Urgency as a consequence of procrastination, who me?

One of my pet peeves at work is (and I am guilty of ranting about it here and here) is how when patients forget or procrastinate, it translates into extra work for me that has now become either a) urgent or b) emergent. This 'state of emergency' can result from the tiniest thing, like waiting until 4:45pm to call on a Friday in order to get a narcotic medication refilled.

Welp, guess who is the turkey now...my trusty, old Widex hearing aides made back in 1994 are now officially antique. And one of them bit the dust about 2 weeks ago. Apparently they don't repair these babies anymore. Due the rapidly aging population, I've discovered the hearing aids are now snazzy little dealies that come in rocket red, shiny metallic blue, come with Bluetooth technology, and can also function as an in-the-ear I-Pod. According to the photos, people that wear hearing aids are extremely chic and unbelievably sexy. In addition, my audiologist tells me that the digital technology is now actually worth all the extra cash one must fork over. He's reassured me; however, that I won't have to fend off errant, unnecessary male suitors.

I have some time off tomorrow to go to an NCCN conference and will take the afternoon to check out Costco and another local audiology place. Just so you have an idea of said prior events leading up to tomorrow:

March 5th-Saw my audiologist. Thought to myself, "I should make sure I get a copy of my audiogram" and forgot to ask for it before I left.

May 22nd-Ye olde hearing aid retired to the sweet hereafter

May 24th-Called the office for a referral to a local audiologist

May 27th-Heard back, referral was to an office in Kirkland. That's a no-go. I live in Seattle, not on SR 520.

June 2nd-Got approval at work for time off on the 11th for more fun with hearing aids. Thought to myself, "I need to get a copy of that audiogram."

June 10th-At 9pm at nite, I started shuffling through my files with the thought that at least I'll have my next most recent audiogram...and discovered the most 'recent' one I have is from 1999. I left a semi-pretty-please, semi-pitiful message on secretary's voicemail about faxing the report to my office tomorrow.... Realize (rather sheepishly and reluctantly) that....I am EXACTLY like those patients.