A Kaiser Permenente Story - DIY Healthcare

One of the greatest disappointments of moving to the west coast is the health care - say what you want about WV - the one thing I appreciated were my doctors and how great they were. If there was any problem they called me immediately, followed by an appointment and anything else I needed - they were firm believers in preventative healthcare.  My first appointment out here was for a routine check up and to establish care - it took a couple of weeks to get an appointment, but that's everywhere, isn't it? I arrived on time, the nurse came out to get me and said we've been trying to call you - I had not gotten any calls. I asked if they were going to ask for any medical history but got blown off. They had a wrong number that I hadn't given them and that was somehow my fault. Then the PCP came in and told me he didn't take patients. Ok.......We discussed my ongoing issues with my weight - until I hit my mid-50's I was fine, an occasional weight gain but nothing like this. I gained about 60 pounds and nothing I did took it off.  The MD proceeded to order an A1C and told me some wierd meandering story about a chef that liked her own cooking(???) . The A1C came back in the pre-diabetic range - after I read the result myself (no, they don't call you for out of range results)I spoke to a nurse who told me they didn't do anything until I was in the diabetic range. When I told her how worried I was because my family has a history - she told me she didn't believe in that stuff.  Yup.

I joined NOOM, started exercising again, stopped eating bread, high carb, sugar, I did lose 30 pounds - and then stalled. I increased my calories, decreased, stopped exercising, exercised more, intermittent fasting.....nothing. I finally dropped my NOOM coach as her solution was to try and convince me I should focus on NSV (non-scale victories) which I responed that my new victory was high blood pressure and it was NOT ok for me to be overweight given my new health issues . The problem with the NOOM coaches are if you don't fit into thier scripted responses they don't know what to do with you. But in the meantime I was attacked by a raccoon sustaining over a dozen punctures and a lot of soft tissue damage. The ER at Peacehealth Hospital was great -  the follow up at the Kaiser clinic - jesus fucking christ is all I have to say. For the follow up (you have to have a series of injections) the scheduler tried to give me a video visit. At the end of the month. For an injection. Tried to schedule me to discuss it with my provider - the day I needed the injection. Then called me difficult. I had to contact the MD at the ER who got it straightened out .At the first appointment I was there for over two hours - for a shot. The second one I showed up at the correct time- and sat for an hour before going up to the desk to be told that I did have an appointment but they forgot to schedule it with someone. REALLY??

I am still not losing weight so I made a video appointment with my (3rd) new PCP, the turnover is so high I never even met PCP #2 - she started asking questions  but I pointed out so far no one has ever taken my medical history - I've never been asked about past surgeries, diagnosis, my family history - anything in my records are things I've mentioned during visits. So she asked a few questions about my family history and that was that. I told her I had never heard of any medical practice that did no preventative healthcare and I thought it was poor practice to wait until someone became a diabetic before acting on it. She ordered another A1C and it is back down in the normal range - she also signed me up with a health coach. I called and basically was told they can't do anything for me, but make an appointment to speak to another one- who by the way cannot talk to you for another 3 weeks. The PCP reminded me I needed a mammogram which I REALLY had to bite my lip not to ask if I would have to do my own surgery.  And once again I was never called about my lab results, there is no follow up at all, the whole thing is discouraging. But I did email her and will be following up next week - welcome to DIY Healthcare!