Gave Lea a ride to Harborview this morning to a hand-surgeon about her
carpal tunnel in both wrists. Handicapped
parking at Harborview is always tight in the late mornings. After exploring the entire garage in the new-ish
9th & Jefferson building, we finally found a parking spot near
the exit.
Up on the sixth floor, the two person line to check-in took as long as
the rest of the wait. It was not too bad
for being towards the end of the morning clinic sessions. Sometimes they can run really late. Long waits seem to be mostly a thing of the
past with better scheduling technology.
The surgeon gave her a shot of cortisone in her right wrist last
month. Within a day, the carpal tunnel symptoms
were greatly reduced. After 3-4 weeks,
the pain came back although maybe not as bad as it was a month ago. Today he gave her a shot in the left wrist.
Between being on Medicare and going to the public health clinic &
pharmacy, Lea has problems getting her prescriptions filled. She gets a new doctor about every month. What kind of doctor works in a clinic for a
month or two? Continuity of care is as
likely as seeing a Unicorn. Now she is
out of all her medications for depression, anxiety and problems sleeping. While I have not actually seen narcolepsy, her
falling asleep 5-10 per hour for a few minutes has to be some sort of sleep
disorder. 60 seconds of Wikipedia
research suggests hypersomnia of some sort.
She is not a good advocate for herself when dealing with health care
professionals. She is a great candidate
for a permanent surgical solution to her carpal tunnel in her right wrist. Between being barely conscious, off her meds
and lack of advocacy skills, she would have been passed-over for surgery had I
not briefly advocated for her. Lea
definitely did not interpret the clinic appointment interaction the same way I
saw it. If she can keep making her
appointments, she might have surgery by the end of the year.
I am grateful for my health care advocacy skills, for being able to
help someone less fortunate and for another nice swim this afternoon.
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