BLARNEY. (36w1d)

Yesterday morning I woke up to an exactly-at-nine-am phone call from Dr. So-and-So's office.

It took a minute to register, especially with all the sleep-cobwebs still stuck to my brain, because it wasn't my regular OB's office-- it was the endocrinologist who I haven't seen since early September.

"Hi, Julie? Dr. So-and-So is concerned because you haven't been sending her your blood sugar numbers, and she'd really like to see you this week in her office."

Dr. So-and-So (aka Dr. Feisty Irish Lady) was one of the doctors whose offices are in Kenmore Square, basically the heart of Boston right next to Fenway Park where there is no parking to be had, and it's a pain to get to even though I live fairly nearby. The day I saw her in the office was the same day I had to go see the MFM specialist three hours later, and I had to wait around with Husband and eat lunch in an exam room and then Husband left for school and my mom came to pick me up because I couldn't drive... basically a huge pain in the tuchas. I was in no mood to go back there in person, especially after the doctor seemed very upbeat about my blood sugar results and my food log and said it was fine for me to email her the numbers.

Well, I did email her the numbers... twice. The second time she said it was fine to just send a general range rather than all the individual numbers, to make it easier, so I did that. And then my numbers were all fine and I didn't bother to send them anymore, because I basically know what I'm doing now and I'm not terribly concerned about it.

So I said, "Come see her in the office? That's really tough for me. Honestly, I haven't sent the numbers because they've been fine and I've been seeing a million doctors and they've all been fine with the numbers, too. My nutritionist actually released me from her care because she said I don't need her to manage my blood sugar and diet."

The nurse, predictably, was not satisfied with this, despite the fact that my very-well-networked doctors' offices all put my information and a description of each appointment into my chart, so Dr. Fiesty Irish Lady could easily flip through my chart and see notes like "Julie reports that her blood sugar levels have been relatively manageable and aside from a few high readings that seem to be related to dietary choices, they have all been within range."

I told the nurse that I'm seeing my OB (well, an OB; mine's on vacation for a few weeks) on Thursday, and she said, "Oh! Then what you can do is take your blood sugar monitor with you, and after your appointment go to the third floor and find Dr. Goldman and ask him to download your results to his computer and then print them out and then you can fax them to us so the doctor can see them." And the nurse offered to run this by Dr. FIL and see if she approved this plan, like it really made a difference.

Sure. Fine. Whatever.

The nurse calls back half an hour later-- "okay, I talked to the doctor and she said, 'Okay, as long as I see those numbers reeaaaally soon!'" (because of course this is suddenly an extreme emergency on Monday morning, but it wasn't on Friday, or Thursday, or Wednesday, or for a whole frickin' month before that) "and so if you just go in to your doctor's office tomorrow--"

I interrupted-- "No, no, my appointment isn't Tuesday, it's Thursday."

A pause. "Oh... she's not going to like that."

She's not going to like that? Maybe I'm wrong, but the way I see it, the doctor works for me, not the other way around! I don't care if she "likes it" or not. I am very confident that it is not as important as she's making it sound that she immediately see my blood sugar results because I know they are within the range she wants them to be in, and I've told her this. If she wants me going out of my way to satisfy her with details, she can wait until I have a chance to do so on my schedule.

The nurse pipes up again, "Well, could you get in to your doctor's office today or tomorrow?"

"No... my doctor's office is half an hour from here and I can't drive myself."

"Oh, well, maybe you could go somewhere like to a Staples to fax the results to us?"

"Oh sure, there's a Staples in my basement that I don't have to drive to, let me get right on that for ya."

Okay, fine, I didn't actually say that. But seriously... the nurse was nice and all, but doesn't going out to anywhere besides where I am involve either driving (which I'd just said was a problem) or being 36 weeks pregnant and walking there or taking the bus (also not going to do)? Sheesh!

"Can't I just email the results like I did before?"

So it ends up like this-- I have to scroll through my meter and type out 30 days' worth of four-times-a-day blood sugar readings to email to the doctor. So I do, grumbling all the way, because by now I'm angry and fuming, "THIS IS BULLS#!T."

I get an email at 9:37pm last night from Dr. Fiesty Irish Lady-- "hey, the numbers look great, thanks!"

OH GEE THANKS.

*steam pours from ears*