Rheumatologist

The day after my lovely appointment with the OS at the knee clinic I get a phone call.  I find out that it is my rheumatologist's office calling to say that the office will be closed until further notice due to an unforseen circumstance!  This guy is the one that basically handles all my health issues and I was supposed to see at the beginning of the next week.  I had already had a list going of what I needed to see him about and now he isn't there.  It is not like him to do this so something serious had to have happened.  However this is pretty depressing as he is the one that handles my knee.  So it's not like I can even ask for a cortisone injection or look into Synvisc with him as he isnt there.  Plus my pain meds aren't working well anymore so we have to swap them again and most likely up the dosage of them.  I am also having a lot of problems with my hands and fingers that I don't know what to do about and am thinking about asking to get a cortisone shot in my shoulder joint as the bad nerve pain is coming back again. 

Also I was approved for my ring splints and they will cover the entire cost!  Except no one at the office noticed that it was from a company in the states so now that can't be done because they can't just reimburse me if I use my credit card, it is done through a voucher type of system.  There is a company in Canada but I don't know how their measurements are done and would have to be measured for them.  Problem - it would be my rheumy who has all the tools to do the measurements and well he just isnt there right now!!

After the two crappy appointments (internist and OS) and then this I am about to just say screw the doctors and screw all the pills.  What is the point doing all this fighting if no one is there to actually help you?  Oh so I call my GP's office and say I need to make an appoinment becaue my rheumy is away and she says the earliest I can get in is the 13th of June!!!!  I said that wouldn't work because I only had a week and a half left of my pain killers and my rheumy is on a leave of absence.  The squeezed me in for a 'chair visit' (sit in the hall with no real exam or questioning) to get my pills on the 30th but I still had to make the appointment for the 13th as I need those pain meds redone (if he will do them, he always wants me off them and not increasing them), I need a referal to a GI doctor (let's just say I have been having one sypmtom for years and never really worried about it but when I mentioned it to my mom she was quite concerned and wants me to get refered ASAP) and to go over my bloodwork and ask about thyroid as well and to ask about the SSRI's and autonomic issues.  So now I am officialy on hold as I can do absolutly nothing until the 13th - and this isnt a doctor that can do much except normal family doctor types of things and referals!!