A Series of Unfortunate Experiences

Unfortunately, the road to recovery takes people down some interesting byways and pathways.  Last week I reported on how well I was doing: lung cancer no longer detectable for X-Ray, playing a fairly normal game of golf, etc.  But since Friday of last week, I have been a fragile, sickly guy who feels his age.

Friday, I went in to the START Center for hydration—a two-hour I/V drip that adds a liter of saline solution to your body.  That makes me feel good immediately.  I walk better, have a more pleasant disposition, and, hey, people seem to like me again.

That same Friday, I made an appointment with my pulmonologist for the following Monday.  Why?  I have this very nasty cough that the Onc Docs don’t seem to think is caused by the cancer.  The Pulmonologist prescribes 4 different sprays, some of them to be applied twice a day plus a huge series of antibiotics called Amoxy-Clav.  I thought I might bead them all into a necklace.  Please note:  no pain, just that annoying exhausted feeling.  Wednesday, I crawled out of bed and decided I did not feel strong enough to go to Dean’s Council meeting.  Instead, Susan toodled off to teach future educators and I went in for more hydration.

I got home at about 11 a.m. and Susan was already there:  her lower leg tightly bound with an Ace bandage, ice wrapped around her foot.  It’s been wet in San Antonio lately and the cedar pollen has joined my second favorite allergy:  molds.  But the wetness also made the stairway at the school slick and wet.  So, ker-blam!!!

I called the San Antonio Orthopedic Center.  I explained carefully to the appointments people that she need to have her foot looked at.  And then I made a mistake.  They asked if she had seen any of their doctors before.  I said, yes, Dr. Brad Tolin, when she had knee replacement.  So, the little twit came back and told me we had an appointment with Dr. Tolin at 3 p.m.  I started to remind her that “we have” a foot problem, not a knee problem.  She said “no problem” and hung up.

We walked into the Orthopedic Center and signed in.  Susan had to fill out twenty pages about herself and the nurse at the desk said, “Dr. Tolin only sees knees.”  I told her I knew that but the incompetent little twit making reservations didn’t seem to hear a work except Tolin had been her doctor once.  So, I told her, let’s get the knee x-rayed and the foot.  At that point she informed me that she would need a doctor to order a foot x-ray.  We forget, perhaps because they do save lives, that the medical profession is as bad and bureaucratic and incompetent as any other profession.

Tolin’s okay.  He had her knee x-rayed and also ordered an ankle/foot x-ray: a small bone chip at the top of the foot. He referred her to a foot doctor colleague of his and we were off:  Susan sporting a fancy new pump-up boot.

That’s all for now.  I’m going to have another i/v for hydration.