AT THE HOSPITAL

 Hello, friends.  Welcome to the weekend.  Not only is it the weekend, but it is Pentecost.  And Joe's birthday.  I have some things planned for him and I hope he likes them.

Things are looking up for me.  I still get teary now and then, but for the most part I am back to being myself.

Yesterday Joe had a doctor's appointment at the VA Hospital.  I drove him down.  I was going to sit in the parking lot and wait for him like I usually do, but I had forgotten my phone.  He had no way to get in touch with me nor I with him.  Usually, Joe will give me a call to let me know he is done and then I will tell him what level I am on, and he will take the elevator down to meet me.

I dropped him off at the front door and then went to get a place to park.  I had a hard time finding parking.  All the handicapped spaces were taken and so were all the spaces close to the elevator for me to go up.  I went to the lowest level and found a space sort of close to the door to the hospital.  I sat there for awhile just getting myself together.

When I got out of the car, I noticed that I was straddling the line and parked in two spaces.  And it was much farther from the elevators than I thought it was.  I couldn't walk that far.  I got back into the car, drove around the lot again and as I got to the handicapped section, a car pulled out and I was able to pull in.  Right next to the elevators!  Thank you, God.  I did thank Him profusely for such a blessing.  I took my walker out of the back seat, put all the things I had with me in the bottom of the seat of the walker so that I didn't have to carry them, and made my way into the hospital.

It was a good thing I went in.  When I got to the clinic I didn't see Joe anywhere.  And to make it worse, I couldn't remember which module he was in.  I went up to a registrar and asked if she could help me.  She asked for his name and Social Security number and then told me I was in the wrong place, that he was one room over. I really thanked her.

I was sitting in the correct space for a while when Joe finally came out.  He saw me and came over.  I had been reading a book, so I wasn't wasting my time.  I never have time to read anymore so this was wonderful.  He said he had to have a shot and had to wait for a nurse.  Finally, she came out and he went back with her.  Then when he came out, he said he had to have his eyes checked and a tech right there was going to do it.  So, we waited.  And waited.  After about 15 minutes, he went in to see her.

By this time, we had been there over two hours.  So, when I saw him come out of the eye office, I was ready to go.  But wait... there's more.  Then he had to get a brace for his sore wrist.  Rather than run up to the second floor, I chose to sit in Starbucks and read.  (I actually got through about 12 chapters yesterday.  I say about because I am somewhere in the middle of chapter 12.)

Before I knew it, Joe was back.  I got up to leave but...  The rehab place was closed for lunch, and he had to go back in an hour to see them.  But he brought me potato chips and cookies because I said I was hungry.  What a guy!  Good thing I had brought a bottle of water with me.

So off Joe went to see the next doctor and I continued to read.  Fortunately, that was a short visit, and he was back in no time.  We were going to take a ride out to Lancaster County because he had such an early appointment with the original doctor and have lunch, but by now we had spent five hours in the hospital, and it was getting on towards rush hour.  I still had to get my medicine from the pharmacy, so we headed home.

When I got home, I was in a lot of pain in my legs, so I laid down for a "few minutes".  The next thing I knew Joe was waking me up, saying it was 8:30 p.m. and should we just call out for dinner. Uh... yes.  Not much of dinner for me because I was just not feeling great.  But enough to take my medicine.

What a day!  But at least Joe got a lot of medical things taken care of.  Wish there was a place like that for me where I could do everything in one place at one time instead of running all over the city from one doctor to the next.  Maybe someday.

See you all later.  I have lots to do today.  For those of you who watch my YouTube, I'm going to try to get a new video up today.  That's if my editing software behaves itself.

Kathy