Stroger
Tuesday, I had an appointment to meet my new neurologist. The meeting took place at what was once called Cook County Hospital.
The hospital has been renamed John Stroger Hospital. John was a long time President of the Cook County Board. A few years ago he suffered a stroke. It occurred while he was running for election. His camp was not giving out information about his condition or how bad his stroke was...and it was a bad one. As we got closer to the election, he bowed out and was replaced on the ballot by his son, Todd.
Todd won the election and became the new board President. He ran it into the ground with his incompetancy.
The hospital is appropriately named.
My appointment was for 1 pm. They asked me to be there at noon to fill out new patient paperwork. The receptionist made copies of my driver's license and insurance card. She said have a seat. I asked about the paperwork. She said we just did it. F*%K!!!
I looked around the room and noticed about 50 people sitting and waiting. I asked about them. They all had appointments, too. She said to plan on being there a few hours. F*%K!!
Surprisingly, they called my name in less than a half hour. I went back to meet my new neurologist. This is a teaching hospital so who I actually met was a resident learning about neurology. Welcome to Gray's Anatomy. I liked her.
She asked questions. I told her my problems. She put me through a series of tests. After about an hour, she went to consult with the senior neurologist. So far so good.
They came back together. He read her notes. Then he asked me the same questions. I told him about the problems. He did the same tests. A little redundant but thorough.
" Mr. Moore, we need to run an MRI on your brain." F*%K!!
"Go see the nurse outside. She'll help you set up the MRI and the follow-up."
She said I'd get a call with the MRI date/time in about a week. Then she gave me the appointment date....December 4th. I lost it right big time. I pretty sure I said to her " YOU CAN NOT BE FUCKING SERIOUS!!!" I had turned into John McEnroe. The sad thing is I believe she hears it a lot.
Apparently it worked. My follow-up is basically a walk-in a few days after the MRI....whenever that is.
It may mean waiting three hours but it's better than waiting three months.
So what did we learn?
a.) Health-wise....nothing that I didn't know before I got there.
b.) Personnel-wise...I liked the neurologist. He was open to my questions. Calming, reassuring. I did like his pupil better but it's doubtful I'll ever see her again.
c.) Facility-wise....They should take the name off the building and call it St. Elsewhere. I swear I saw Howie Mandell and Ed Begley Jr. roaming the hallways.
Back for more in October....F*%K!!!