So the previously mentioned lovely physiatrist ordered tests: pulmonary function, bone density, ultrasound of kidneys. The day started awful as I was awakened by the phone it was the hospital saying please call before i come. Infuriating as i operate at the edge of my ability and calmness and why the @#...@#$ couldn't the message just say what it was i needed to know vs make a phone call. sigh, so i calmed myself and tried to think through my routine to figure out when i could stop getting ready in enough time to make the call and still be ready when the bus came.
Turns out my first test -- which set the time for my departure wasn't going to happen. The woman kept saying it wasn't my fault it wasn't my fault which made me lose it. It took SO MUCH negotiating to get the bus etc. and it was all supposed to happen this day. I realized i didn't know which area to enter for testing. so i called the hospital and asked. The woman told me the front and that I would have to go down a hallway and to the left. I asked wasn't there a more direct route or another entrance? Well she said that was the way most people went--- I asked again and when she said" well that isn't so far as it sounds" I yelled, I'm paralyzed and slammed down the phone. I was very very lucky to get the bus to come an hour later, especially because i faced waiting for it for 2 and half hours after my last test anyway ---I didn't think i could stand sitting in the hospital for 4 hours. When we got to the hospital we drove in a circle around it..... the front had a brick awning that said clearance xxx, too low for the bus. Then we drove to the side that had a really lovely long, graded/flat sidewalk and the driver, since he could drop me off at the front, offered to roll me in and did. and guess what? RIGHT THERE, IN A STRAIGHT LINE of this this entrance, WAS the INTAKE FOR TESTING. (ARGGGGGGGGGGH i've said this before, but I've gotten the worst treatment and the worst information from those who are supposed to be in health/care) My bone density is normal, no deficits -- amazing for 4 years in the wheel chair. Since I'm lactose intolerant, those calcium and Vitamin D supplements have been doing their job. My last hour waiting a funny guy in a collarless shirt struck up a lively conversation about life, family, and then helped me over the carpet to the door, when i felt the bus might be coming and with the same synchronicity that our chat began with, my kind driver approached the hospital door. the guy offered his hand and said I didn't introduce myself, I Dr. X, the radiologist. When I got home( at 5:30) there were three garbage bags that smelled of apples and a 4 foot pile of weeds in the yard. It was volunteer day and an unknown group? from the community college came and worked on my yard. I called and left messages of gratitude. I've tried for three years unsuccessfully to hire someone to help me do the weeding. So this helped. --
