My 16 year old daughter was scheduled for a Coposcopy, a procedure to see if you may have cervical cancer, on September 10 at 1130am with Lew-Ann Lenfest, Nurse Practitioner at Douglas Womens Center. My husband was all set to bring her to the appointment because I was completely swamped at work and unable to bring her myself; however, I received a call from him at 10:00am stating that his supervisor was bringing him to the ER for stitches in his hand from an accident at work and he is not able to bring her any longer. I made arrangements to run out of the office and get my daughter to the appointment; I work on the South of Atlanta and would have enough time to get there if I left right away. I would have considered rescheduling the appointment, however we had already had to reschedule once because of a scheduling conflict at work (Lew-Ann's nurse said the only time slots available were late morning, that does not work well for working parents) and the next appointment we scheduled she had her period, I called her nurse and she said we would have to reschedule because of that... So this was our third time around and I did not want to miss it again, my daughter is really worried about it and each time she gets upset at the thought of a procedure being done and an abnormal papsmear, so I could not do that to her again.
I took off for the appointment and called Douglas Womens Center at 11:23am stating that I was on my way but would likely be a few minutes late and explained my circumstance; the women on the phone stated that she would have to ask the nurse if she would be able to see us if we are late and put me on hold... When she returned she said we would have to be there by 11:35am... I told her I would do the best that I can and drove like a maniac to the appointment... Arriving at 11:38am... I dropped my daughter at the door and told her to RUN! She ran so fast her flip flop flew off and she ran thru your door with flip flop in hand desperate to be taken in for the appointment... By the time I got up there, a minute later after parking, I found my daughter with tears in her eyes stating we could not/would not be seen b/c Lew-Ann's nurse had come up a few minutes earlier stating it was too late. I explained again how sorry I was and my circumstances of being tardy and pleaded with them to let us be seen... I received ZERO compassion from ANY of the front office staff. I asked to see the nurse that had made the decision so I could explain the circumstances to her... She came out front and also had ZERO compassion for me and my daughter... Regardless of our circumstances. I was finally offered a 1:00pm time slot... I am unsure as to why I was never told about that time slot before, the only time I was ever told I could make an appointment was 1130am... But at this point I had lost my entire morning and driven 90 mph to get to my appointment and the cold hearted staff was standing there looking at me like they did not understand why I was so upset... They did not care about my morning, my daughters watery eyes and obvious disappointment... They cared about nothing at all. I went off... I lost it... And that is NOT who I am. I cussed at them as I left and asked God for forgiveness later... But even at my lowest low as I told the staff to go to Hell Lew-Ann's own personal nurse had the nerve to holler out to me from the front desk that she will see me there... Referring to seeing me in hell. So not only did I not receive an ounce of compassion or understanding from any of the staff but I also received ridicule from her nurse when I was obviously at my wits end, desperate and crying as I left with my daughter. I've never been so upset and frustrated as I was yesterday when this occurred... I was eight minutes late for my appointment and had circumstances take place that made me late; I should have received some understanding from the staff but instead we were treated like we were dirt.
0 comments