Meaningless system, part three

Yes, another follow up, exactly one week after the previous. Neurologist wanted a MRI scan, and when I left last Monday, the nurse told me they will inform me of the MRI date once they have made the booking.

Well, they told me the date for the MRI scan alright, as they called me 11:30 hours today to inform me the MRI is at 14:00 hours today. Yes, a 2.5 hours notice before the appointment. What a "fantastic" system that is.

The nurse said they sent me SMS last Friday, which strangely I did not received. Let's just give them the benefit of doubt.

Good thing there wasn't any critical meeting this afternoon, so I scrambled to inform manager that I needed the second half off. After a not so leisure, somewhat rushed lunch, wifey dropped me off at the hospital. By the time I finished the self registration and reached the appropriate part of the hospital, it's 14:02 hours.

The next serving of the "fantastic" system was when the nurse at the MRI place told me the MRI scan was booked for 15:30 hours. When I told her the nurse who called me earlier said it's 14:00 hours, she asked me to wait and got on the phone to that nurse.

After their conversation, the nurse at MRI told me nope, the MRI booking was at 15:30 hours, asked if I had lunch, hinting me to go do something else and come back later. I told her I already had lunch, didn't said it's somewhat rushed because I wanted to arrive by 14:00 hours, and told her I would just wait there. She said if any of the prior bookings freed up, they would slot me in. I thanked her and found a corner and took out my novel.

15:30 hours appointment but asked me to be there by 14:00 hours, wasting 1.5 hours of my time. Such "fantastic" system!

Not sure if someone really cancelled his or her appointment, or the unfortunate person just got his or her time slot given to me and made to wait (common theme in the "fantastic" system), but they got me on the 15:00 hours slot. One hour after the fake MRI time slot but 30 minutes before the real MRI time slot.

First MRI scan in my life. It's loud, noisy and uncomfortable. I tried my best to stay absolutely still for the entire 20+ minutes. I think I did okay, since the neurologist showed some pretty sharp cut-plane images of my brain when I eventually saw him later in the day.

I moved from the MRI place to the neurologist place and sorted out yet another registration by 15:29 hours. Then another time wasting wait commenced. Honestly I thought of bringing another novel with me before I left home, seeing that I am close to finishing the novel I am currently reading, but I didn't, naively thinking they can't always be that bad.

Well, unfortunately, they sure can. I checked the screen after the 15:29 hours registration, it showed no number in the queue to see the neurologist. So I had to be next, right? I asked, twice, to two different nurses, once at registration, and the other when they called me for blood pressure and weight measurement about 15 minutes after registration, whether the neurologist was already in, and both of them confirmed that he already was.

Fine, I figured the neurologist must be waiting for the MRI scan results. Must be some really gigantic file size coupled with slow computer and slow network connection, that sort of thing. I guess not all institution has the computing and network resource that can transfer 100GB file across the globe in 15 minutes, which I think is already not fast enough with technology nowadays. So ya, must be that.

I finally get to see the neurologist at 16:52 hours, which is strangely similar to the 1.5 hours 'waste of my life' time period earlier in the day. Makes me wonder if the "fantastic" system has this 1.5 hours buffer to the actual appointment time? Hmm...

Anyway, done with the consultation in 4 minutes. The good news is that there's nothing wrong with my MRI scan results, thank goodness. The bad news is that the neurologist hasn't a clue regarding the cause of my headache, so he is referring me to the ophthalmologist next...

Not sure if I am being referred from one to another and undergoing different tests and diagnostics because I am claiming company's medical insurance, but goodness know I am glad I have that medical insurance. I really don't want to know the amount of the medical bill, and it's not even over yet.

I do know I am visiting the hospital on a weekly basis, next appointment is Friday next week, and every singe time my precious time is being wasted away.

Pfft!

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