I hate CitiMD.
I also hate the entire healthcare system in the US.
There are such amazing and kind and thoughtful doctors that exist in the US. And I adore a majority of the nurse practitioners and nurses I have seen and who have supported me and my family throughout the years.
There is a problem though when I have had bronchitis for 7 weeks, disappointing my kids and myself by having to spend weekends on the couch watching screens instead of heading to the beach or even the playground. It's kind of a social issue these days to be continually coughing. Plus, I've passed it on to my elderly mom.
For my primary care, I go to Callen-Lorde and see a wonderful, warm nurse practitioner. But there is a lot missing when I go for primary care to an overburdened clinic. I go there because the amount of ignorant and tiresome comments I've received in the healthcare system as a queer person was making avoid healthcare all together, the way chatty stylists have me constantly avoiding haircuts. I just couldn't handle more unnecessary pregnancy tests and questions like, no really when was the last time I'd had sex with a man, or assuming that I had multiple partners just because I'm gay (let's not even get into the fact that people with multiple partners shouldn't be dismissed/shamed/shutdown within a healthcare context!). So anyway, I tried to go the easy and more immediate route of an urgent care center, instead of sitting on the phone for an hour, just to leave a message with the triage nurse Callen-Lorde (which is what I eventually did this morning). Plus, my window of when I can see a doctor, is typically urgent - due to being an only parent, working multiple jobs, and dealing with my mother. If I have an hour to go to the doctor, I have an hour to go to the doctor.
I went to CitiMD last week, after six weeks of cough, exhaustion, sore throat, congestion, sore ears, sinus pressure, tingling in my hands and mouth, loss of appetite, chest pain.... I could go on. After a night of coughing so hard that I maybe slept two hours and think I might have given myself a hernia, I went in.
The nurse who interviewed me was nice, listened, took notes. I then sat in an exam room for an hour, alone, coughing - when I was supposed to be at work. They were not crowded, perhaps all the rooms were filled but this was about 10am on a Tuesday and no one seemed that busy.
The doctor came in for five minutes, said he thought it was bronchitis. This aligned with my Dr. Google self diagnosis so I wasn't surprised. He listened to my chest with a stethoscope, never looked at any other part of my body and I never removed my mask. He prescribed 5 days of antibiotic and told me to "lead a healthy lifestyle". I'm not sure how he knew anything about my lifestyle since he was in my room five minutes max and didn't ask about food, sleep, exercise, smoking, drug use, sex, mental healthcare, nothing.... I'm guessing it's the new code for lose weight.
The steroids, didn't touch my bronchitis, except for making me jittery and making me feel like I had slightly more energy than I'd had. Still coughing up gobs of mucus all day and night.
So now, I have to sit on the line waiting for a triage nurse (who was shocked that after almost two months of being so sick she could hear it in my voice CitiMD hadn't given me an antibiotic), to make an appointment to go into my busy clinic, to see a doctor (not my own) there.
This wouldn't be quite so irritating if CitiMD hadn't also misdiagnosed me with gout four months ago - based on a hot swollen ankle - which was then proven wrong with blood tests. At least that time the doctor sat with me, listened, ordered several tests, touched by sweaty feet, and showed some compassion.
A few weeks ago, I received a letter from my insurance "investigating" and incident in which my son broke his arm at a trampoline park. The gist of the letter was that they wanted more details because it may be the property owners responsibility to pay. AKA the insurance is likely not going to pay these extensive claims because even though I assume that insurance covering my children for accidents will actually pay when they have typical childhood accidents, they may not. Leaving me with huge bills to pay, or to chase a company in a foreign country for some sort of payment.
I hate American healthcare. Anyone who tells you that things here are better than anywhere else doesn't know about things anywhere else.
There may be innovation, and fancy tools, and the illusion of less wait time for those with privilege but it is just an illusion. Medical debt negatively shaped my childhood and it will likely shape my kid's as well. And this is coming from a white person, who has had insurance for a majority of my life, and lived in areas with vast medical resources.
CitiMD is stupid. Bronchitis sucks.
Let's fix things.
