An ode to idiocy

A two-part story.

About a month ago, I took Austin to the doctor because he seemed to have an eye infection. His eye was always tearing up and filling with gunk and although it didn’t seem to bother him, we thought it should get checked out.

The prescription for drops didn’t seem to help, so the doctor decided it would be best to take him to see an ophthalmologist. A week later, the nurse called with our appointment – it was at a medical centre on St. George, near Bloor, seven days later. On the day of the appointment, Ryan took the morning off work to hear what the doctor had to say. But we took two cars downtown so he could go straight to work following the appointment.

We paid for parking and walked up the street carrying Austin. But, when we got to the medical building, we couldn’t find the doctor listed on board in the lobby. So, I called their number and got a recording that said, at the very end of the message, “please note we are now located at 20 Wynford Drive.”

20 Wynford Drive! That’s five minutes from our house. And here we were, downtown, five minutes before the appointment. I left a message, telling the receptionist we were on our way but that we were outside their old office and it would take awhile to get there. We ended up half an hour late for the appointment.

The kicker, this doctor has been in the ‘new location’ for two years!

After all that, the ophthalmologist said he may have a blocked tear duct but that we should see a pediatric ophthalmologist.

We were pleased, when a day later, the office called telling us our appointment was less than a week away and that it was indeed at 20 Wynford Drive.

Yesterday, the pediatric ophthalmologist called to confirm our appointment for today and then proceeded to say that they are a very busy office and we should expect to wait 1 to 2 hours. And sure enough, we sat in the waiting room, and walked Austin around the halls for 1 hour and 25 minutes before being called in.

Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but I would much prefer to wait three months to get an appointment rather than know that I will have to sit in a waiting room for up to two hours. What’s the point of even having an appointment if your doctor doesn’t even make an attempt to keep it?

And yes, Austin does have a blocked eye duct. If it doesn’t resolve itself by the time he has his first birthday, we will have to make another appointment to sit in a waiting room.