My next period arrives - so I can start the Clomid tablets and go for a blood test for my hormone level check. I am then also given a number to call so I can book to check that my fallopian tubes aren't blocked.
I make the phone call: no one answers.
I try multiple times: each time no one answers.
I call in the car on the way home from work ... and someone FINALLY answers, however they do NOT have my name on their system yet so I cannot make an appointment. Frustrated, I begin to wonder "Why tell me I can book? When I can't. Why give me the number to call?"
Next day I attend the hospital again for another blood test. But this time I take the opportunity to ask about booking for the fallopian tube scan. They don't know anything about the booking. I show them my letter and the receptionist suggests I give them another try. I call again whilst sat in the waiting room and get the same response. I walk straight to the reception desk, pass my phone over to one of receptionists and ask them to speak to the woman on the other end of the phone, before I get really angry. When I get my phone back, the receptionist tells me they need a gynaecologist to request a test on my behalf before I can book it. I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT HAD ALREADY HAPPENED.
I sit back down in the waiting room, then get called in for my blood test. I ask the nurse if she knows anything about the booking the test. She doesn't - but said she would find out from a gynaecologist, when they arrive at the department, as they don't start before 8:30am and it is currently around 8:15am. She asks me to sit back down in the waiting area.
I overhear voices in the distance, hear my name being banded about a couple of times and then the nurse comes back into the waiting area. She says that a gynaecologist has requested a test for me and that I should call again to book an appointment. For the third time that morning, I call the same number and get the same response - they do not have my name on file. I ask them to check, as I am currently in another department of the hospital and have been told different.
They still refuse!
I calmly sit back down and tell the gynaecology department staff that I'm not moving until I speak to someone higher up.
I am asked to go downstairs as a gynaecologist who has an office on the ground floor wants to help me out. Following the directions given to me, I head downstairs and ask for the lady's name I was given. She currently with another patient, so I'm asked to take a seat in another waiting room.
Within five minutes, she comes in, checks my name and asks how she can help. Instantly I feel her genuine concern for my wellbeing and I break down in tears. I tell her everything. She tells me not to worry. She tells me she will sort it. She tells me her office phone number so I can call her if I have any more issues. She tells me she has spoken to the other department and they can take my booking after 12:30pm that day. She wishes me well on my journey to parenthood.
I drive back to work and make plans to call again at lunchtime. That never happens as they call me at break-time (around 11am) and they tell me my appointment has been made for 27th December 2018.
I feel they realised a mistake had been made and they did everything they could by making the appointment on my behalf, within the time frame required for the test I needed to book for.
My sit-in protest worked. But I shouldn't have needed to do it!
Comments