Today at the Doctor's Office

Seasonal allergies are a pain in the neck - and the wallet.

Fatigued, dehydrated, ears stuffy, neck stiff, I sat in the Southern California medical office waiting to be treated by a resident medical doctor who determined my right ear needed "irrigation" to cure the ache and the congestion and restore my hearing to 100%. Irrigation sounded like a welcome relief. After a clean rinse with warm saline water, I would be able to hear out of my right ear again. For four days I have been running errands around L.A. without really being able to hear clearly.

Not being able to hear clearly due to sinusitis has really made this transition challenging. In one case, an office worker on campus assumed that my puzzled look meant I could not understand her because she thought English was not my first language. "Are you an international student?"

"No," I said, "but I did just move here from Ohio," hee-haw.

In the doctor's office, I struggled to understand the young resident. "Oh, you moved here from Ohio? I almost took a residency there." Later, when she was telling me where I could pick up an OTC treatment for my ear, she asked, "Are you experiencing culture shock?" I hadn't thought about before, but yes, there is a kind of culture shock happening. But I was more focused on my sinuses.

My right ear was so stuffy I could barely hear her murmur the words "self-pay? self-pay?" Unfamiliar with the lingo, it took me a while to realize that my doctor was asking me how I intended to pay for my medical treatment.

"Yes. Self-pay," I said. Then she looked at both of my ears. She determined the right one was in need of irrigation due to the fact that she couldn't see my ear drum due to all the wax (ugh!). And I'm such a fastidious person. Cleanliness is irrelevant, some people's ears just produce a lot of wax, the doctor said, but she was concerned I might have an inner-ear infection. After my ear was rinsed she would check since I my body temperature was 99.6.

What happened next proved to me that if you do not carry insurance, you are lucky to get adequate medical treatment.

After the doctor left, two nursing assistants came into the room. One closely examined my left ear, even though she had been told to treat my right ear. She determined my left ear also needed irrigation. She and the other nurse got to work and oh, what a relief. Immediately, all of the nuanced sounds I took for granted came rushing back to me. I thanked them both for their diligence and soon the two nurses left.

Never will I take having excellent hearing for granted because now I could hear so well, in fact, that I could hear the two nurses and the resident doctor discussing my case in the room next door.

"I treated the left ear, too," the first nurse said. The doctor was not at all amused.

"What! You treated the left ear! Why did you do that. She's self-pay, self-pay," the doctor said. "She has too pay for that treatment herself!"

But the nurse insisted. "I looked at her left ear and there was wax in there too," the nurse said.

Later, when the doctor walked in to see me, she didn't ask how I felt, instead, she said, "They treated both ears?"

"Yeah," I said. "And I feel soooo much better!" This did not seem to make an impression on her.

I actually have medical insurance, but the California doctor's office did not recognize the insurance card as being part of their system, instead classifying me as "self-pay" because my insurance card is from out-of-state.

The office visit cost me $107.00. People who pay cash or check get a discount. I am not sure if I will incur further charges.