I had been struggling with undiagnosed chronic health issues for a while. New PCP promised to read through my symptom logs, look at some of the literature I provided her about the condition(s) I suspected, and call me back in a few weeks for a followup.

I waited about a month and finally called the office. The receptionist told me there was nothing on record about a followup. I scheduled it myself. The doctor referred to my symptoms as "that mess," among a few other snarky comments, and brushed off the possibility that some of the specific testing I asked about would show anything.

Finally I just ordered all of the testing myself through a direct-to-consumer service. My labs came back covered in flags and showed pretty much exactly what I expected. For one, I discovered I'd been going through a pandemic with an undiagnosed immune deficiency.

Thankfully, she was a lot kinder and more respectful toward me when I came back with labs in hand. She actually seemed impressed and acknowledged that I had an extremely accurate sense of what was happening with my health, and my interactions with her went smoothly after that, but I still think about those first two visits a lot.