The Venting Thread

[mamselle]

You are welcome to vent here!

There is also a quiet room for peaceful rest:

      https://thefora.org/index.php?topic=1878.0

And there are some ranting threads, some topic-specific threads, and some veering-off-the-topic-at-every-turn threads.

We have a very textured, thread-rich environment here...

Glad you can be a part of it.

M.

[Puget]

I can't find my leather bomber jacket.

I've had a pair of shorts and good t'shirt go similarly missing. I hope I find them soon...

We must be nearing The End of Days... The Vortex is widening!  It used to just suck up socks, but now shorts, shirts, and a bomber jacket!!

The Horsemen of the Apocalypse Will look cool in bomber jackets!!

Today might be a good day for binge watching the excellent adaptation of Good Omens (on Prime video).

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I can't find my leather bomber jacket.

I've had a pair of shorts and good t'shirt go similarly missing. I hope I find them soon...

We must be nearing The End of Days... The Vortex is widening!  It used to just suck up socks, but now shorts, shirts, and a bomber jacket!!

The Horsemen of the Apocalypse Will look cool in bomber jackets!!

Today might be a good day for binge watching the excellent adaptation of Good Omens (on Prime video).

That was a great show! Loved it.

[AvidReader]

To add to my other numerous life frustrations (interthreaduality: the wall), tomorrow is my school's deadline for choosing 2021 health care. Given my "renewable" but one-year contract, spouse and I have been weighing the merits of various plans since open enrollment opened, and are planning to make a decision after spouse arrives home tonight (the last chance).

Benefits emailed to let me know the deadline when the open enrollment opened, then emailed me twice a week to remind me of this week's deadline for the entire month of October.

In November, the emails picked up pace, and yesterday they even phoned our mobile telephone to make sure I was aware of the deadline. They did not, ironically, call my office telephone.

The deadline has not passed. I have not missed the deadline. Yet, every workday in November, I have received a reminder email about a deadline OF WHICH I AM ALREADY AWARE. To reiterate: the deadline has not passed, and I have not missed the deadline. It has not changed, despite the numerous updates. The deadline is clear.

This morning, or last night, after posting on the "wall" thread, I finally emailed the Benefits office to acknowledge that I knew the deadline and was planning to meet it.

They finally emailed back:

"Dear M[x  Reader]*
I am sorry for the inconvenience . . ." [and then the rest is visibly--i.e. with a faint grey background--copied and pasted from a template explaining that the email is sent daily to anyone who has not yet submitted the required paperwork]."

*I am not Mr. or Mrs., but Dr.

Why is it necessary to send me DAILY reminders about a deadline that has not yet passed? Anyone who is ignoring these obsessive emails is going to ignore them after the deadline passes also.

AR

[arcturus]

Dear Professor Dr. AR - While I understand the annoyance of multiple emails, I was one who almost missed the deadline for re-enrollment at my institution. I knew it was usually due around mid-November. I saw the various emails as they came through, but I did not actually look at the exact date (in part because I was assuming they would send the normal printed book that highlighted the various plans). It was not until the email header said "open enrollment ends tomorrow" that I realized that "mid-November" was "early-November" this year, and that I would not be getting the printed document I was waiting for. So, while it sounds like your HR department has gone overboard, it may actually be required for some of your colleagues. Please be patient with us.

[smallcleanrat]

Asked a doc at the student health center about, swollen and painful lumps on parts of my tongue.

Doctor: "Lumps on your tongue? *guffaws* You mean tastebuds?!? Tastebuds are perfectly normal; everybody has them!"

*sigh*

First of all, did he not just hear me say the lumps were painful? Is that really normal for tastebuds? Have I just been enormously lucky until recently to have escaped this ever-present bane of the human condition?

Second, does he honestly think I went my entire life unaware of the existence of tastebuds?

Third, this has been an off-and-on problem so I had the opportunity to take pics of my tongue in its normal state to compare with its swollen-lump state. Those tastebuds are clearly larger than normal.

Dismissive doctors can be frustrating. Condescending doctors who literally laugh in your face can be outright infuriating.

[mamselle]

I get those very occasionally, usually just one or at most two at a time; it's like a whitehead that really does hurt. I also agree about dismissive doctors, especially those in school-related healthcare centers.

I explained to one that when I used to get bronchitis (because I had an unidentified latent tooth abcess that didn't hurt but was a regular little storehouse of germs), I needed, not amoxycilin, which never did a thing for me, but eurythromycin, which usually worked in 2 days.

Smile, laugh, nod, and--a script for amoxy. "We know better now, you don't need eurythro, this will do just fine." (turns out amoxy is less expensive...ahem).

A week later, after a couple of nights when I literally thought I might die, I was coughing so hard and couldn't get my breath (because it had by then started approaching pneumonia, I'm pretty sure)....I went back, saw a different MD, and got the script I needed.

"Oh, yeah, he's new, thinks he knows it all; I remember, you need eurythro, here's a script, sorry you had that problem."

The MDs in the uni health services and the docs-in-a-box can often be good but there should be a lemon law about the ones who are really not.

I found that a bit of baking soda toothpaste helped with the swollen taste bud-like thingys. It seemed like vinegar or some sour food might have caused it, so I reasoned that a basic like baking soda might oppose the acid, and it seemed to work.

I'd put a little bit on the sore spot, rinse, put some more on, etc.

I don't get them anymore, but that might be because I can't eat many acidic foods anymore, either. (Anchovies....sigh...)

