I do not prefer to be a complainer...I think I am a 'peace-keeper' by nature. There are times, however, that issues or situations arise that 'get in my crawl' and this is one of them.

I called the base medical clinic today to make an appointment with my PCP (Primary Care Provider). I love my PCP! Dr Mace is awesome. Oops, I digress.

Anyway, the lovely lady answering the appointment desk asked what my 'issues' were. I replied that I need to schedule my annual pap (yes, lovely), have a back injury that is still causing great pain and need to follow-up on a previous surgical procedure. The appointment desk lady told me that these were separate issues and would need separate appointments. Of course I inquired as to why, at which time I was given that frustrating, albeit, lame response, "It's policy."

Policy? Ok, then could I schedule all three appointments back-to-back. (How silly of me...) The answer was, "No, that's against' [you guessed it] "policy."

So it seems, if you have issues requiring medical care that exceed the 20-minute-per-session limit you will have to come back as often as the 20-minute-per-session-per-day policy will require.

Let me clarify. This means I will need to schedule three appointments on three separate days, taking time off work and scheduling child-care for three separate events? And this serves WHO?

It seems to me that perhaps my physician might even want to hear about all my medical issues at one time. I mean, could they be related? Would it not enhance total quality care? But what do I know...I am only a columnist.

And in this day of $4/gallon gasoline, I am thrilled to have to make three separate trips to the base for what could have been accomplished in one trip. [Does this qualify for Tri-Care Mileage reimbursement?]

Well, please know that I will not be in the office on Thursday (medical issue number one), nor will I be in the office on the 16th or the 18th (medical issues #2 and #3).

Ya' gotta' love "policy"...