a new doctor

I went to see Dr. Thurston at Walnut Hill OB/Gyn. Dr. Thurston was highly recommended by Emily and because she is a nurse and a law student AND because she doesn't mess around when seeking out quality services/products, I was already feeling comfortable.

For an exercise in contrasting, I will now present the differences between my former OB/Gyn and my new OB/Gyn:

former: office was in a hospital building and parking was a joke! unless you wanted to valet, of course (and yes, probably only in Plano would you find valet at the doctor's office/ hospital; and no, the valet was NOT complimentary)
new: office is across the street from the hospital with plenty of parking, right next to the front door!

former: crabby receptionist
new: super-sweet receptionist; no, not perky, just genuinely nice

former: waited for-ev-er in the reception area before the doctor could see me
new: waited, oh maybe, 15 minutes (including the time it took to fill out some new patient stuff)

former: always pee in a cup - and I mean always!, regardless of the purpose of the visit
new: no need to pee in the cup!

former: the nurses were always in a hurry
new: the nurse (whose name, by the way, was Princess!) sat with me for about 10 minutes to get some patient information and then even told me my blood pressure was excellent (former nurse never even acknowledged that she had even taken the blood pressure)

former: doctor was in and out, 10 minutes top; waited a l-o-n-g time between the nurse prep and actually seeing the doctor
new: nurse says to me, "Dr. Thurston likes to chat with all his new patients before any exam. Why don't you wait here in his office." what? he wants to talk with me? wow! and, as I walk into his office, he turns around from a little cart where he was filling out some paperwork and says, "I'll be there in just a minute." and he was! he asked a few medical questions and told me all about his background and his family. when the chat was over, he walked with me to the exam room

former: at least one lecture about monthly self-breast exams, weight, lack of exercise, or a combination
new: no lectures! yes, he realizes I AM a grown-up! and at this point in my life a lecture is not going to remedy those situations

former: no freebies
new: tried to get me a free sample of my prescription, but they were out - at least he tried :)

I was as close to happy as you can possibly get about going to the OB/Gyn without actually being happy about going to the OB/Gyn - ha!

a side note: because I have a new prescription, I can take it to SuperTarget. We are already there every other day so it will be super-convenient. And as a bonus: Target gives you a hefty gift card for every new/transferred prescription!

another side note: I wanted to take copies of all my med. records from my other doctor. They are about me, right? Shouldn't be a problem, right? Seriously, folks! This seemingly simple task took 2 weeks of phone calls, multiple faxes, me having to pick them up in person, the doctor still hadn't signed off on the copies, and the kicker? those jokers wanted $26.05 to make copies of all the papers that are about ME!!

have I mentioned that I am really glad I changed doctors?