I'm Not Crazy, Am I?

I've been thinking about gaslighting lately.

From Wikipedia:

"Gaslighting is a form of mental abuse in which false information is presented with the intent of making a victim doubt his or her own memory, perception and sanity.^[1] Instances may range simply from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred, up to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim."

And that's pretty much how I experience the US medical system.

I tried to make an appointment in the other hospital system and couldn't get anywhere. That was round two of trying and failing, although this time, I'm just trying to get into primary care not a GI clinic.

My birth control pill was obsolesced, it took a week to get a new one. I followed up twice, the pharmacist followed up twice and who knows what the OB's office was doing. I know one thing they weren't doing...their job.

I calculate that the lead up to the ERCP itself had a failure rate of 67% across three main events when it came to answering the phone, making appointments or returning phone calls.

Tell me again how amazing the United States health care system is, maybe I'll believe it this time. At the moment I'm feeling like it should be a crime to fail to make an appointment for a patient or return a call after a procedure with such a high complication rate.

As for talking to the doc who did the ERCP:

1.I never had pancreatitis. A statement that kind of threw my GI doc under the bus. I wonder how they feel about that.

2. I can take Advil. There was no reason for me to listen to the discharge instructions (even though they were all I had to go on, plus how was I supposed to know?)

3.It's just surgical gas pain that is:

-point specific
-worse with food
-relieved somewhat by position
-and lasts for days (and counting).

Uh-huh. Okay. Steps slowly away from the crazy doctor. Their weird gas pain bias will come back to bite them on the ass. I hope it is someday soon.

I don't know how to stop the madness other than to refuse to have surgery for the hernia. I can't face this again in the near future. It's too much.