"We usually refer our patients to New York Eye and Ear Infirmary."

Why is it so hard to find a new doctor? And why is it so hard to get an appointment that isn't scheduled for next fall?

When I woke up this morning, I noticed that the corner of my left eye was severely bloodshot. No worries -- from time to time blood vessels in the white of the eye will break either from trauma or from some other cause. Further inspection revealed that there seemed to be some sort of ripple in the surface in the center of the bloodshot area. Did I accidentally scratch at it in the middle of the night? Who knows. Mind you, I am not in any pain nor is my left eye about to fall out, but it looks narsty enough to frighten small children and prompt my coworker to ask, "Is there something wrong with your eye?" She even thought I should go to the emergency room.

Okay, so I'm not usually not the kind of person to run off to the emergency room unless something has been cut off, but I could see her point that perhaps some form of professional medical attention was warranted. This was my eye after all. So I sighed heavily like a martyr, opened up the online provider directory for my health care company, and picked a random name from the hospital in Union Square. You can tell I put a lot of careful thought into this.

So after waiting for two hours for the doctor's office to call me back (I left a message on their urgent care voice mail), they tell me that not only are appointments available in JULY that they usually refer patients to an eye specialist at 2nd Avenue and 14th. Okay, thanks a bunch. So I called the eye specialist and their offices close at 3pm. This is 4:35. You see what I get for trying to be all good and see the doctor?

Guess this will have to wait till tomorrow. Pray that my eye doesn't fall out in the meantime.