How long can I do this?
The other day (Friday, February 3, 2012) we managed another juggling of major medical appointments — much like “We managed to pull it off.”
Only harder this time, because one appointment had to wrap around the other.
Actually there were three appointments, if you count my wife’s radiation appointment, which was that morning.
The radiation is at Thompson Hospital in nearby Canandaigua, so she can get there herself. —I took our dog to the park.
But that afternoon I had a dental hygienist appointment scheduled, plus my wife thought she needed a blood-transfusion. Her counts were down, and she was feeling it.
A blood-transfusion is all the way into Rochester (NY), Strong Hospital, a 40-45 minute trip. I take her myself, since -a) she’s automotively-challenged, and -b) the trip is a monster.
She’d also have to park in the parking-garage, a zoo.
I can do all these things, but probably she couldn’t.
People don’t understand “automotively-challenged;” they think she could manage because they can.
But I understand. I’ve been living with this over 44 years.
Her father had the same problem, somewhat: indecisiveness and compromised judgment.
We get to parry the self-declared elitists and superior-mouths.
People that would terrify her behind the wheel.
The dental hygienist is also a trip into Rochester, but 30-35 minutes.
We decided to drop my wife off at the hospital, after which I would go on to the dental hygienist.
My hygienist appointment, scheduled six months ago, was at 2:45 p.m. My wife scheduled her blood-transfusion at 2:30.
A dental-cleaning takes perhaps an hour, so after it I would drive back to the hospital to pick up my wife or wait.
But I also had errands to run in the area.
This is how it always is. If we’re headed that way, we have errands we can do.
The errands would add 45 minutes to an hour to the cleaning.
1:30 arrived, and suddenly it was drop everything so we can get on the road.
Our poor dog was abandoned yet again in the house, third time that week.
She doesn’t like it. She wants us around, and would rather go for a walk or to the park.
At least I managed to get the dog to the park that morning.
We left a light on in the house, since Strong Hospital seems to be a vacuum-cleaner. Hour appointments turn into six hours. The light was in case it got dark.
I dropped off my wife, and then hit a mailbox drop-slot since I had time.
I turned off my SmartPhone for the hygienist, and when I unholstered it after she was done, it had a strange new icon.
It seemed to be hung. Nothing worked; it wouldn’t even turn on.
Since one errand was near a Verizon-store — our cellphone service-provider is Verizon — I decided to go inside and ask what the strange icon was.
“It seems to be stuck,” a geek said. “It probably needs a system-reset.”
“Ya mean a complete power-off reboot?” I asked. “Pull the battery?” (What I was going to try at home.)
“I’ve already done that about five times!” I said.
A second geek pulled the battery on my SmartPhone.
Back in business!
It has to work to call my wife.
“I’m glad you suggested that,” the second geek said; “a system-reset woulda wiped out everything.”
SmartPhone working, next errand, a battery for our garage-door opener. (Same shopping-plaza.)
Then next errand, a grocery-store I rarely shop, so I left almost empty-handed. —I couldn’t find anything.
I called my wife from the grocery-store parking-lot; she was almost done.
The amount of time it would take me to drive back to the hospital was about the time for her to get to the lobby: 10-15 minutes.
So amazingly we pulled it off: two medical appointments intertwined, plus two errands, plus an unexpected errand.
It wasn’t dark when we got home; I was able to walk the dog.
But it all wore me out.
I’m 68 years old. I don’t know how much longer I can parry a rat-race.........
• “Canandaigua” (“cannan-DAY-gwuh”) is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” It’s about 14 miles away. —We live in the small rural town of West Bloomfield, southeast of Rochester, NY.
• Our current dog is “Scarlett;” a rescue Irish-Setter. She’s approaching seven, and is our sixth Irish-Setter, an extremely high-energy dog. (A “rescue Irish Setter” is an Irish Setter rescued from a bad home; e.g. abusive or a puppy-mill. By getting a rescue-dog, we avoid puppydom, but the dog is often messed up. —Scarlett isn't bad. She’s from a failed backyard breeder.)
