08/08/2009 Genetic counseling nightmare!
My job as a genetic counselor can be pretty hectic at times. Thankfully the work load and stress ebbs and flows, and overall I remain content to be in the career I am. Well, Thursday night I came home and could not shake the day's work weight. To alleviate this, my husband and I went to our ole' standby, Pequods, for some pizza and beer. In our opinion, Pequods pizza is the remedy for all problems in life. Major world conflicts would be solved if only Pequods was served during negotiations. I feel strongly about this. We even went to Pequods the night we got engaged. I mean, just look at this pizza. Don't even get me started on the carmelized crust. Yum. So, I was happy again, and went to bed knowing that the weekend was not too far off. Well, standing in the shower Friday morning, it hit me out of nowhere that I had had a truly horrific, disturbing work dream overnight. Has that ever happened to you? You wake up exhausted without knowing why, and then, WHAM! you remember why you tossed and turned all night. Now this was the kind of dream that has its own chapter in a Dream book. It was the kind of dream that a shrink hears about and thinks, "yikes! " In this dream, I am at my parents' house in Michigan for a weekend. It is Saturday morning and I am still in my pajamas. Well, out of left field, my dad tells me that a former employer called saying they needed me to counsel patients for them today and oh, by the way, the patients will be arriving here any minute. A file folder of records slides across the kitchen table towards my orange juice. I feel a ball of panic rise in my gut as I flip through the records and can make NO sense of them. Are these patients coming for prenatal genetic counseling? Peds? Is it just genetic counseling, or do I also need to coordinate testing? For what conditions? What kind of doctor's office sends records like this? Then I ask, "Did they say how the heck I'm supposed to get paid? " And my dad admits he didn't ask. Well, I freak out. And as I'm freaking out, NO ONE in the house understands my distress, including my husband! They all think I am being unreasonable. What's the big deal? You'll be done by noon. We can still enjoy the day! In the middle of all of this, our phone rings and it is a family friend who starts crying to me about a family crisis. As I am on the phone with this person, our doorbell rings, and it's my first patient. "Listen, listen, I am so sorry, but I have to go, " I try explaining to the sobbing friend. I hang up and bolt upstairs to get dressed as my sister escorts this couple into our study. Thankfully at this point the dream ended, saving me the inevitable task of having to tell these patients that their HMO Illinois insurance could not be used in Michigan and that I was unqualified to perform amniocentesis procedures, which, I am sure, would have made them really, really mad. If that dream was not a sign that I needed a weekend, I don't know what is! Maybe another Pequods pizza is in order?
