted, we now have DVR, but that's no substitute when I want to see something that no channels in the area are showing.

Second, I have had my very first overnight stay in a hospital. It was a pleasant hospital, though I'd rather not have been there, I had a solo room and the doctors actually gave a damn (New Adventures in ACA, next post). I had to get a blood transfusion, which didn't help my energy levels, but at least it kept me alive. We still don't have a definite answer for why I lost two pints of blood so fast I couldn't put it back, but they made sure I'd live long enough to see a doctor.

Oof.