I looked back at yesterday and realised that I let a silly thing become a massive thing, when you think about it I was having a "Grade A Kiddies Tantrum". I didn't get exactly what I wanted when I wanted it, as a result I lost control of my emotions and had a bit of a mini melt down.
Now I know its easy enough to condone the behaviour of yesterday, after all Ive got cancer, I must be beside myself, I must be frightened and I have a right to be angry when people don't do as they promise. To some degree all of those points have some merit but lets be honest they are all just excuses, yes I have cancer, yes I'm scared but do I need to loose control, did it help, did I get what I needed by loosing the plot? Of course not, what I needed to do was take a deep breath, take control of my emotions and look clearly at the situation and do something about it, it reminds me of the serenity statement,
I want to live up to it.
the serenity to accept what I cannot change;
the courage to change what I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Such a simple statement, so difficult to live up to, but try to I will.
Thursday is a busy day at Clearshield, its the day we pay our bills and wages therefore the day started off flat out which left me little time to worry about appointments. Marlene had called me earlier in the morning to let me know she would speak to her workmate who had strong connections with SCGH Haematology.
Around 1pm I got an urgent phone call from Marlene whilst I was on another call, when I finished the call I checked the message and she told me to ring her urgently. I immediately rang Marls, she told me I had to act quickly, it turns out my file ended up with Dr X who had decided to triage my file for 2 weeks. Marls knew I wanted Dr Y, she said her workmate found out Dr Y had an opening next week but I needed to get my GP to resend the referral specifically with Dr Y's name on the referral, she stressed this had to happen immediately I only had about an hour or less to get the info back to SCGH or I would miss out.
I rang my GP's surgery and got the receptionist, I explained the situation to her and she responded, "I will let the doctor know". I responded "NO please let me explain again, this is urgent I need this done now, I nee", she cut me off mid sentence saying "yes Mr Erren I will explain this to the Dr".
OK at this point I was annoyed, clearly I was not being listened too, this woman did not in the slightest way get the urgency I was trying to express and she would only do the rote behaviour. She will, as she always does, tell the patient that she would look into it, then in her own time eventually get to it.
This is how the conversation ended
"LOOK, please give me the respect of allowing me to complete a sentence, you WILL NOT fob this off, I have been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and I have an opportunity to get in front of the Head Specialist, the Dr I want to take care of me, you will act RIGHT NOW, not later! no you will not say to me Ill tell the doctor! and certainly you will not say you will look into it!"
"Now you have the referral from last Tuesday please find it and ask the Doctor to simply write attention Dr Y on the front and resend it. The receptionist at SCGH is standing by the Fax waiting for my sister to call, I'm sorry if this sounds harsh but this is my life I'm talking about please help me"
To her wonderful credit, she got it, she got the urgency she felt my need, "John, I will do it right now and I will call you back when its done, give me 10 minutes". I thanked her sincerely and hung up. Ten minutes later the phone rang, "John, its XYZ at the surgery, the referral is going through right now". I thanked her hung up and rang Marls, "its on their fax now".
Later that afternoon Theresa rang me saying she had received a response from Dr Y who said he would be more than happy to take care of me, all I had to do was get the file onto his desk. I explained to Theresa what had transpired earlier with Marlene and that Dr Y should by now have my file, Theresa was happy with that and so was I.
A few hours later, I had a call from SCGH Haematolgy Clinic, "Mr Erren, can you be here on Wednesday 9th May at 9:15?
Yes....... Yes I can
Around 1pm I got an urgent phone call from Marlene whilst I was on another call, when I finished the call I checked the message and she told me to ring her urgently. I immediately rang Marls, she told me I had to act quickly, it turns out my file ended up with Dr X who had decided to triage my file for 2 weeks. Marls knew I wanted Dr Y, she said her workmate found out Dr Y had an opening next week but I needed to get my GP to resend the referral specifically with Dr Y's name on the referral, she stressed this had to happen immediately I only had about an hour or less to get the info back to SCGH or I would miss out.
I rang my GP's surgery and got the receptionist, I explained the situation to her and she responded, "I will let the doctor know". I responded "NO please let me explain again, this is urgent I need this done now, I nee", she cut me off mid sentence saying "yes Mr Erren I will explain this to the Dr".
OK at this point I was annoyed, clearly I was not being listened too, this woman did not in the slightest way get the urgency I was trying to express and she would only do the rote behaviour. She will, as she always does, tell the patient that she would look into it, then in her own time eventually get to it.
This is how the conversation ended
"LOOK, please give me the respect of allowing me to complete a sentence, you WILL NOT fob this off, I have been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and I have an opportunity to get in front of the Head Specialist, the Dr I want to take care of me, you will act RIGHT NOW, not later! no you will not say to me Ill tell the doctor! and certainly you will not say you will look into it!"
"Now you have the referral from last Tuesday please find it and ask the Doctor to simply write attention Dr Y on the front and resend it. The receptionist at SCGH is standing by the Fax waiting for my sister to call, I'm sorry if this sounds harsh but this is my life I'm talking about please help me"
To her wonderful credit, she got it, she got the urgency she felt my need, "John, I will do it right now and I will call you back when its done, give me 10 minutes". I thanked her sincerely and hung up. Ten minutes later the phone rang, "John, its XYZ at the surgery, the referral is going through right now". I thanked her hung up and rang Marls, "its on their fax now".
Later that afternoon Theresa rang me saying she had received a response from Dr Y who said he would be more than happy to take care of me, all I had to do was get the file onto his desk. I explained to Theresa what had transpired earlier with Marlene and that Dr Y should by now have my file, Theresa was happy with that and so was I.
A few hours later, I had a call from SCGH Haematolgy Clinic, "Mr Erren, can you be here on Wednesday 9th May at 9:15?
Yes....... Yes I can
Waiting for more with baited breath. At Barn Hill in Broome with fleeting internet coverage, but we are both with you in spirit - fighting your fight. Be strong and keep us all posted. Lots of love, Aunty Nola & Uncle Fong.
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