Y'know… I'm starting to get really angry with our medical system.

The eye saga continues. As many of my friends know, I’ve had some eye issues lately. All with the right eye, with symptoms coming and going, and some of the issues have led me (with a great deal of prodding by me) to a Neurologist. I even had an MRI the other day…

On Tuesday night, a new issue arose with the same eye. I’m pretty good with dealing with pain, so I took out my contact lenses, and toughed out a fairly sleepless night. By Wednesday, I could barely keep my eye open, and the pain seemed to be pulsing from the back of the eye socket. Every once in a while at work it would get so bad, that (involuntary) tears would be streaming down my face. I probably shouldn’t have been working, but I have a ton to do right now.

This morning, I called into to work to let Shawn know I’d be late. I experienced yet another sleepless night, and now my eye was completely red and throbbing non-stop. Because of our Canadian medical system, I had to go to my walk-in clinic (because it’s impossible to get a regular doc these days, especially downtown) and I saw a new guy… Who knows how long he’d been practicing, but the only good thing he did was put in numbing drops. The pain finally subsided. For a while.

I clearly asked him two times for a referral to an opthalmologist, to which he replied both times, “Let’s see how prescription eye drops will work over the next 24 hours. Come back and see me in the morning.” HUH? I’ve already been using over-the-counter antibiotic drops for the past 2 days with absolutely no effect, so I’m quite sure the prescription isn’t going to do much good. I knew it wasn’t conjunctivitis, as I’d had that plenty of times growing up, and even fairly recently. This was completely different.

I finally got to work, and shared my experience with Shawn, who said… “Um, get a referral, right now.” Apparently, he’d had a very similar situation 10 years ago, where they (‘they’) diagnosed him 5 times over a week with pink-eye. He almost lost his vision, as it turned out to be “iritis” — A very serious condition with symptoms very similar to my recent ones. He gave me the name of the ophthalmologist he’d seen back then, and I called to see if I could get in.

Of course, they said, not without a referral. My doctor had to call it in.

ARGHHH! So, I called my doctor’s office — And my doctor called me back. Guess what he said over and over again? “Come in and see me in the morning, and we’ll see how the prescription worked.” — How about NO! How about, you just refer me to the damned doctor who has the tools to figure out what the hell is wrong with my eye, instead of poking around a very sore area for 20 minutes with no answers? Why is it so damned difficult to get a referral?

I refused. I said… “No. I’m not coming back in. You weren’t able to give me any answers today, and tomorrow isn’t going to be any different. What I expect is that you will give me the very best care possible, and call the ophalmologist who is currently holding the ONLY appointment available for an emergency tomorrow? How about you do that now, please.”

He tried again!! I said… “I’m not going to argue with you. Please do as I ask.”

Finally, he capitulated.

Seriously? How difficult can it be to pick up the damn phone and get me the help I obviously need? Is his ego that big that he can’t admit that he doesn’t have the tools or expertise to treat me? It’s an eye, guy. You aren’t a specialist with eyes. Just do your job.

Crap. Maybe it’s the constant pain talking… But, color me REALLY PISSED.