Issues

It has been one set back after another lately.  Hate to write negative posts but as you know this blog also serves as my cyber journal and I need to document several issues while they are still fresh on my mind.

Just when I thought that eye technician/surgery coordinator could not be any more incompetent...he proves me wrong!

Before I continue to relay the facts I need to make a clarification...you will see why later.  My mother has a plain Jane landline telephone.  She has no call waiting, call forwarding or long distance service on her line.

Before I dumped Time Warner Cable, we used Magicjack to make long distance calls.  I truly loved that service and would highly recommend it to anyone.  Then I made the mistake of switching to DISH as our TV and Internet provider.  MagicJack requires a high speed line and DISH speeds...at least in my area are equivalent to dial-up...so I had to cancel my subscription.

In reality we have never needed to make many long distance calls.  Our relatives, friends and acquaintances call us.  Three years ago when my mother had back surgery in San Angelo, the need for a cell phone became evident.  At the suggestion of one of my readers I purchased a no frills Tracfone, the type that you add talking time when you run out of minutes and you are not tied to a monthly bill or a two year contract.

As nice as it is to have this little telephone for use in case of an emergency...it does not work well from home because we live outside of the city limits and there are no cell phone towers in the vicinity.  My neighbors come out into their yards to get a better signal and they have a lot of dropped calls, no matter the carrier.  Their phones work great once you enter the city limits of Del Rio.

Now back to the incompetent eye technician/surgery coordinator.  I decided to read all the fine print he had mother sign.  I did not like that it stated that the surgery could be performed by an "alternate doctor".  Her surgery is supposed to take place at 4:30 p.m. which depending on how many patients he is operating on might make the "alternate doctor" a very real possibility. I had another question regarding her arrival time, why did she have to arrive at 4:30 p.m. when her surgery is scheduled at that time...shouldn't she arrive sooner?

Now how do I contact him when we have no long distance service, the cell wont work out here in the county and he wont answer my e-mails?  Skype!

Called him on Tuesday July 19th to make sure he had received the medical clearance from her doctor that was faxed to him on Friday July 15th.  He stated that he had and while it was filled out, it was not signed. Where was he supposed to sign it, when the form is so badly designed?  It only said nurse or doctor's initials and told him so.  Contacted her former Uvalde doctor and got that taken care of.

Never heard back from him so I called him on Friday. To my surprise he answered and we could both hear each other perfectly.  That is until he told me that she was scheduled for surgery at 11:00 a.m.  I was furious...just when was he planning on letting me know?  Inexplicably...he couldn't hear me anymore!

According to him, he changed it because I had request it!  I never requested anything, I just wanted clarification of the arrival time and the possibility that the surgery would be performed by another doctor.  For the second time I asked him why he did not contact me about the change...you guess it...he again could not hear me!  This dude is an incompetent fool and needs to be fired!!!

I was very surprised to receive a call from him on Monday morning.  He was inquiring if I had started the drops that need to be administered to the eye that will be operated.  Told him I had started them on Sunday but her eye was red and irritated.  Was told to discontinue them and he would send the pharmacy a prescription for some other drops.

Yesterday the internet went down just before noon and I lost my only form of communication.  As much as I hate to, I might have to break down and actually buy me a telephone that works out here in southern Val Verde county.

Early this morning at 12:25 a.m. I was watching TV when the electricity went out.  Thank goodness for my solar lights that I place in the hallway and the bathroom.  Most people were asleep but I am sure many woke up when their air conditioners quit working.  It was 91 degrees and it was after midnight.  I woke up at 3:30 a.m. when the cold air hit me and I once again covered myself with a sheet.

Only good thing about the power outage is that it fixed the internet issues, even though I had disconnected the modem several times in my attempt to remedy the problem.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.