I had an interesting change in routine last week, when my eye injections in Saskatoon took place on a Thursday as opposed to a Monday. I have no idea WHY it happened this way; the Monday wasn’t a holiday and my ophthalmologist never indicated he’d be away on that day. Either way, I rather enjoy my ability to see, so I take the appointments when they’re given to me. In this case, it meant that I would need to travel and stay in the city on Thursday night and into Friday morning as opposed to the Monday/Tuesday mix I usually do.
This showed a number of changes, including the fact that the Irish pub I hang out in while my eyes recover, was significantly busier than it usually is on a Monday night. That isn’t great fro someone like me, who prefers to sit in a quiet corner with his beer and binge-watch Netflix while relaxing than hearing a crowd and live music. Most would say, “If you don’t like it then you don’t need to go.” While this is quite true, having almost no ability to see leaves me with limited options for a meal. But I survived. There are worse things in life.
My bigger issue came from my time in the hospital. When I have a scheduled appointment, I make it a point to always be early. I do this for a number of reasons, including getting through sooner if there are cancellations and working through any potential delays. But for my eye injections, my appointments involve a vision text, ocular photographs and freezing BEFORE I have the actual injections. On this occasion, my appointment was scheduled for 3:10 in the afternoon. So, I showed up at 2:30 so that I could pay the cashier (my injections are not covered by my insurance), get through my vision text and ocular photos prior to the actual appointment.
This makes sense in theory. Unfortunately, it only works if other patients follow this concept, as well. Instead, I only got in to my eye exam AT 3:15, minutes after I should have received my injections. I commented on that to the technician who was doing my exam, which she responded that they put patients through in the order of their appointments. Although I tried explaining that I had been here for over forty minutes and should have been put through by now, it fell on deaf ears. One good thing that came out of it and one habit that I’ve gotten into, is asking for the results of my eye pressure test. This involves pushing a small plunger against the surface of the eye to test how much pressure the eyeball is exerting.
Much to my surprise, it’s almost always high. Through careful questions have led to the conclusion that speed-walking to my appointments contribute to that. I was also instructed to loosen my shoulders, take deep breaths and keep my feet on the floor as opposed to on the foot bar. The result is usually much lower pressure readings, which makes me and the medical staff far happier. That being said, my overall wait had me placed into a procedure room more than an hour later than my scheduled appointment. Total bullshit.
It shows a continuous progression of the systemic issues developing within the health care system. I’m just lucky that I’m still able to get my injections and in the hospital I’m used to, from the surgeon I trust. I recently read a news article about a patient who died in the waiting room of a hospital in my home Province of New Brunswick. i read another article where a woman was in chronic pain from an unknown source and her husband drove her to three different hospitals over several hours, just to be told to manage the pain as best she could and see her family doctor the following day. It’s a scary time to get sick.
Ultimately, I got my beer and boneless wings and enjoyed them both while slamming a few episodes of Cobra Kai. need to get boned up before the next part is released in September. But it was just noisy enough and populated enough that I was out and in my hotel room, ready to crash by 8:30 pm. I’m such a party animal. Next time I get scheduled for my injections on a Thursday, I might just stay in my room and order a pizza. Avoid all the hub-bub. ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 