Ms. Nurse-Practitioner-To-The-Primary-Care-Doctor

This post contains copious amounts of frustrating medical bureaucratic drama. I don't write it to gossip or complain, but to show how difficult it is to get care and to encourage those who are still in the midst of their battle. I fought the sulFIGHT and, so far, I am winning. This is simply an account of what happened. 

I had determined that sulfites were the culprit.

I needed to know why.

All I needed was a molybdenum test. 

I called my primary care doctor and asked to make an appointment. He was not available, so they offered an appointment  with the nurse practitioner. That was fine with me. 

I went to the appointment knowing that this poor lady would have no idea what I was talking about. So, I took visuals. I wrote things down in big letters and drew lots of arrows. At the appointment, I was cheerful, spoke slowly, and walked her through the entire story. She was totally on board. 

"Oh, yes! I see! This all makes sense, and you've done a lot of work. I'm a science-y person, too, so I enjoy stuff like that. I'll go get the lab sheet." 

"Great!"

"I'll be right back."

"Okay."

She was gone a while.

When she returned, she seemed discouraged, "We don't know how to order that test."

Huh?

"I spoke with the doctor, and he doesn't know how to order this test."

"Um... okay."

"I can order a test to rule out carcinoid tumors."

"Uh, sure. Okay."

There's nowhere to go from that, so I arranged for the other test and left the office. I felt like it was their job to figure out how to order a test, to maybe come back and say, "This isn't available," instead of, "we don't know how to order this test." But since it seems that everything around sulfites depends on personal research, so I went home to figure it out myself. 

That afternoon I called a nurse-friend and asked her how to order a molybdenum test. 

"There's nothing to figure out. You write it on the lab form. The local hospital does it."

WHAT?!

*deep breath* Maybe the doctor just didn't know that. 

I called the doctor's office and told the nurse how to order the test, still under the impression that they simply lacked the information. 

The nurse then said that the nurse practitioner did not have the authority to order the test, that it had to be approved by her supervising doctor (who is not my doctor), and that he had denied the request. 

I dropped everything and went to the doctor's office. 

I explained to the receptionist that I needed to speak to the nurse. I explained the situation again-- all I needed was the molybdenum test that the nurse practitioner agreed that I needed. 

"You need to make an appointment with your doctor, and then he can decide to order it or not."

"But I had an appointment with the nurse practitioner. She has heard it all and agrees. SHE can talk to the doctor and explain it."

"No, you need an appointment with your doctor."

"But I tried to get an appointment with the doctor, and you told me to see the nurse practitioner. I've already had an appointment to discuss this issue. I don't want to pay for another one just because you all won't talk to each other."

"You need an appointment to see your doctor, so that he can decide whether he is going to order the test or not."

"Okay, refund me the money for the nurse practitioner appointment that accomplished me nothing, and I'll pay for the appointment to see the doctor who will do something."

"No, you used her time. We can't refund you for that." 

"And I can't just explain all this to the doctor?"

"Not without an appointment."

This was a bang-head-on-wall moment. I went home. I had two options:

1) Convince the allergist to run the molybdenum test

2) Go to an urgent care center to have it ordered and pay for it out-of-pocket (about $80)

Hopefully, the allergist would listen.

And, in the meantime, find a new primary doctor. One who will communicate with their own staff.