Getting medical help right now causes all kinds of pain.
It is a pain to find a doctor.
The waiting at every step causes aches deep and long.
And holy moly, your hip pocket hurts like the blazes.
If you are not a child, pensioner or concession card holder, a simple GP visit costs about $100, and the tests to find out what is wrong are pricey too.
People are putting off doctor’s visits so they can eat as cozzie livs bites, and I get that.
But you only get the privilege of forking out the moolah when you actually have a doctor’s consultation – and they can be like hen’s teeth on the Coast.
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Unfortunately, I was given a first-hand lesson in this recently, befallen by blinding knee pain while running in the pre-dawn.
My regular doctor was away, and the receptionist reported the next available appointment with any other medic was two weeks hence.
This would not do, I whined: the agony indicated this was no trifling niggle, and while I was confident I was not going to die from my affliction, I have had experience enough to know I needed a diagnosis and treatment tout de suite.
I was added to the cancellation waiting list and told I would be called if I got lucky.
Not one to sit on my hands, I worked the phones, calling any medical centre I could find within coo-ee.
My ears rang with the repeated clanging of doors closing.
I called my surgery again, and while I still came up empty (pester power might work for toddlers, but not me), the receptionist advised me to give the walk-in Minor Injury and Illness Clinic at Caloundra or Sunshine Coast University Hospital Emergency a go.
No dice.
The waiting times were guessed at four to seven hours.
The thought of sitting beside coughing, bleeding people in the waiting rooms did nothing to ease my pain and I left.
A restless day and night later, I got a cancellation spot with a GP, who ordered tests.
I waited for the tests and waited again for another cancellation spot to get the test reports.
My wallet more than $500 lighter, I was assured my knee was in bad but not catastrophic shape and was given a protocol for healing.
Patience, particularly for patients, is apparently a virtue.
Dr Jane Stephens is a UniSC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer.
