It Would Be Funny, Except…

When you do chemotherapy at UCSF, you see someone in oncology on each infusion day, before the actual infusion happens. In these appointments, oncology checks your lab work to make sure you are okay to get the infusion, they see if they need to change medication, and they can potentially change the pharmaceutical orders for the infusion center, as needed. Everybody does this.

Now that I know I have to be at the infusion center by noon each cycle, I am able to make the oncology appointments for the remaining infusions. So today I called the Breast Care Center and spoke with a scheduler. I hadn't spoken with this one before; she sounded very young and, as the conversation went on, just a wee bit untrained. For example....

When I tried to make the July 21^st appointment with my oncologist, the scheduler said, "I can't do that day. I can give you July 16^th, though. Oh, wait, I can schedule for July 28^th, too!"

I was silent for a moment, aghast at her suggestion. Then I collected myself and said, "If she is booked on that day, we have a problem. The appointment has to be on the 21^st. I can't change the day."

Scheduler: "I'm sorry, I have nothing open. Why don't we try the week before?"

Me: "The oncologist is the one who set the schedule. If she doesn't have an appointment time open, we need to contact her and ask what she wants to do. I'm not at liberty to change my chemotherapy schedule on my own."

I thought maybe she'd email the doctor, but I wasn't sure, so I made a mental note to do it myself and moved on. For the next appointment, on August 11^th, she suggested I come in the afternoon. I said that I couldn't do that because I was scheduled for chemotherapy at noon. Her response: "Can you come in after that?"

Um...excuse me? See oncology after I get the infusion? Do they not train the schedulers in how routine cancer appointments work? It's not as though she is a general appointment scheduler; she works in the Breast Care Center. I should not have to explain how chemotherapy appointments work!

For me, it's a bit funny when things like this happen. I laugh and roll my eyes. But can you imagine what it is like when someone who is sick and vulnerable calls in? They might accept the appointment that's a week away from the infusion, not knowing that this won't work. Yikes!

I contacted my oncologist afterward to ask what she wanted to do and let her know about the conversation. Predictably, she was horrified. She quickly fixed the scheduling issues and told me she would talk to the practice manager about what had happened.

Personally, I think that my oncologist is in an unenviable position. She is an intelligent woman who moves fast to take care of the things that need to be taken care of, but she's not always surrounded by the most effective or smart support staff. I could hear her frustration through her email message and could tell this wasn't the first story of its kind that she has heard this week. I bet she bangs her head against the wall quite a bit. Glad I'm not a doctor!

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