Updates since training

Since training, I've been on vacation for 2 weeks, and sweated bullets trying to get all my ducks in a row for leaving.

Easier said that done. My doctor's appointment was the Thursday I came back from training, 2 days before I left for vacation. That went off without a hitch. The week after I came back from vacation, I had the first visit for my crown. Well, I thought it would be the only visit, but no such luck...I had to go back to get the permanent crown on.

Here is where the trouble started. I called all my doctor's offices to get the required records sent to Raytheon. My GP I had to call twice. The first time the woman answering the phone didn't seem to understand what I was asking. The second time I got someone who was significantly more coherent. The problem was that they didn't send EVERYTHING Raytheon needed, so I had to call again. Luckily, I got the same coherent woman, and we got everything straightened out.

I also had issues with my lab work. Supposedly, LabCorp is contracted to Raytheon or something, so if the lab you are going to is Labcorp (and not just contracted to LabCorp), they should have the paperwork you need. So, armed with this knowledge and the list of lab work I need done, I march into LabCorp near work. We can't take this, it doesn't have a patient number on it, the guy said. In not-so-good English. But you said you WERE LabCorp, not just contracted to them, and this paper says that I should be in the system cause I'm with Raytheon. Can't you just look up my name? Evidently not.

Steaming, I head back to work and call the medical office and complain. They send me the paperwork I need by fax, and I take it to the LabCorp in Waldorf at 0700 Saturday morning. Where the lab tech promptly tries to bill me for the work. Ummm...It says here that you guys will direct bill Raytheon I tell him. Luckily, this guy had some brains, looked at the paperwork again, and agreed. Good, less people I have to be angry at.

Meanwhile, I've been fighting on the phone with the woman at my other doctor, who is claiming that I need to send in an authorization letter to get the information I need. Ok, HIPPA and all that, I understand. What I didn't understand was that I had to pay a fee for you to fax this stuff, and that suddenly, the hand-written letter I wrote and faxed to you wasn't good enough, and I had to fill out your special paperwork. Well, I'm a nurse, and I don't do this kind of stuff. I'm normally in the back. Can you call back next week when the receptionist is back from vacation? Well, I can, but this is really time-sensitive stuff, and needs to be done NOW. But I manage not to scream and yell. Instead, I take the time to drive down there the next week (when I had the appointment for my crown, so now I'm mad, AND in pain), and walk into the office. The doctor is there and tells me that they faxed report X last Monday, but here's a copy, since you drove all the way down here, and that way if anything happens, you can have your own copy.

She must have been looking in a crystal ball.

I call Raytheon to make sure they have everything now. They tell me they're missing my dental stuff, and that's it. Cool, I can take care of that. I call the original dentist who had the paperwork, and after playing word roulette for 10 minutes, the hygenist and I finally realize we've been talking about the same thing the whole time, and I am scheduled to come in early Thursday morning. I go in, get the dentist to sign the paperwork, get copies of my x-rays, and they don't even charge me (SWEET!!!) I head back to work to fax the paperwork and Fed-Ex the x-rays (they don't fax so well). I call Raytheon to make sure they got the fax. Well, we're still missing report X. Umm...it was faxed to you Monday, August 20th. I even saw the fax record. When I called earlier this week, you said you had everything but the dental stuff, which is on it's way!

My list of people to be angry at is getting long again.

I call the doctor again, and they are nice enough to fax it right away (the copy they gave me was at home). I call Raytheon and leave a message that there is a fax there with report X. I get a call back not 30 minutes later. I'm not sure what you needed to fax, but it must have completed your paperwork, because your file is in the pile to go to review this afternoon.

*headdesk*

I call on Tuesday (the Fed-Ex'd x-rays should have arrived first thing Monday morning), to make sure they got it. Well, we haven't checked the mail this week yet. Check back this afternoon or tomorrow. So I call on Wednesday. Nope, still haven't checked. At this point, I throw up my hands and decide to not call for the rest of the week. If you can't say something nice....

I call the week of Labor Day, on Thursday. Even with a holiday in there, they should have gotten to the mail by now, right? Oh didn't you get our email? We sent an email to you on Friday, August 31. The dentist wants some more information. At this point, I am ready to reach through the phone and strangle someone. No, I didn't get the danged email. If I HAD gotten the email, you bloody well would have had the information you were asking for BEFORE Thursday!!! I was trying to be nice, really I was, but I had to interrupt her when she started reading me the email she sent and what they needed. At the time, I was at lunch, and really had no way to write down anything. She re-sent the email instead.

So I call the dentist (the one who put in my crown, since that was the info they needed) and faxed the dentist paperwork to them to fill out and fax it to Raytheon and email the x-rays. Friday, I called again to make sure it had been done, and was told that the office manager was filling it out and she had questions for me, but wasn't there right now, can she call you back?

It's amazing my blood pressure isn't higher.

She calls me back, confirms the information she needed and says she'll fax it right away.

I call Raytheon on Monday. They claim to have not gotten it, but then again, they haven't checked the email from last week yet. sigh I have to call back Wednesday and maybe they'll have gotten to it.

Since I'm going to get my permanent crown on Thursday, I decide to save myself some aggravation and just get the stuff myself. The dentist is nice enough to understand and tells me to just get a copy of my chart when he's done later that day, and it should take care of everything. I get a copy of my x-rays and leave.

In the meantime, I am so swamped at work, I am pulling 12 hour days and don't have time to do anything.

Monday I call the dentist and get the chart faxed to me. Tuesday I fax it to them, and Fed-Ex Overnight the x-rays. Thursday (we are now up to yesterday, mind you) I call.

We've got it, it's to be sent for review today. We should be letting you know this afternoon or tomorrow. While I'm grateful that you actually HAVE it and haven't LOST it this time, (as opposed to the past 3 times I've tried to send you stuff), it was there on Tuesday!! What was it doing yesterday gathering dust???

I still haven't heard anything.

Meanwhile, I am having kittens, with my captain telling me I leave September 30th, and I have nothing done. I get my proposed itinerary (which won't be finalized till I am PQ'd), and it says to call this person to discuss my deployment. I call on Tuesday, but no one answers the phone. The message is from the Friday before. I leave a message, but also take the number of the person the message says to call. I call her, but she doesn't answer either. One more message. Wednesday I try again, first thing in the morning (and remember, I am on the East Coast. I am calling Denver, CO, which is 2 hours behind) and get her. She confirms things and says she'll keep after medical about my PQ status.

Yesterday I get a phone call from the second woman I left a message with. Turns out the first person (who I got the email from) is no longer in the office, and New Chick will be handling my account. I tell her I went over things with Woman #1, and she says that she'll check the records. (This is when I called medical and found out they sat on my stuff for a day.)

So, yeah. So irritated with Raytheon right now. I'll be calling first thing in their morning today to see if the Great and Powerful Dentist has determined that I will not have teeth falling out of my mouth in 5 months.

In the meantime, I have to buy boots, suspend my phone, suspend my gym membership, and send myself stuff. But first I have to find out if I'm actually going.