IS IT JUST ME?

Is it just me, or is a doctor’s appointment exhausting for everyone? My arthritis is acting up. Having secured an Orthopedist referral from my general practitioner, (the appointment with GP took a month to secure) I called and set up the first available appointment with the specialist. The date was another month away. Good thing my assorted arthritis pain comes and goes. It’s mostly tolerable, but every now and then, it feels like someone is jabbing an ice pick in my knee.

When I phoned, I was told I’d receive a packet of papers. I was instructed to fill them out completely (notice the stressed “completely?”) before I came to the office. A thick envelope arrived two days later. It consisted of ten pages. I had to print my name, address, telephone numbers and insurance information on five of them. My next of kin or “notify” person’s name and address and telephone numbers had to go on three pages. One sheet was a warning that if I failed to complete the papers, my appointment would be cancelled, and I would have to pay a $25 fee, and another warning that if I was a “no-show” or a half-hour late, the same fee would apply.

Three more pages that also needed my name and address were fill-in-the-bubble forms giving my medical history.

Figuring it would take some time to do the paperwork, I was almost glad the appointment was a month away. I began in the morning, when my mind is fresher.

ALL these papers were designed for people with very small handwriting. I don’t have that. I write a very large script. I once read that means I’m generous. I hope so. Trying to write my complete address on a three-inch line was impossible. My street name and number take twenty-two letters and four spaces. On top of that, I live in Henderson, Nevada.

Filling out the same information over and over will get on your nerves. I’m worn out and I haven’t even left the house. At any rate, the morning of the appointment, I read over the forms again and found about five spaces I’d missed.

Thinking the doctor’s office was only twenty minutes away, I left a half-hour ahead of time. That’s my habit–be early. Then, I ran into a detour. I was three minutes late, but they didn’t punish me by banishment. They turned the air conditioner down to fifty and had me sit shivering for a half-hour in a chair with legs so tall, my feet didn’t touch the floor. One of my fears is deep-vein-thrombosis, so I occasionally limped around the office to encourage blood flow.

I was taken to the inner sanctum almost right on time. After a brief examination and talk with the Orthopedist, I was given injections in both knees. Those of you who might have had that particular kind of shot, are now wincing. OUCH!

He told me to stay off my feet as much as possible for the next three days to allow the serum to take hold. Try explaining that to a long-legged dog who has a built-in, twice a day, Time for a Walk clock.

When I left the office, I was beat. Instead of treating myself to lunch out, which I would usually have done, I came straight home, had some comforting, low-sugar ice cream, and took a nap. 

I go back in two days for Doctor to look at my shoulder. He wouldn’t look at it today, because he won’t take care of more than two areas in one day, and I had two knees.

Taking a sweater this time.