Hey Everybody,
It’s been a while since we’ve had a Personal Post on here, but something happened to me this past Monday that I really wanted to discuss. I’m wondering if the diabetic community will think I overreacted, or if I was justifiably angry at what happened.
On Monday I had my 6 month endo-appointment. In fact, I had every appointment under the sun ( regular doctor, dentist, and endocrinologist) because I like to get them done all in one shot.
Anyhow, this time I wasn’t seeing my normal doctor. She now teaches full-time at a nearby college, and only works in the hospital one day a week. Being that I now live in Manhattan, and getting time to head to Upstate New York is becoming more and more difficult, I just scheduled an appointment with one of the other professionals on her team, who works in the adjacent building.
So, new endo, new medical assistants. Yippee.
I got there at two. After waiting a few minutes, a man in his early 30?s called me into the office. We did the usual: step on the scale ( 200 pounds? Time to invest in a gym membership…), measure your height ( a statuesque 6’1”), and then he sat me in a chair to take my blood pressure. He wrapped my arm up, and set the machine to start contracting.
Then he immediately grabbed my hand, stabbed my fingers, and started squeezing the blood out.
I snapped. “What are you doing?!”
“I’m just getting your A1C. You’ve done this before.”
“Yeah, I have.” I stared at him. “But I’m not some little kid you need to sneak up on–just tell me what you need, and I’ll give it to you.”
“Touchy,” he said, ” I’ll ask you next time.”
I was pissed. I’m 22 years old. I’ve had diabetes for a decade. Don’t sneakily grab my hand, prick it, and forcibly squeeze out the blood. It’s rude and insulting, and I didn’t get the point. Did he think he could do it better than me, despite the fact I’ve been testing for 10 years?
Needless to say, that set the tone for the rest of the visit, with the doctor second guessing everything I was doing to take care of myself ( despite the fact that my A1C was 6.0). I walked away from the appointment with steam coming out of my ears. I’ve been thinking about it for the past few days, and now I want to put it to the community.
So…did I overreact? Have you ever dealt with something like that before? Was it rude or was he just doing his job?
Let me know what you think in the comments below, or on facebook.
Until Next Time
–Nick
