Yes, I’m beginning to think I may have to change my Wednesday blog from WTF Wednesday to WTFK Wednesday.

Back in December my pneumonia vaccine needed to be updated.  I have received multiple reminders from Kaiser to come in and get this vaccination.

Back in December we were all in the throes of the pandemic.  So I put it off because it looked like we would have a vaccine in the not-too-distant future.

And so it came to pass.

I had my second vaccine dose March 23^rd.  I had my mammogram March 27^th.  And then I got diagnosed with breast cancer and everything else got put on hold.

Okay.  I am now 2 weeks out from surgery.  I have no big medical appointments for a while.  Can I get that pneumonia vaccine now?  I ask my “navigator” (the nurse that helps me navigate the world of breast cancer), and she asks the oncologist and YES! 

Let’s get this done!

I email my primary physician and ask if I need an appointment or can I just walk-in.  My primary tells me I do need an appointment and I need to call the Advice Nurse line to make one. 

Got it. 

Call the Advice Nurse line.  Get told I need to talk to someone else and she’ll have that person call me tomorrow.

Got it.

Meanwhile, it’s my birthday and I want Jack In the Box, so I go to pick up our dinner.

I am at the window waiting on my order when my cell phone rings.  It’s fucking Kaiser – I mentally note, this is not tomorrow, this is still today, but don’t be a bitch, Kaiser is just being inconveniently efficient.  I answer the phone – and it’s the person I need to talk with about the pneumonia vaccine.  This person is my PRIMARY PHYSICIAN’S ASSISTANT!!! (Are you fucking shitting me?)

Okay.  Calm down.  You want to get this done.

The Assistant tells me the first appointment is July 19th!!!!

WTSF??? 

I ask, do I need an appointment or can I just do a walk-in.

She tells me that, yes, I could do a walk-in but they discourage that because it could be a 1-2 hour wait. 

I point out that 1-2 hours is a lot shorter wait than fucking JULY!!!!  (Okay, I left out the “fucking” but it was strongly implied.)

I then tell her that the pneumonia vaccine is past due and that I just had breast cancer surgery and I was concerned that by July I would be in the middle of whatever treatment they come up with and that might preclude me from getting the vaccine at that time.

She then asks me when I had my surgery.  I told her (like it isn’t already in my records), and she asks if next Wednesday at 1:45 works for me.

Uh-huh.  Suddenly she has an appointment for next week?  Uh-huh.

I said that would be just fine, thank you very much; and she said she’d email me a confirmation.  (Meanwhile, I’m juggling the bags of food as they are being handed to me.)

I’m not proud that I had to play the cancer card to get an appointment.  I’m not happy that Kaiser made it necessary for me to play the cancer card.  And the thing is, I would have been perfectly happy (okay, not perfectly, and probably not happy either) to come in and sit and read my Kindle for 1-2 hours to get the shot. 

Now, here’s a suggestion Kaiser – if your injection clinic is so backed up that you are booked solid until July 19^th – maybe it’s time to add some extra people working at the clinic and work through that backlog – I’m thinking some of those injections are important to the people who are getting them. 

Just saying.

(Fuckers.)