Hope you find a workable solution. (Oh, sorry, no pun intended!!)

M.

[AvidReader]

So, while it sounds like your HR department has gone overboard, it may actually be required for some of your colleagues. Please be patient with us.

Arcturus, I am glad you made the deadline. I feel hugely better having vented, and this would not normally annoy me. In my defense, though, our email headers have all, including today (last day to the deadline), said things like "Reminder: Choose Health Insurance." A countdown, or "Ends tomorrow," would make much better sense.

On a related note, where has November gone? Oof.

AR.

[smallcleanrat]

Feeling close to physical collapse; not getting the meds I need makes problem-solving the dilemma of not getting the meds I need ridiculously difficult.

Pharmacist shrugs his shoulders saying doctor never sent in the prescription. Doctor shrugs his shoulders saying he did submit it (and can verify through the online system that he did). I have been ping-ponging back and forth verifying addresses and phone numbers on file are correct; extracting promises from each side to contact the other.

Pharmacist said he could not give me emergency doses to carry me through until the communications issue is resolved. Also could not give me any advice on what I might expect from suddenly not having a medication I've been taking daily for quite a while now. (Me: "There's really no info available on potential effects of sudden withdrawal?" Pharmacist: "I don't know. Tell your doctor to get the prescription order in.")

I may have to be physically in front of pharmacist next time I zoom with the doctor so they can communicate with each other in real time.

I understand healthcare professionals are often overburdened at the best of times, so running into snags is especially to be expected during a pandemic. But it's so demoralizing to be met with the "This isn't my problem" attitude at every turn when I'm feeling so sick and exhausted.

[mamselle]

I hear you.

I think I've already posted somewhere about the human shuttlecock I became when (yet another) Student Health doc wrote the wrong order for a chest x-ray (I'd broken a rib sneezing while bending down...don't ask...).

I had to go six blocks back and forth three times in the snow and ice one January day because the rad tech refused to center the cone over the place I was pointing to ---i.e., the place that hurt!--because in radiology lingo "chest x-ray" means "rule out a pneumothoracic problem" (usually lower down in the lobes) and "UPPER chest x-ray was the only order that would let them point the cone where I said it hurt.

Worst was, I knew this radiology group: I'd worked as a floor clerk at a local hospital before doing my grad work, and they were our service provider there, too--and were just as difficult.

I knew they'd probably say,, "no," but I asked anyway for a verbal (over-the-phone) order to save myself the painful legwork...of course they refused (and I knew from my hospital work that they could have taken one, but were just being cantankerous).

There are kind, excellent caregivers, and I've worked with some; there are also schmucks, and these guys, like the ones it sounds like you're dealing with, can only be placed in that category.

Keep at it, they owe you what they owe you, both in terms of patient care AND the proper mess.

M.

M.

[smallcleanrat]

I think I've already posted somewhere about the human shuttlecock I became when (yet another) Student Health doc wrote the wrong order for a chest x-ray (I'd broken a rib sneezing while bending down...don't ask...).

I had to go six blocks back and forth three times in the snow and ice one January day...

With a broken rib?!? Ugh...I'm sorry; that sounds awful.

[mamselle]

I think I've already posted somewhere about the human shuttlecock I became when (yet another) Student Health doc wrote the wrong order for a chest x-ray (I'd broken a rib sneezing while bending down...don't ask...).

I had to go six blocks back and forth three times in the snow and ice one January day...

With a broken rib?!? Ugh...I'm sorry; that sounds awful.

Yeah, thank you, it was. And they wouldn't let me leave my book bags at either place--didn't want to be responsible for them--so I had to schlep those, too.

M.

[Unseen Academical]

Feeling close to physical collapse; not getting the meds I need makes problem-solving the dilemma of not getting the meds I need ridiculously difficult.

Pharmacist said he could not give me emergency doses to carry me through until the communications issue is resolved. Also could not give me any advice on what I might expect from suddenly not having a medication I've been taking daily for quite a while now. (Me: "There's really no info available on potential effects of sudden withdrawal?" Pharmacist: "I don't know. Tell your doctor to get the prescription order in.")

The doc's office may have some samples available to tide you over until you sort this out with the pharmacy. Worth a call. Last time I had to deal with this for meds that could not be stopped the doc's office was able to provide a week's worth and that was enough time to get the prescription conundrum resolved.

[apl68]

I think I've already posted somewhere about the human shuttlecock I became when (yet another) Student Health doc wrote the wrong order for a chest x-ray (I'd broken a rib sneezing while bending down...don't ask...).

I had to go six blocks back and forth three times in the snow and ice one January day...

With a broken rib?!? Ugh...I'm sorry; that sounds awful.

When I had my accident last year the emergency room caught the broken shoulder, but missed TWO broken ribs, and a broken lung.  I spent the next couple of weeks wondering why the worst pain always seemed to be lower down, and waking up every half an hour at night gasping for breath.  They only found the missing internal injuries when I got pre-op X-rays for surgery to fix the shoulder.  I was in the hospital with an IV in my arm about to go into surgery when the radiologist called and said that they might shouldn't put this patient with a collapsed lung under anesthesia. 

Doctors and other medical staff are only human.  They make mistakes.  Potentially very dangerous mistakes, but human nonetheless.

[Harlow2]

Walking companions: Why, when we are walking and talking in places with plenty of room, why when we are discussing the need for social distancing do you move within 18 inches of me?