Am being overanxious?

Wow, that is frustrating!

First, your dh gets to choose his own doctor - don't make him change if he doesn't want to.
Second - definitely talk to the doctor. That is crazy that you're not getting any response. Totally unprofessional.

My doctor’s office is closed Friday afternoons during the summer. Have you called back since then? I understand your frustration. It is so difficult to get an actual person to answer a phone just about anywhere these days. I hope your DH’s surgery is a success. I’m sure your concern for him is upping the anxiety to the next level.

Super annoying and unacceptable. Unfortunately, all too common. I know im a broken record, but health care in this country is in crisis. For profit health care companies have bought up all the practices and insurance companies have so much red tape to get through in order to get any kind of reimbursement. Profit it prioritized over patient care. There’s one non clinical person to answer phones, check people in, do the paperwork….all that to say, I’m not sure another office will be any better, and then you lose the continuity of care and being well known by the urologist.

I’m sorry for what you’re going through, but I’m honestly not that surprised. I find it next to impossible to get in contact with the doctor’s office these days. You have to leave a message, then it takes at least 24 business hours for them to get back to you, and inevitably they manage to catch you when you’re unavailable, so they leave you a message and the game starts all over again. I had my thyroid out in February and the surgeon’s office was particularly nasty. Now I feel there are billing issues, which I asked to speak to someone about when I was there for my last follow up. I was informed that person wasn’t there and they would call me back. They never did – they sent me an email that did not fully answer my questions. it goes on and on like this.

We had that issue with getting the patient portal information or a return phone call. The office was close so the next day we walked in to get what we needed.

It's practically impossible to speak to anyone at any of my doctor's offices without waiting a day for a callback.
It's unfortunately the norm now. I've been playing this game for the last ten years and it's hard to manage your cancer care having to do this, very annoying and unnecessarily stressful.

Maybe you can go in person and ask? Or leave a message on the nurse line, if that's an option.

Thinking good thoughts for your husband.

Too bad. You need the info and she won’t get it to you via other channels.
My kid’s pediatrician had a terrible office manager. Mean, never called back …. It was the physician’s wife. So complaining did nothing.

That’s annoying. I’d definitely go there in person — though of course you shouldn’t have to. Good luck with your husband’s surgery. I hope it all turns out well. 

I understand how immensely frustrating it is to get in touch with your doctor's office. I currently am working a contract at a primary care office. We have about 10 doctors and 30 residents in the practice and the amount of work is overwhelming. I'm one of the nurses. I'm working contract with the office because they are severely short staffed. We have soooo many things we need to do for both patients and doctors that there is just not a way to get it all done with the amount of staff available. I can go to work at 8am and leave at 4:30 and only take my 1/2 hour lunch. That means I don't get any other breaks. No time on my phone. No time chit chatting. Constant continuous working. I walk into work on Monday with an inbox of over 100 phone calls that have come in that need to be worked. Not all of them will get answered each day since they vary so much in what needs to be done. We also have full inboxes of medication refills, lab/imaging results, notes & requests from the providers, follow-up on calls we've been working on, and going through patient portal requests. The list is endless. I think there are probably about 10-15 boxes of information that needs someone to go through daily. We have to prioritize and answer the most important first. We could probably get through most of the computer work each day if we were 100% uninterrupted. But during the day we are answering patient triage calls that come through the call center, responding to patients that have stopped into the clinic with a question, attending to clinic patients that need a nurse for something, taking patients that come to clinic and need to be admitted to the hospital or emergency room to their respective departments, the list goes on and on and on...

So, all this to say, I can imagine specialists are just as bad since they have so many patients trying to get in to see them. Patients are sicker and care is more involved. My advice would be to go into the office. The front desk staff should be able to get you situated with the portal pretty quickly. I would also ask to speak to a nurse. They should be able to answer any questions you may have fairly quickly.

Good luck on your dh's surgery-I hope all goes well.

I read all the responses here. The nurses who gave you advice are spot on. I retired 4 years ago....... sooner than I thought I would but I could no longer deal with the bureaucracy. But I think I can offer you some ideas.
First, physically go to the office on Monday. Take a book. Play nice with the front desk but ask to speak with a nurse. Tell them you can wait.
I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE you to befriend some of the nurses in this practice. They don't need gifts. Just some kindness. My guess is they are overwhelmed and the office manager makes them crazier than she is making you. I know you are concerned about your husband. Tell the nurse that. Tell him/her you are not normally difficult but you are scared. Really scared. She/he will get it, I promise.
You absolutely have reason to be frustrated but, in order for technology to work for the patient, you must have access. A good nurse will help you.
I pray that all goes well for your husband. His choice of physician is HIS choice. Your role is to be his best advocate and his constant support. Almost every nurse I have ever known is compassionate. They will call you back. But they have to know who you are first and I think the clerical help is not making sure that happens.

To the nurse with the contract assignment: you made me catch my breath. This was the EXACT situation I retired from. Nurse manager in a large surgical practice. Inbox full all the time. Every month over 150 surgeries. Never left if there were calls to return or prescription refills on my desk. Never enough help. It is brutal. God bless you!