Doctors

Today we met with the new Infectious Disease doctor.  That required my getting up at 4:45am, leaving the house at 5:15, noticing the fuel level and stopping to fill up before arriving at Stafford where I helped Neal get ready for the trek.  His roommate's wheelchair was parked between Neal's bed and the closet and the footrest was flipped to the side.  A sweet little nurse's aide came in to get Neal's travel oxygen tank to refill it, and didn't see the footrest - stumbled and fell on the tile floor.  I really thought she was hurt because of how she landed.  The roommate has been a challenge since he arrived two days ago with a bruised hip.  He had been upset all night (Neal's various machines make noises and apparently the roommate thought they should all be disconnected for his sleeping pleasure), and the nurse falling over his wheelchair didn't even motivate him to ask if she was all right.  She said she was fine, but it was a relief to return from the doctor's appointment and learn that he had demanded a single room down the hall and had been moved.
Back to the doctor adventure.  I really don't like driving in traffic, I don't like driving to unfamiliar places, and driving into Seattle is stressful for me.  Then there's worry about Neal and his current health, so the combination turned me into a bundle of clenched muscles and white knuckles.  But I digress.  One of the office staff at the doctor's office had given me brief instructions about the best way to find parking near their office, and after only one loop around several blocks I was able to find the entrance and a real handicap parking spot and the lobby of the doctor's building.  We had left Stafford sooner than anticipated and traffic moved very smoothly all the way, so we were 90 minutes early for the appointment.  Eventually we saw the doctor and the visit went well.  There are a lot of details to work out since now there are five doctors who have to agree on a course of treatment (Stafford resident doctor, primary care doctor, new infectious disease doctor, cardiologist and heart surgeon), before contacting Medicare to see if they will cover any changes, and then order equipment for setup here at home.  Neal wanted everything resolved so he could come home today, but Dr D thought a more realistic target would be the end of the week.  Neal's birthday is next week, so I just hope he will be home by then.
After the appointment we came to the house to eat lunch.  I wasn't sure if that would be upsetting for Neal or not, but he seemed to just soak up the feeling in our home and was okay with going back because he needed to talk to the case coordinator and discharge clerk.  The stress of the morning made Neal sick again and that worried me.   I hung around to make sure they knew Neal needed another wound vac and to have them schedule me for training on the IV infusion tomorrow morning.  That starts at 6am tomorrow!   Then I'll need to stick around most of the day because the wound care specialist wants to meet with me as well and she will be there in the afternoon.  No wonder my house looks neglected.
But this new ID doctor is a huge improvement over the previous one - not necessarily with years of experience but certainly in people skills and willingness to listen.   We are grateful.