i am on call 7 days a week. i work a high activity job walking 10-14 miles a day carrying ~50lbs around for all 8-12 hours of my shift. i have no leave or sick days until august 16th after my probationary period as a new employee.
but i HAD to get my IUD changed bc it expired. so i made an appointment months ago and the receptionist said i would be able to get my IUD changed the same day that my appointment was made for.
so i took a risk, requested leave without pay, and took this day off (magically got it approved), and when i got in the room with the assistant she tells me i have to have a pap smear first. and the IUD exchange cannot be done the same day. the receptionist f***** up big time giving me the wrong info.
i proceed to tell them about my situation at work and there was no way i'd be able to take another day off unless i had an additional note.
after some very strange reluctance(???) she worked with me and gave me the pap smear yesterday and medicine for my cervix to relax (which caused cramping by the way) and i went in at 9am today for the new IUD (this was all her idea, but they didn't even have my pap results in the morning of my IUD replacement so wtf was even the point at all to not do everything all at once the previous day). then i asked if it would be possible to write a doctors note for the day of procedure and a second recovery day because my body does not handle pain well.
normally, i would not ask for this extra day off if i had a normal office job. but i walk 12 miles a day with 25-50 lbs in my arms/on my shoulder for up to 12 hours a day in the hot sun with no bathroom around me the entire day. i'm already extremely uncomfortable on a normal day. i am also in a probationary period as a new employee, which means that if i can't finish my shift for whatever reason before august 16th, i am probably fired. no questions asked. they don't really care.
so i wanted to super prevent risking my entire (last resort) career by just getting her to write the extra day off as a safety net for me so i don't possibly lose my job over a piece of plastic in my cervix.
she said, "the pain will never be that bad with a second IUD. cramping for an hour afterwards and that's it. all of my patients go directly to work. i don't give patients a day off for IUDs ever." completely underestimating how low my pain tolerance is for this sort of thing, and disregarding what i said about my job.
what in the f**k? it's like she didn't listen to anything i had just said about my STRENUOUS JOB and PROBATIONARY PERIOD. why such a chip on her shoulder for writing me a day off for recovery that could possibly make or break my career? she doesn't have to DO anything for the note. her receptionist writes it out and signs. like, what a joke of a doctor to not listen to a patient's serious life concerns. it takes nothing from her to take this extra step to make sure i feel heard and that my situation mattered to her.
and during my IUD procedure, she did not use a numbing gel (like my last gyno in texas did free of charge), so it was extremely painful for me this time around, despite the pill she had me take to relax my cervix.
she is very rude in my opinion. the only positive was after i expressed my concerns about time off work in an angry way, she worked with me on providing the note to get me out of work for the day of the IUD, and was able to get me in at 9am today, but still refused a note for xtra recovery day. regardless of me saying i would go to work, but the note would be my safety net in case i couldn't finish a shift.
but DURING THE PROCEDURE, i had my eyes shut and my covid mask on staring at the ceiling while clenching my whole body from pain, and she proceeded to dangle the removed old IUD above me (my eyes were closed) and said "would you like to keep it?" and i didn't know she was speaking to me, then she repeated herself "would you like to keep it?" and i said very angrily bc i am on the table in pain, "what are you talking about???" and she said "some people like to keep it and i just wanted to make sure before i threw it away" - all while the clamp is inside me causing terrible discomfort she decided to waste time with that pointless exchange to ask if i wanted to keep a piece of literal garbage.
i am beyond livid and will never be returning to her. i already tried switching doctors for the 6 week follow up, but no doctor is comfortable doing a follow up on an IUD they didn't insert themselves.
so, i'll be reluctantly seeing her soon.
update: 11 hours after the insertion and my body is STILL cramping and feeling fatigued and terrible. "only one hour" my a$$. read more
