Made It Thru!

I am happy to report that I made it through my medical procedure this morning without dying of starvation up to it... Hubby took me for a scrumptious cajun seafood lunch since I went to bed last night talking about my craving for seafood. I must have fell asleep today under the spell of anesthesia while telling the doctor that I was leading the Sprints workout tomorrow morning at Boot Camp... because when I woke up he made I sure I knew that he understood how important it was for me to be at Boot Camp tomorrow to lead!
And also how I made sure he know how much those 5:30am campers were depending on me! TOO Funny!
So Hubby and I spent today together... taking it easy... and I will definitely be at Boot Camp tomorrow...

You Just Gotta Love Old Folks

My Grandmother had an early eye appointment this morning, so I cut my weekend with Hubby short to make the drive down to her place yesterday afternoon. As I predicted she was ecstatic that I came down to spend the night with her… she was so was excited that I think she worked herself into almost a slight state of confusion. At least more confused than her normal level of daily confusion. Taking her to supper at the cracker barrel was not too bad but, the simple act of walking to, through and from the restaurant proved to be a task. You see she has this mental block about walking in unfamiliar territory. She just automatically assumes that the surface is uneven; therefore, she keeps tripping over invisible obstacles and walking in little baby steps in a really, really slow pace. I feel like I am practically dragging her around the parking lot! Of course, assuring her all along that I will not let her fall… After the ordeal of getting her in the place and seated, she ate everything on her plate and did not even make too big of a mess! She would have licked the remaining honey mustard off her plate if I had let her! I just kept thinking back to when I was a child and she was the adult and how she used to fuss at me for my manners… boy, have times changed! Although, I do not fuss at her… as a matter of fact, I welcome her using her fingers to pick up her food to eat it… since her use of utensils is practically gone… anything to help her eat more food.
When, we made it back to her apartment, I opened up my nail salon and went to work on her finger and toe nails… I will not even go there on trying to describe what that awful experience was like…
And then I discovered the bathroom… after a wild goose chase for cleaning products, I spent the next hour mopping her bathroom floor three times and cleaning the toilet, sink and all other horizontal surfaces in there.
Next, I spent over an hour trying to get her to change into her pajamas… she just could not pull it together mentally to complete the task. I finally wound up helping her…
All night was spent either burning up or freezing to death in her apartment… it was awful. I do not think I ever fell into a deep sleep the entire night. I kept getting up to turn the AC on… and then she would wake up and start asking me what was wrong… I finally tried to just sleep on the couch next to the AC unit… and then froze! Needless to say, I was very ready to rise when the waking hour happened upon us.
After a trip to the eye doctor that included a 2-hour wait in the waiting room, I was very ready to head back to the metropolis late this morning… but, not until after I overheard a conversation between two elderly ladies in the waiting room watching one of those cable news networks on the waiting room television. One lady said to the other (after watching a report titled “Palin is the newest TV star”, “She isn’t no TV star, she is a god-fearing normal person with good values and good judgment who just wants to represent the rest of good folks”. Amen, sister. You just gotta love old folks…

What Ever Happened to Customer Service?

So I had my “annual” visit with my “woman” doctor this past Wednesday. Now when I was a lot younger I dreaded these yearly appointments to the point that I really made myself sick at my stomach. It has gotten easier over the years I will admit… of course, that could be because I really love my current doctor. She is personable, laid-back, calming and FAST. And getting my examination over as quickly as possible makes me feel a lot less nervous. I suppose I have been going to her office now for about 5 years and she has changed office locations about 3 times since I started going there. Well the current location is in a Medical Building behind Piedmont Hospital. My appointment was at 11am so I left my office around 10am because I was not sure what the traffic or parking situation would be. Fortunately, I had no problem with traffic but, then my luck started going downhill once I arrived to the parking deck. The overhead tube-like signs stated that the clearance was 9’0”- great! But, then after I got my ticket and pulled inside another tube sign stated that the clearance past this point (you know- where ALL the parking is) was only 7’0”!! My company truck has this HUGE headache rack on the back of it and will not fit under 7’0”!! So I had no choice but to go right (which was down to the bottom or the Exit direction). At first, I thought “no problem… I will just park near the exit but all of sudden I realized that EVERY freaking parking space from the entrance level down was marked “Physicians Parking Only”… What a crock! I drove all the way to the last bit of physicians designated parking and parked right next the cashiers booths at the Exit. I got out and walked up to the first booth. I explained my situation and thankfully she understood. I then walked the long distance to the building entrance and made my way to my doctor’s office…. And then my luck went south again. I walk up the desk to sign in… there is no sign in sheet. I tell the lady my name as requested. She asks me if I “downloaded my paperwork and brought it with me”. I tell her no and then she starts getting all short with me… I am wondering how in the heck would I know to “download” any paperwork BEFORE I came to this appt??? She just jerkily hands me a clipboard and tells me she needs my insurance card. I explain that my insurance has not changed and that I do not have an insurance card with me (I have requested one twice in the past year from my insurance company- none have shown up). Then, she really turns up the crabbiness on me… she says that there was a problem with my card from my last visit (you know LAST year!) and that they will Not see me today if I do not produce a problem-free one today! I am thinking, “if there was a problem LAST year, why did you not call me BEFORE today and tell me so I could investigate the problem before this morning???? I ask her to show me a copy of my card and she hands me a copy of one for some guy named Jerome… I hand it back and tell her that I am not Jerome. Now she is really mad at me. She says well that is your card in your file. Now I am dumbfounded. I just go sit down to fill out the 99 pages of paperwork and ponder if calling my insurance company is really necessary. I then call Hubby and ask him to fax a copy of his card. To make a long story short, in the end, because I showed up 20 minutes early, I got all the freaking paperwork done before my appt time and Hubby came through on the card fax… so Hot-Headed Receptionist calmed the heck down after pulling a major “She-Nay-Nay” attitude on me for my first 20 minutes in the waiting room. Once I got in with the Doctor every went smooth sailing! What I cannot understand is why the Doctor is so nice and her staff is so melodramatic?? What ever happened to Customer Service??