The Walk Out!

My last day of hemo dialysis was bad. The next day I was to begin peritoneal dialysis (PD) training. My nephrologist was in the clinic making rounds. I asked my nurse if he would come over and talk to me for a minute. I had a few questions about the peritoneal. My nurse went to tell him I wanted to see him and he told her, "tell Jill I will see her tomorrow and he left." He didn't have an emergency he just left. He didn't feel like walking across the clinic, he just left. If he had walked over to me, he would have understood it was my last day of hemo and I was going to begin PD the next day. But he didn't take the time and I lost it. I was so angry. My blood pressure went through the roof. I was ready to call Network 13, a patients rights advocacy group in Arkansas, and report him and the clinic for everything that had ever happened. The nurses were worried and so was the director of the clinic. She is scared of the phrase Network 13! She came over to my chair and begged me to not call and report anything. She was willing to do anything to keep me quiet. I told her I wanted to talk to the doctor now or I am calling and reporting. You see, this was 6 months coming. I was the maddest I had ever been in my life! The director was able to get the doctor on the phone and I told him everything he had done wrong in the past. First, he knows nothing about HUS and I seriously doubt he even googled it. Second, he ripped out any shred of hope I had for kidney regeneration or transplant. Third, he was talking bad about me at a party to other people, HIPPA violation. Fourth, he was very inaccessible and lacked communication skills. And now, he has walked out on me and totally blew me off. I was so pissed. After I unloaded on him, all he could say was, "I'm sorry." He knew he was wrong and had been for a long time. We talked decent to each other for what seemed like a long time. At the end of the conversation, we agreed that since I was starting PD, we would "start over." So, I left that conversation cautiously optimistic that things were going to get better. Maybe as my PD doctor things would be better. Ha! Was I wrong!