Dazed, Crazed, and Confused

So if your ready for a long story of my adventures with Kaiser today read on.........

I needed to get some routine blood tests done for my cholesterol. I'm not looking forward to the results but it needs to be done. I had made an appointment to get the test done at 8:20am. I go up the elevator to the second floor.
I get there and there is a long line. I am checked in at 8:24am. She tells me there is no "work up" on the computer. I show her the letter I had received telling me I was due. She then suddenly finds it in her computer.
They were very confused this morning. They have a number system for those who don't make appts. They were giving those checking in numbers such as #12 and yet on the screen they were calling for #14.
They call me in for my blood tests and I sat there wondering if she was going to poke me in the right place because it was as if I was invisible as she and the other nurses were all talking about some friend of theirs.

I leave the lab and go down elevator to the 1st floor and check in at the optometrist office. I am called into my check up appointment at 9:15am. It was my first visit with this eye doctor and she was very nice. She confirmed that I do need to use Restasis for my chronic dry eyes.
I explain to her that the last time I had it refilled was in April by my family physician when our insurance changed over to Kaiser. I was now COMPLETELY out of the eye drops and need a new prescription ASAP.
She starts to tell me that she will forward the prescription by her computer to the pharmacy within the Kaiser building.
I explain to her that with our retirement insurance we CANNOT get our prescriptions at Kaiser without paying full price for them. That I NEED a WRITTEN prescription that I mail to Prescription Solutions and then I only pay $10.oo for a three month supply.
SHE TELLS ME SHE CANNOT WRITE OUT A PRESCRIPTION THAT ALL OPTOMETRY PRESCRIPTIONS MUST GO THROUGH THE COMPUTER.

Now this sounds a little weird to me but what do I know.
She suggest that I ask my physician to give me another written prescription. So I tell her to send the prescription over to the pharmacy and I'll pay for it this one time because I'm completely out and my eyes need them. In the meantime I'll ask my physician for a written one to mail in. Good plan right!
WRONG

So I walk across the hall to the pharmacy.
I go the line to "check in"and wait behind four other people.
I check in and they tell me to sit and wait for my name to show up on the screen and then go to the center line.
so I sit,,,,,, and sit,,,,,,, and sit..............................
20 minutes later I see my name-- whooo whoo!
I go to the center line and wait behind three other people.
I then get up to the counter and he tells me they are completely out of this type of eye drops and cannot fill the prescription. They will have to order it........................

I stand there dumbfounded for a minute. The fact that I've been fasting since 7pm last night for the blood work to be done and now it's after 10:00am and I'm still in this crazy building full of idiots is starting to give me a headache!

So I go back UP the elevator to the 2nd floor to the office of my physician. I can just get a written prescription from her right!
I have to wait in the line to "check in" and I wait behind five other people..........
I get to the counter.
She is asking me why I'm there..........?? why am I here??
I try my best to explain this STUPID situation.
She tells me to go knock on the door with 2B on it and ask to speak to my physicians nurse......I go........I knock.
A nurse opens the door and wonders why I'm there............?? why am I??? oh geezzee.....I have to explain this again........I'm trying to explain and she's looking at me like I've grown green and purple warts all over my face........

She tells me to go to the counter.....I go and there is another woman...........and I have to try to explain this ALL OVER AGAIN.
SHE tells me that she has to send my doctor a message. Now I know that my doctor is only a few feet away in one of those rooms with a patient but I need to keep myself contained or they will be mopping up the itty bitty pieces of me that have exploded all over their office.
So I am told that a "message" will be sent to my physician to approve the written prescription and they will call me when it's ready to be picked up. Minutes? Hours? Days?..........?????

It's now somewhere around 11:00am. My head is throbbing and my stomach is growling.
Jim has been following me around as my support to keep me from loosing ground.

We leave and drive to a cafe to get food. As I'm looking at the menu my cell phone rings. I'm thinking---- yeah, the prescription will be ready to pick up after we eat................wrong.
The person is telling me that my physician cannot write out a prescription for eye drops that is diagnosed by an optometrist........HUH?. I tell her that she has already done this last April . She tells me that she only did that because I was a new patient.
I think my tongue is swollen now because I cannot speak.

She tells me that they have called the Optometrist and that "she will be taking care of it"...........WHAT IN THE HECK IS THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN?

I eat. I go home. I call the Optometrist office. They tell me that they received the message and will be calling me back.............................

At 12:30pm my cell phone rings........miracles have happened and somehow she was able to WRITE out a prescription for my eye drops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So for over THREE HOURS I walked in circles and rode the elevator up and down and drove across town twice just to end up back in the same office to get my written prescription!!!
It is already in the mail. I will just have to go a week without drops and live with dry eyes.

Oh , and the best part of all.......I get home after picking up the prescription and get my mail. There is a letter from Kaiser telling us they've raised the payment for our monthly insurance another $62 !!!