So yesterday I went to my appointment for the surgeon's follow up. I told him my story about removing steri strips accidentally and he didn't seem at all concerned. He actually thought the tape sealed the incision better than the stupid itchy steri strips. Also, the second area of concern from the MRI was just a vascular abnormality (so I am abnormal in yet another way). That was up in Peabody (20 minutes away).
That must have been the shortest doctor's appointment on record. I was in and out of there - including check in time - in less than 15 minutes. I didn't even have a chance to fill in their new home medication list. This is a new thing. They want you to bring a list of home medications and medical allergies with you to your appointments. They send it to you with your appointment reminder so you can fill it out at home and bring it with you filled in. I have actually remembered to bring one with me a few times but no one has ever asked to see it. Yesterday they gave me a blank one to fill in and I only got halfway through it and then they never asked for it anyway. Killing more trees...
So there I was driving down the highway to go to my next appointment in Burlington with radiation and my phone rang. Being a good person, I pulled over to check my voice mail and call back as it was the Burlington office looking for me because I had missed my 1030 am appointment yesterday morning. They called last week and had left a message with Walter that I had a 1030 and then 11 am appointments - obviously they did not look in the computer when they scheduled this as I already had an 1130 appointment 20 minutes away but in the same hospital. I immediately called back and said 1030 and 11 didn't work and rescheduled it for 130 pm. Well they never put that in their computer. And when I called them back yesterday they couldn't find the master sheet of paper they need for me. It is lost somewhere.
Needless to say I get to go back to Lahey today again to see if we can get through this. They were very nice and apologetic. What really gets me is one of the messages that they left at my home said something about how they knew I went to my 1130 appointment in Peabody. Grrr.... I assume they will not charge me for a missed appointment as the error was on their end. However, they are good at aggravating and cause continual patient confusion. Keeping them confused prevents them from complaining. (Actually I shouldn't complain because I think I do receive good care and don't have lots of issues with them. Its really just the scheduling stuff that gets aggravating - and the stupid floater nurse when I was hospitalized in August - let's not talk about her again!)
Yes there were OMWAHs in the Peabody parking lot. This was a new breed. He parked his giant conversion van, opened the door, took his time getting out, checked his pockets, looked back in his van, closed the door, walked up to the front of his van, started to walk away, walked back again, and then finally walked away. All this while I was waiting to pull into the empty space next to him (which was the only empty space in the lot). That's okay. Take your time. I am in no rush to go see the doctor. I am sure he won't mind waiting.
Today, the guilt sets in. I have to go to work this morning for a couple of hours and then spend the afternoon at Lahey. Should I go to the gym and work off my holiday flab this morning or should I be wimpy and claim it is too cold to go outside (4.1 degrees out - love those digital thermometers). I am pretty wimpy these days but also feel rather flabby. I was doing great on my diet yesterday until about 3 pm when I dug into the giant bag of cashews Santa left in my stocking. The good thing is they are basically gone now and I can't make such a pig of myself again.
(Un)fortunately we got our deliveries from bacon of the month club and ice cream of the month club. We must alter our diets so we can eat steamed vegetables with our bacon and ice cream I think. Skip the meat, just ice cream and bacon. Yummy!
Also, I think they will weigh me at the doctor's office today. I will claim my clothes weigh a good ten pounds I think. Really heavy socks.
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