Stupid shit really annoys me more than anything. Last week, there were issues with reading my blood pressure when we went to Houston. As a result, I was not given my chemo medicine in my hands as I expected and I was told it would be mailed to me. Fine, I can live with that. By the time I left, I gave them several good readings, as they changed where they were going to read my blood pressure (on my forearm instead of on my bicep and with the arm slightly elevated so the forearm was at heart height). This then gave readings of 119/70, which seemed too good, and then a 132/74. I had read about 131/71 at the clinic here before this all started, so I thought that was a fair reading. I texted this information to the coordinator of the clinical study, but maybe because she already had the bad readings, these needed to be approved by her superiors, or maybe if the readings had been good from the beginning, they would have still needed approval, not sure. Either way, we left Houston Thursday with a reassuring "you should be approved for the study and I'll mail you the medicine, probably tomorrow."
The weekend came and went and nothing happened. Monday morning I finally got a call from the coordinator that I was approved and she was putting the medicine in the mail for next day delivery. I thought great, the next big thing will be me monitoring my pressure and dealing with all that. I did my little workout, ate my lunch, then headed to work. When I got there, I got a text from her asking if I could go up there and give my lab work again, she was saying I needed to go give blood again. I reminded her, in case she didn't realize that I had just driven up on Thursday and given blood, urine and done an EKG. She said her people were just being difficult. Being in the study means I get the medicine for free, so I shouldn't complain if they want me to spend a little more gas money, but it also entails losing another day to running back and forth, and that is quite tiring too. I asked for an alternative location, if I could possibly do blood work here at my clinic where I go, or if there was a closer location. She suggested Katy has an MD Anderson location, that is still two hours away, but I guess a little better than downtown Houston, if I am expected to just drive up in the afternoon with no preparations.
I was trying to get an extra day, telling her I need to tell my Wife so she can go with me, and it sounds a bit condescending to me but I've now been asked twice "can you drive?" Yes, I can drive, better than most people, but it is still a 3 hr drive one way, only to do a 5 minute activity and then turn around and drive back home another 3 hours. Why do people act like this is no big deal? Surely, six hours on the road is tiring to most people. Yes, in my 20s-30s I would probably have done it without thinking about it, but I am older and feeling tired is a thing, not to mention I do get sleepy at times when I drive, still not sure if it is related to the thyroid, but I don't really risk driving more than an hour from the house, even Georgetown is pushing the bounds of my comfort, even if I have done it a few times already.
After having me sit on the edge of my seat whether I was going to have to go or not, she finally texted back that I did not have to go and repeat my blood work another time in five days. I guess I will be getting the meds in the mail and starting this next part of my recovery now, we'll see how it goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment