As a reporter I've interviewed a lot of people in a variety of situations. Part of that job is not being intimidated. You have to go into an interview knowing how to control the situation.

But calling the offices of potential endocrinologists and asking for an interview appointment was a completely different scenario. Especially since most places I called said "Oh, the doctor doesn't do that." So half of my questions went out the window because I wound up talking to a medical assistant.

Some example answers I got:

*If I call with a question, who will get back to me and when? Most likely a medical assistant usually within 48 hours, but sometimes up to 72 hours.

*What is the typical wait time in the waiting room? In the patient room prior to seeing the doctor? The normal amount of time a patient spends from start to finish in the office is 90 minutes.

*Will you or a diabetes educator or a nurse practitioner communicate with me on a bi-weekly basis via email and CareLink to make small tweaks to my basal rates and insulin:carb ratios? One said: Only if something is going on, not on a regular basis. Another said: Yes. But their Web site said there may be an extra charge for these types of services.

And the extra information I got:

One doctor leaves twice a year for one month at a time and appointments get pretty busy for a month or two before that.

One office offers early morning and Saturday appointments and a Medtronic rep visits their office once a week.

I had really not wanted to go to a different doctor every three months until I find one I click with, but that may just have to be the way to do it, especially since there seemed to be several pros and cons to several of the offices I called. Because despite my list of questions (at least one of the medical assistants I talked to was clearly annoyed that I was keeping her on the phone so long despite me asking if she had time for me to ask her some questions) you really just don't know what the experience will be like until you get there.