I’ve come to accept that I am not about to get a diagnosis for this pain and nausea, or any kind of treatment, any time soon. I think, and hope, the pain I am experiencing is that which would respond to proper treatment. I won’t be getting that any time soon, as I will not get a diagnosis any time soon. A diagnosis would allow me to address my issues to the best of my ability, and hopefully rule out life threatening possibilities. I am hoping for a treatable diagnosis, with no long term physical damage resulting from the significant delays, fingers crossed. In the meantime I have adjusted as much as I can to my present condition, and wait for divine intervention. I am doing my utmost to avoid the emergency department at the hospital, as I feel without a diagnosis all they can do is pump me up with drugs for the pain; I’d rather those were prescribed for home use, a much better use of medical services. Last week I managed to secure an appointment with the Nurse Practitioner, next week was as early as I could be fit in; I’ve no expectation of progress.
Winter is having a wee visit. The temperature dipped to -11C last night, with a wind chill factor of -19C. Yikes! It is still cold this morning, but the sun is shining, such a cheery day. Tonight will be cold again, and then the temperature will slowly rise to seasonal norms.
Real estate in Canada has been transforming for the last few years. Homes at the low end of the market are over a third of a million dollars to purchase, and many are one million dollars or more. These are ordinary three bedroom homes, that used to be within the reach of working people. Not anymore. And new this year is the absence of any homes for sale where we live, there are only a few building lots available for purchase.
This spring what we have noticed, is that adult families are moving back in with Mom and Dad who own homes. In homes where an older couple used to live on our street, we now see two generations, or more. Also, homes that used to be occupied by families have been sold to absentee landlords, with bedrooms for rent. Where there used to be one or two vehicles in the driveways, there are now three, four, five, even six vehicles parked in front of homes, and some front lawns are now muddy parking lots for the residents of the house. It has become an extremely busy neighbourhood!
What brings this to mind this morning is “Rocket Man”. He drove by the house early this morning. I don’t know his real name, we call him “Rocket Man”. He is the boyfriend, of the granddaughter, of the older couple that live down the street. The granddaughter and boyfriend have moved in with her grandparents, and her parents have moved in with them too. Three generations are living in the house once occupied by two older people. This makes sense to me. “Rocket Man” has an old beat up car, with a muffler that has seen better days. He roars up and down the street several times a day. It isn’t that he is traveling too fast, it is that his “Rocket” is showing its age.
“Rocket Man” reminds me of my youth. I remember my boyfriend’s first car, an old Morris Minor, and it was a project! You could see the road go by, through the hole in the passenger floor. Still, it got us from point A to point B, providing a heady freedom.
The world I live in is changing again, after a long period in Canada of freedom-from-want-for-most. There is even a generation who grew up during this favoured period of time, who it seems thought it to be “normal”. All eras are a phase. Change always comes.
Cloudy days give way to sunny days. Droughts end with rain. Things can always be worse, and always, at any point in time, humans somewhere in the wide world are imposing suffering on other humans.
When we can be happy, I think we should. When we can spread happiness to others, I think we should. When we have the opportunity to make the world a better place, I think we should. Usually, what ordinary people can do is something little. So I watch for the little things I can do. The universe brings those opportunities like gifts. It isn’t easy to mindful of opportunities for action, and happy, at the same time. But the state of “doing what you can when you can can” is achievable.
Worldly
Weather
Updated on Mon, Mar 28, 9:55 AM
-10 °C
FEELS LIKE -18
Partly cloudy
Wind 19 NW km/h
Humidity 56 %
Visibility 24 km
Sunrise 6:56 AM
Wind gust 29 km/h
Pressure 101.4 kPa
Ceiling 9100 m
Sunset 7:29 PM
Quote
“The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.”
Ursula K. LeGuin
1929 – 2018
“Intolerable uncertainty”, oh, it’s awful. I hope both you and I can get some answers soon. I have a CT scan on my kidneys and bladder tomorrow. So hoping it’s something treatable and curable. <3
Joan, sending you healing thoughts!! I hope tomorrow’s scan gives you answers, and that those answers lead to treatment and healing!! ((hugs))
Maggie would the nurse practitioner be able to order different imaging that you could have done now? I don’t know how that works in Canada. I feel terrible that you’re going through this.
Joan I hope your cat scan provides you with answers and with a treatble condition.
Hugs to you both.
I have to make a new comment, as it won’t let me comment on the thread. I just got a phone call. It’s so frustrating! They are still waiting on insurance approval for my CT scan. SO now it will be April 8, 8:30am MST for the CT scan (unless they STILL haven’t heard from the insurance company!) I pray the insurance company finally comes through (it is listed as “pending”) Thank you for the continuing good wishes.
Sandy, health care in Ontario is in crisis. The provinces handle health care here, so every province is different, but I think all of them are stretched out of shape at the moment.
The wait times for testing are long, I have more tests in April and May that were requisitioned in January. I might have to have an alternative imaging procedure, in the past a ct scan for me was cancelled by the department because they didn’t know what was in the dye, and I still don’t know. You would think it would be a easy to let a patient with allergies know, but apparently it is rocket science to read a label, or provide a product name so the patient can do their own investigations. I will wait months for the CT scan appointment, then if that doesn’t work out, wait months more for the alternative scan, probably an MRI. Pathetic. I think if you have something easy to diagnose the process works fairly well here, but anything outside that very narrow parameter, and it becomes a nightmare. Thank you for your good wishes Sandy!
Joan, pending insurance, how frustrating! Goodness, systems seem to be malfunctioning all over North America. I wonder if a friendly call to the insurance company would help. Sometimes things get lost in the shuffle. I hope you are able to stay fairly comfortable while you wait for the bureaucracies involved to make their connections.
Everyone I’ve spoken to about it says they’ve gotten more results and help from a nurse practitioner than from a doctor. So good luck to you! -Kate
Kate, thanks for your good wishes! I will need luck!
The non-profit corporation that employs the NPs at our clinic is not doing a good job, in my opinion. There is a high staff turnover of NPs and Drs at this clinic, currently they have no doctor, but not the office staff, who can be difficult to deal with. The issues we are seeing have not existed when we had a GP. The NPs we have seen are employees, and are not making any of the administrative decisions at the clinic. Not a good setup, but the only access we could find for healthcare, other than the emergency departments at hospitals and walk in clinics, where there is no continuity of care at all, and as a senior continuity of care is crucial.
We have been lucky in the past I think, we had an excellent doctor when we lived in the city, and then another when we lived at the Country House. Neither of them worked for a non-profit corporation. Health care has been horrendous here at Mist Cottage from the get go, and until we got into the clinic I had to drive five hours one way to consult with my old GP near the Country House.
The clinic has been OK as long as we haven’t had serious health issues, but it has been less than stellar when serious health issues have arisen, as they have for me at present, and did for Attila a year or so ago.
It might be a sign of the times here in Ontario. I read somewhere in one of the national news outlets that our Conservative government here was quietly putting private health care structures in place, and it certainly feels like universal health care is leaking away. And it isn’t worse since the pandemic began, it has been bad for us for the at least the last seven years and for hundreds of others in our community.