Later in the Day

It was a good job I had lots and lots of sleep and felt great this morning because it was a really frustrating day today.

It took me 45 minutes to find a parking place when I went to see Fred this morning. At certain times of day, all the parking places outside the facility where Fred is are all taken but I have found that almost always, if I drive around the block and try again, a place has opened up–but not today! I did find a parking place on the street eventually and it there was about 30 minutes left on the meter. I went into the rehab place and asked the lady at the desk could she let me have $5 worth of quarters as I proffered a $5 bill. Then she said she was authorized to GIVE up to $3.50 in quarters if a visitor had to park on the street! Wow! I signed the sheet and took the money because I knew I would be going with Fred the place where out doctors reside for him to give blood to be tested. And we were scheduled to leave at 2 pm. {It was then about 11:30 so I really needed to feed the meter!}

In order to not to have to bother about bringing a granola bar or two, I bought a $3 ticket and opted to have lunch with Fred. As I came onto the floor where Fred is, I told an aid at the desk that I had a lunch ticket and did I need to do anything else? "Just hand the ticket to whomever brings the lunch, " she said. OK. I could do that. Fred’s lunch came at about 12:45 but no sign of mine. I waited patiently for a bit but at 1 pm, I went down to the place where the lunches were being served only to find no one knew anything about a guest lunch! I was polite when I indicated I had a ticket and I needed to be fed so I could go with Fred when the pickup hospital vehicle arrived. {If a family member cannot go with him, he cannot go.} At 1:20, a very apologetic nurse brought me lunch. I told her it was not necessary to apologize because bringing a visitor’s pre-ordered lunch was not, I thought, part of the nursing tasks! Fortunately, I can eat fast being the product of a school where the teachers had to supervise the class through a lunch line, stuff the food into her face and supervise the students putting up their lunch trays. And all of this in 30 minutes….

 So, we got to the place where Fred was going to the phlebotomists only to be told we had to go back to the front and register. I wondered why since I was holding the forms in my hand, but we did it. We were then told that the computers were down and to go back to the area where we were before and the paperwork I had originally shown there  would be accepted! She obviously saw the look on my face so she hastily said, "Let me go over first and I will explain it to them!" We had about a ten minute wait which was considerably enlivened by 9 month old twin boys who were apparently getting shots. The first one came back to the waiting area carried by his father and the second one went in with his mother. Everyone in the room was talking about how cute the babies were when the father told us that there was another one, a girl, at home and they were triplets!

Anyway, Fred gave the necessary amount of blood and the pick-up-and-delivery people were called to pick us up. Thirty minutes later they were called again and we were told they would be 10 more minutes. This was the same driver but a whole different and bigger bus which already had two people in it. Eventually, we DID get back to the facility and I went upstairs to pick up a bag of laundry which I will be doing tomorrow. It was 3:00 and we were were surprised that we had only been gone an hour! It felt like MUCH longer!

OK, this paragraph is about something that happened earlier. I came in and got on the elevator which was rather full. I walk with a cane and have no trouble asking for help with anything if I need it. {When one uses a cane, a third hand would be very useful! } One of the patients from the upper floors which are the nursing home floors not the physical therapy floors where Fred is, looked down at my shoes, commented that my shoelace was untied and bent down to do it up! I said, "OH, please don’t bother! I will do it myself when I get off the elevator!" But she went on tying it for me! This was accompanied by a remark along the lines of, "Well, we don’t want you falling down, do we!"  Now, I know she was just being kind, but what I wanted to say was "Get the hell AWAY from my shoelaces, missy! When I want my shoelaces retied, I will ASK to have them done!" What I actually DID say was, "Thank you. But it wasn’t really necessary."

The point of all this is to remind people that a person with a cane and silver-streaked hair can manage most things she has to do quite well. It is fine to hold a door open for me and I always say, "Thank you very much!" with a big smile, but please do not treat me like a child. If I had been unable to tie my own shoes, I would have asked for help or, more probably since I am a practical person, I would be wearing shoes with Velcro fastenings! I actually would have been pleased if she had said something like, "Be careful when you get off. Your shoelace seems to be unfastened!" to which I would have said, "Thank you for telling me. I will do it up the minute I get off the elevator!"

OK, time to eat. Tomorrow I will be doing a bit of house cleaning and a bit of laundry and a bit of grocery shopping. {I am, oh horror! out of bagels!} I will be back to visiting Fred on Saturday and Sunday.