Only harder this time, because one appointment had to wrap around the other.
Actually there were three appointments, if you count my wife’s radiation appointment, which was that morning.
The radiation is at Thompson Hospital in nearby Canandaigua, so she can get there herself. —I took our dog to the park.
But that afternoon I had a dental hygienist appointment scheduled, plus my wife thought she needed a blood-transfusion. Her counts were down, and she was feeling it.
A blood-transfusion is all the way into Rochester (NY), Strong Hospital, a 40-45 minute trip. I take her myself, since -a) she’s automotively-challenged, and -b) the trip is a monster.
She’d also have to park in the parking-garage, a zoo.
I can do all these things, but probably she couldn’t.
People don’t understand “automotively-challenged;” they think she could manage because they can.
But I understand. I’ve been living with this over 44 years.
Her father had the same problem, somewhat: indecisiveness and compromised judgment.
We get to parry the self-declared elitists and superior-mouths.
People that would terrify her behind the wheel.
The dental hygienist is also a trip into Rochester, but 30-35 minutes.
We decided to drop my wife off at the hospital, after which I would go on to the dental hygienist.
My hygienist appointment, scheduled six months ago, was at 2:45 p.m. My wife scheduled her blood-transfusion at 2:30.
A dental-cleaning takes perhaps an hour, so after it I would drive back to the hospital to pick up my wife or wait.
But I also had errands to run in the area.
This is how it always is. If we’re headed that way, we have errands we can do.
The errands would add 45 minutes to an hour to the cleaning.
1:30 arrived, and suddenly it was drop everything so we can get on the road.
Our poor dog was abandoned yet again in the house, third time that week.
She doesn’t like it. She wants us around, and would rather go for a walk or to the park.
At least I managed to get the dog to the park that morning.
We left a light on in the house, since Strong Hospital seems to be a vacuum-cleaner. Hour appointments turn into six hours. The light was in case it got dark.
I dropped off my wife, and then hit a mailbox drop-slot since I had time.
I turned off my SmartPhone for the hygienist, and when I unholstered it after she was done, it had a strange new icon.
It seemed to be hung. Nothing worked; it wouldn’t even turn on.
Since one errand was near a Verizon-store — our cellphone service-provider is Verizon — I decided to go inside and ask what the strange icon was.
“It seems to be stuck,” a geek said. “It probably needs a system-reset.”
“Ya mean a complete power-off reboot?” I asked. “Pull the battery?” (What I was going to try at home.)
“I’ve already done that about five times!” I said.
A second geek pulled the battery on my SmartPhone.
Back in business!
It has to work to call my wife.
“I’m glad you suggested that,” the second geek said; “a system-reset woulda wiped out everything.”
SmartPhone working, next errand, a battery for our garage-door opener. (Same shopping-plaza.)
Then next errand, a grocery-store I rarely shop, so I left almost empty-handed. —I couldn’t find anything.
I called my wife from the grocery-store parking-lot; she was almost done.
The amount of time it would take me to drive back to the hospital was about the time for her to get to the lobby: 10-15 minutes.
So amazingly we pulled it off: two medical appointments intertwined, plus two errands, plus an unexpected errand.
It wasn’t dark when we got home; I was able to walk the dog.
But it all wore me out.
I’m 68 years old. I don’t know how much longer I can parry a rat-race.........
• “Canandaigua” (“cannan-DAY-gwuh”) is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” It’s about 14 miles away. —We live in the small rural town of West Bloomfield, southeast of Rochester, NY.
• Our current dog is “Scarlett;” a rescue Irish-Setter. She’s approaching seven, and is our sixth Irish-Setter, an extremely high-energy dog. (A “rescue Irish Setter” is an Irish Setter rescued from a bad home; e.g. abusive or a puppy-mill. By getting a rescue-dog, we avoid puppydom, but the dog is often messed up. —Scarlett isn't bad. She’s from a failed backyard breeder.)
posted by BobbaLew at 3:44 PM
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