Bowel Obstruction? #1

    I made multiple calls today to my physican's assistant's office and to the Walmart pharmacy with no success. This looks like it's going to be ugly so I want to start documenting now.
    The male nurse, Mark, came out to the reception area to get me. I had just finished kidding with Mickey, one of the receptionist. Joking, she had seen me come in and got off her stool to hide behind it. I laughed, and she brightened up my day. Mark escorted me down the hall, asking how I was. I replied appropriately. He pointed to a room and went into it, sitting in a chair. "Not that. There," he said, pointing to the examining bed. I go up and sat on it. Without a further word, he sat down at a chair and opened up the laptop on the desk. As he pored over the laptop, I finally opened my Wall Street Journal and began reading too. Then I felt him staring at me. I looked up, and he asked rather haughtily, "Are you ready?"
    After he took my vitals, he returned to his laptop. I said, "Just tell me when you're ready, okay?" He refused to reply. I picked up my newspaper and started reading again. Suddenly, he got up and without a word, left the examining room. I had no idea what was going on with him. In a few minutes, Paul, the physician's assistant and a very young woman carrying some sort of machine entered the room. Mark didn't bother to mention her, her machine, or why she was there. It was cold, especially after Mark's rude behavior. Mark had silently left the room to get Paul because I had broken through my first blood pressure pill, which I knew, and would have to begin a second one.
    This is the beginning of a story written because I am feeling like I need to go to the bathroom at any moment. My stomach feels full, but in the last three days I have had one Subway sub and a PBJ sandwhich. I have no appetite. Sunday, I had blood in the toilet after a "bowel movement" - a couple of pebble sized pieces. I called Mark last Friday to discuss my symptoms and tell him I thought I had a bowel obstruction. When he called back, he said, "One thing I can tell you is that you don't have a bowel obstruction because you're going to the bathroom." I thought that was a rather snarky observation. How about a partial obstruction? He ordered X-rays. I immediately drove over to pick up the order and went to the hospital to have them done. Paul would have them in two days. I started calling at 9:05 today. I've learned that Paul has them, but he didn't call me back today. I am out of antidepressants but can't get any because Paul didn't send over to Walmart notification that I had increased the number taken per day.
    If I don't hear something from Paul's office, I'm going over there with this tomorrow morning for the staff's reading pleasure. I'm going to make something happen. But why the difficulty?
    Peter Nickerson, Philosophy Major, Class of '68, William and Mary