The end of this week I have an appointment with the cardiologist. I’m on some kind of scheduled check-in list though that changes based on reports sent in by my doctor which changes based on my doctor being in town. None of this really works but apparently the doctors haven’t been told and they still see the system as just swell. And anyway, it’s the way it is and I’ve learned to “manage” in a medical system unaware of its mistakes and delusional beliefs.
I say “manage” in quotations because the truth is there’s no particular intentional system in play to remain alive–it’s just a matter of not dying long enough to be noticed by someone who knows what to do about it. So far, it has worked out. There’s probably an argument for expecting more from a hugely expensive and exotic health care system but dead / not dead is what’s available here.
Funny, I asked a nurse calling me to request I have my 3 month blood test for cancer markers her call was considered “care” and she said “yes” plus it was proof of their “watching over” me. Suppose that is a semi-accurate indication of care? They don’t call the patient if no markers are found so I asked how I would be able to distinguish between missing a phone call and not getting a phone call? It seems this is something that doesn’t happen. Did find out later that blood tests done at my hospital and faxed to their lab 300 KM away is known in the industry as an “unattended clinic” allowing the request by phone or mail to be declared “patient contact” even though I saw no one. Magic? Yes.
Have been reading about Complex Project Management searching for a clue to the notion that my doctors have that they are “providers of health care”. Are they crazy, or is it me? (That’s the first condition that needs to be resolved in the study of organizational weirdness and it does MATTER. So I’ll have to get back to you on this).