Meeping again

[rabidsamfan]

I feel fair useless these days, but part of that is that I had to have surgery on my elbow (for ulnar neuropathy... they move the nerve to a new place so it isn't pinched anymore.) They did the procedure Tuesday, and I've been playing a round of puke or pain ever since. Gosh, I hate pain meds!

And then today, when I finally got home (having spent the first few days with very patient friends) I needed to change from the bulky bandage to something lighter. Have you ever tried to position a bandage on the back of your left elbow? And since I live alone, I thought, oh, I'll go to the closest clinic and get a nurse to help me put it on right. Made the mistake of calling first, and after three or four people and entirely too long on hold got told, effectively, that I either had to travel for forty minutes by subway so that the hand surgery nurse could help me with the bandaid or I could ask a neighbor to help me, but it would be wrong wrong wrong and against policy for me to go to the nurses who help my regular doctor which would be a ten minute ride/walk away.

Not wanting to puke on the train (which is what would have happened) I actually opted for a colleague from a different branch of the library which I could walk to. But I kind of resent being told I should mind my tone of voice and that I'm rude when I'm on the fifth person I'm talking to and they are busy telling me no when the first four people were trying to get to yes. I've had to talk disgruntled patrons down more than once, and you don't start by telling them that they're being rude if you want to make any progress at all.

So by the time I finally got home from the library I was hurting a whole lot and succumbed to the temptation of the damn pain pill. And now I'm nauseated again. I can just imagine the state I'd be in if I'd gone all the way to Kenmore square.

I can see wanting the experts to look at something, but when I just wanted a pair of hands to help me do what I was theoretically supposed to be able to do alone, the restriction makes no flipping sense at all. Clearly, the whole concept of "lives alone" and "doesn't own car" has escaped these people. I am now crankily wishing them bad cess, in the hopes that they too will someday find themselves faced with the choice of forty bucks for a taxi, forty minutes each way on the train in pain, and knowing a perfectly reasonable alternative was only ten minutes away.

Comments

[leenah.livejournal.com]

damn. i love my medical group (thru my employer), though i've heard they aren't great for huge chronic things. makes me think of the hassles my parents had to go thru for healthcare, and that makes me grumpy.

i hope things are going better!