Our
downstream neighbor finally gave in to my prodding and signed into the VA
health care system. He served in the Air
Force during the VietNam war and has permanent hearing damage. Among other normal diagnostic procedures that
new middle-aged patients are requested to undergo is the colonoscopy.
Common sense
in patient care requires that patients undergoing sedation and/or anesthesia
must have someone else drive them home.
Mike asked if I would provide driver services for him and I agreed.
I picked Mike
up at 1015 for the trip into VA. There
was about a 45 minute wait before he was moved into a holding room. In the holding room he was visited by two
physicians and an RN, each of whom moved into view from the curtain that set
his bed off from the outer room. That
sounds rather Dickensian if read correctly.
I may return to that. Mike told
the endoscopist to tell me the results. That
demonstrates a lot of confidence in the neighbor/friend relationship.
The
outpatient/day surgery waiting room is about 75% full of family members. The television is tuned to some local station
that is now running a soap opera. If one
includes the TV, multiple conversations, and the ever-present sound of monitors
it is hard to hear any single particular vocal source. Add the phone from OR/Recovery, and the
myriad personal ring tones that are now shared with us by people who give no
thought at all to whether others care to hear their current favorite bit of
noise, and the decibel level is around 75-80.
That is unpleasant and tiring to put up with.
The phone on
the waiting room wall keeps ringing as other patients’ families bet the interim
or final report about the particular procedure they have been chosen to
undergo. I am going to move away from
this seat asap. I don’t want to be
responsible for hearing clearly, what is intended for other families.
We discussed
lunch during the ride in. The Creek side
Café in Jonesborough is our target for a late lunch. I’m hoping for hot pastrami!
Mike is a
good neighbor and I’m happy to be his support and transport person for this
procedure. He’d do the same for me
without hesitation.
Thursday
Gloria and I are planning on going into town to the library and to have
passport photos taken. There may be a
way to get the photos done online. If
it can be done at no additional cost we will look further into that.
We will
hopefully be able to renew our passports by the end of the month.
The Reuben
sandwich at Creek Side was excellent.
We’re planning
to have black bean soup tonight. I’m
looking forward to that and to a good night’s sleep.
As for other
insults, there was a 4.0 quake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone at 0358. It was felt in 14 states including TN, KY,
& NC. We slept through it. It has been just about 100 years since the 1st
of the big New Madrid quakes was recorded.
This was supposedly the worst quake ever documented in the CONUS. The Mississippi river ran backwards for
several days, creating Reel Foot Lake in North West TN. Having seen the river at that point, I am
duly impressed.
No comments:
Post a Comment