Difficulties

I've not been out today, and didn't have the energy to find a blip here, so I'm blipping a pretty flower bouquet that I found at Central Market during my shopping trip yesterday evening.

Last night my television set decided it would no longer allow me to actually see what was on, so I have to buy a new TV.  Spent a lot of time looking at them online but realized that I really have to see them in the flesh, so to speak, in order to choose one.  So Doug, who is the person most knowledgeable about electronics of anyone I know, will take me to Best Buy tomorrow to choose a good one.  They are surprisingly inexpensive.

Welll, the results of the MRI are in:  The doctor's note says:  "multiple levels of discs pressing on nerves.  See the neurosurgeon as soon as possible, ask to be on a cancellation list.  If you get increased weakness or loss of control of bladder or bowels, go to the ER."

So I thought I'd better check on the status of my referral.  It turns out that the folks who handle those are backed up and are working on the ones from October 23 at the moment!  I pointed out that my situation is really urgent and the receptionist said she would send a note to "the girls" to see if they could speed this up. I'm going to call tomorrow to try to set up an appointment with Dr. Lazar, assuming the referral will be done by the time I'm able to be seen.

Those of you in the British Isles are probably saying "What?!" at this news.  My insurance plan is an HMO (health maintenance organization) which requires that I get a referral for anything outside my primary care doctor's office.  My doctor's office, where I have been going for some 30 years, has been taken over by a large regional medical center, which has slowed down the process.  If I had insurance with a PPO (preferred provider) plan, I wouldn't need referrals, but the premiums would be much higher and benefits more expensive as well.  I'm not sure what to do.  Perhaps it's time to thinking about moving to another medical practice that's less of a bureaucracy.