So, today was the day for my allergist appointment to figure out what to do with my shots now that I've had a reaction. My allergist left Brampton and is now working out of Etobicoke (which is part of the GTA - Greater Toronto Area; I'm now realizing that all my lj friends are in the states and will have no idea of my geograpical references, anyhow). There is no direct bus/train for me to get to Etobicoke, so I have to go to downtown Toronto and hop on the subway for 30 minutes. The train to Toronto is only about 20 minutes, but it's still roughly an hour and a bit travelling with all the walking factored in as well. When I called to make my appointment I was told that Friday's she leaves at 1:30, but I couldn't make it in for then because of the train schedule, so she made it for 3:30.
Backtracking a bit to when I first started seeing my allergist. In August I had a month long asthma attack, every day coughing madly and taking Ventolin. My doctor had prescribed Singulair, but it wasn't working. I was on allergy shots that were a combination of every single allergy I had for about a year which were seemingly doing nothing. I was on prescription Reactine, and it was working, just not enough. By the end of August I was beginning to throw up after attacks and went to a hospital where some under-30 doctor told me I had whooping cough and was endangering the life of all the children in the daycare I worked at. (I've had asthma since I was little, but he, of course, was the bigger expert). I was then referred to this allergist by my cousin, she put me on Prednisone for a month, which caused many, many problems, but dealt with the asthma. She was the first person that understood every feeling I had with an reaction. That knew what the scratching in the back of my throat was and what it was like to feel like you just needed to force it out from there. So I really liked her, she was kinda flighty but she was looking after me. She had given me her cell and home numbers in case of emergencies, and was discussing with me a lot of the problems she was having with the staff at the clinic she worked at. Around December, the effects of the Prednisone had worn off and I was doing ok, my toddler placement had made me a bit sick and I was worried about the asthma kicking in, so she had me do some blood work. Before I could have results read, I found out she was no longer at that clinic, she asked me to call the place to make sure her new number was being given out, she left long crazy messages on our house phone. When I finally got an appointment with her in January in her Etobicoke place, she did not have the results of my blood work and had to call three places to see if they had it. Now back to last week ...
After having the reaction I called to make an appointment. She has always been quick to fit me in and talk to me about anything. She knows of my travelling issues, so she was accommodating. I arrived at 2:45, 45 minutes early for my appointment, but that's the only time I could get there, so I sat and waited. The receptionist got a call from her at 3, and told her I was there. The receptionist then told me that my allergist would try to make it there for 3:30 (TRY), which was the time she made for my appointment. 3:30 and she's not there, by this point my father has left from his office and has arrived to pick me up when I'm finished my appointment. 4:00 and she still hasn't shown, so I'm tired of waiting and feel bad for making my dad wait, so I decide to leave. I tell the receptionist, in a bitchy tone, that I've been waiting for half an hour and she hasn't shown, so I'm leaving. She asked me to wait while she called her, and I said I had waited long enough and I was leaving now.
I get home and get a call around 4:45 from the allergist. No apology, not even an apologetic tone. She asks me what the fax number is for my work so she can fax me the results from my blood tests. I ask her what she is talking about. She tells me that we had discussed her faxing the results to my work. I told her we never discussed that as I don't have a job, I'm just a student (as I have been since I started seeing her). She then says that she had said she was just going to mail it to me, but that my doctor had the results. I said it didn't matter then if my doctor has the results, then I don't need them. She then told me that there are allergists in Brampton or Mississauga that I could be referred to if I called back and talked to her receptionist. I was confused and said I would be okay without them. She then told me "Best of luck" and hung up, without an apology or discussing the reason for my appointment.
So I called the office back and the receptionist told me she wasn't there. I told her she had just called me and I would like to speak to her because she missed our appointment and I wanted to discuss the reaction I had to my shots. I was then put on hold. The receptionist said that all she could do is take down my concerns and refer them to the allergist, I told her that I just wanted to speak to the allergist. I can now hear the receptionist and allergist talking to each other with the allergist saying she doesn't want to talk to me and to just take down my concerns. The receptionist comes back to me and says that the allergist is with a patient and cannot speak to me. I call her a liar and tell her to learn how to work the hold button, and that the allergist is running a very unprofessional practice. After a long back and forth, I finally hung up.
My mother called and got the same run around. "The allergist is not here, she saw her patients and left".
What kind of bull shit practice is this. I'm considering finding out what steps to take about reporting to the medical board, but I will definitely be telling my doctor and seeing what I can do to spread the word about this woman. I'm beyond pissed at this bitch.
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