Yes, I'm going to get another opinion. I'll look in the proverbial Yellow Pages under "proctologists" and see what I can find. The guy I saw today looked at it for all of five seconds, FFS; offered to lance and express it--when I told him that had been done, he said that I should just continue the care I've been giving it.
You know--prior to Obamacare, our medical system was pretty responsive. Or maybe it's just the local health care monopoly that's the problem. I don't know. What I do know is that I have an increasingly intense dislike for the "local" group (the tentacles of which extend as far as Michigan City, which is about an hour's drive from here at least). It's too damned big.
I used to get my medical care from a place not too far from here which had just about everything under one roof. They did everything there; I saw my GP there, I got lab work there; if I needed X-rays or radiology services that was there; I had a colonoscopy done there, too. It was all available there, convenient, at one phone number--so if I wanted to see a proctologist, I could call their number and ask for the proctology appointments desk. I could see the gastroenterologist there. Anything you needed, they most likely had it, one way or another.
...and it got run right out of business by the monopoly. The monopoly has all the services, of course, but they're far-flung. GP says you need an x-ray? Drive 45 minutes to that other place. You need to see a specialist? Call this number and make an appointment, and by the way it'll be a couple of weeks because he only sees patients two days a week. But hey, maybe they can squeeze you in at an incredibly inconvenient time for you.
But there's no need for customer service. Where else are you going to go? We're it, baby, and there's nothing else, so if you live in this area and you need medical care, the monopoly has you covered, you betcha! Sort of. When we get around to it.
I am convinced that there is, sooner or later, going to be a revolution in medical care that makes all this horseshit obsolete. Medical organizations that practice medicine like this will adapt to the new way, or die. I'm hoping this particular one just dies.
Prior to Obamacare, we were getting what we paid for. Now it seems as if we're not.
I contrast all this to the network I was part of when I lived in Cedar Rapids. Of course, CR has two hospitals, and is within a short drive of a third world-class teaching hospital--and when I lived there, there was competition for patients, and it showed. The hospitals were modern, not outdated. (The hospital I went to in 2011, before being sent to the psych ward--that hospital is old, and no matter what they do, it shows.)
Well, I guess it's a process. For now, I suppose I ought to go have a quick bath to clean the "affected area" again.
*sigh*