Its bad when you miss Army Docs!

You know that things are bad when you start to miss Army doctors. Maybe its because of where we were stationed or because of George's rank (and the fact that if he pulled you aside to talk to you, it wasn't good), but we've always had good experiences with Army medical personnel. Now, I miss them more ...

When I first got here my primary care manager (PCM) was recommended by other military families though my experiences with her were not so favorable and for the past 18 months I sat on my hands when people recommended her to incoming families.

I’ve visited her office 5 times and each time I have not been seen less than an hour AFTER my appointment time, in some cases it was nearly 2 hours past the appointment time.

As many military families, I do not have family in the area to watch my 14-month-old and either have to take him with me, have hubby take off from work or pay a babysitter. The appointments run so far behind that either it runs into a meeting for my husband or costs me dearly for the babysitter or our only sitter isn’t available, so there are times I have to take him. Today though, was insane.

I arrived 15 minutes early for my 11 a.m. appointment and wasn’t called to the back until 11:40 a.m. in the meantime the baby is getting anxious as it neared naptime and he had finished off his juice cup and naptime bottle. He started to get fussy, wanted to get down, and was unable to fall asleep with all the activity in the small waiting room. Finally when they called us back and placed us in the small room, I thought we were going to be out of there soon, but as the baby’s tantrum at being unable to nap escalated so did the time we waited.

At one point, the PCM/Dr. came into the room because she thought the baby had fallen and hurt himself he was so loud. When she realized he was ok, she left again, this time leaving the door open where others started to gather and watch me struggle with him. Boy, was that a “world’s greatest mom” feeling.

We waited about 10 more minutes until I’d run out of juice, water, milk, cheerios and all other snack options. I packed him and all the toys/items I’d pulled out of his bag and my purse to entertain him and walked out the room.

“I think I’ll have reschedule,” I said.

“I thinks that’s for the best,” a staff member replied as I struggled down the hallway.

So I held my tongue (which is a feat for me and I think I deserve a medal!) and left the office. The kicker is ... I was just there to get the results from my “well woman” exam ... something that up to this point had always been mailed to me unless there was an issue ... and of course an updated birth control prescription which after the 45 minute tantrum is now my best friend. Now my prescription will run out (well it already has) and I get to do the whole thing over again.

At this point I’m willing to overlook any non-emergency and life-threatening issues until after we PCS at the end of the year.


Now, I have to go call for a new appt- wish me luck!

Until our next cup of tea ...



Michelle Lindsey
112th SigDet