Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2009. That day we came back to the hospital to attend the launching of the children's art gallery. The gallery is located on the ground floor of the hospital, and in order to get to elevators of the comprehensive cancer center, you have to pass this gallery. Mattie and I both provided art work for the unveiling reception. Mattie's contribution was a Lego model of an ideal hospital room (from his perspective) as well as both a poem (featured on the left in a black frame) and a story about his Lego hospital (featured on the right in a black frame). Mattie was proud to be a part of this gallery and to take part in the opening ceremony.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 78,514,209
- Number of people who died from the virus: 935,816
I got up at 6am today, in order to get my morning tasks done..... including getting my dad up, showered, dressed, and downstairs for breakfast so that I could leave the house at 8:30am. I had an appointment at Mattie's hospital for an x-ray and follow up appointment with my kidney stone doctor.
Mattie's hospital is under construction. They are building a new surgery center and the whole place is congested and not user friendly. Parking is worse than ever. In fact, it is almost impossible to self park, and as I negotiated my way to the parking lot, it brought back memories, COUNTLESS ones of driving Mattie to the hospital and trying to find a place to park. I can recall walking up and down ramps of the garage with Mattie in tow in a wheelchair. My hope is that the new surgery center accounts for parking and addresses this major problem at the hospital.
Due to construction, all the entrances and DOORS into the hospital are blocked. In some cases doors have been walled over. I swear it looks like a prison inside. Fortunately I know my way around the hospital, because if I were new to this facility now, I would be lost with no way to get outside! I showed up at the radiology department around 9am. In its usual dysfunction, I tried to check in. The woman behind the counter gave me a number and told me she would call me to assist my check in process. So I held the number and sat for 15 minutes. After which, I flagged someone else down and told him I needed help because I wasn't happy with this number system. At that point, I was escorted to a window to register for the KUB x-ray. Who knows what would have happened if I did not assert myself!
The x-ray went smoothly, and fortunately I am mobile and flexible. After doing assessments with my dad, I realize how important it is to be able to move. My dad has many physical limitations and trying to put him flat on a table for any sort of radiology testing is close to impossible. After my x-ray, I waited in the hospital for about 90 minutes until my doctor's appointment. Initially I was going to leave the hospital and walk around to get hot tea. Given how locked down the hospital is due to construction and COVID, I stayed put. The doctor's office was running behind as well. I am NOT in love with his staff, and listening to their meaningless banter about hamburgers practically sent me over the edge. But I did get in, saw the doctor, and found that I haven't produced anymore kidney stones in a year. Excellent! One blessing for the week.
If someone would have told me that going to a hospital for an x-ray and a doctor's appointment would be viewed as freedom and respite, I wouldn't have believed it. But this is what this adventure was for me today.
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