I'm glad your office visit went as well as could be expected.
My visit to the doctor's office went better than expected. I got into the exam room. He came in and politely introduced himself and asked if I was my FIL's daughter. He is not only Nick's doctor, but Nick's father's doctor. (My former doctor is Nick's doctors wife) I corrected him and told him I was the DIL, and Nick is my husband. He asked if I was a patient of his wife, which I confirmed. He smiled and asked what he could do for me. I told him that I was hoping he would be willing to take me on as a patient.
He asked me if I had gotten "the letter." It made me chuckle a bit because everyone talks about the infamous letter with exclusivity in that office as though it was a secret that only a certain club of people could know about. I told him I had, in fact, gotten "the letter".
He smiled and said that my former doctor could and would take me back as a patient. He had said that she had sent out a thousand of those letters, but it didn't apply to everyone. He and his wife had decided when they started that they wanted a family practice where whole families could get their care, men with him, women with her. That's not to say that he doesn't have female patients and she doesn't have male patients, just a comfort thing for their patients to have the option of a same sex doctor.
She had sent out the letters because she wanted to limit her practice to whole families and maternity. Also, she has limited her hours so she can spend loads of time with her little one. That being said, she was able to take me on again as most of my family is part of their practice already. I think that the letters were written the way they were so that singletons wouldn't come in and say "well, if she can be so-and-so's family doctor, she can be mine too..." It's kinda the office's dirty little secret. I kinda feel bad for those people, but grateful for my good fortune.