So, I didn’t get to go to my hospital appointment today. At about 7am we got a phonecall from the ambulance service saying that one of the ambulance people who was meant to be taking me to hospital was ill, and asked if I could travel by wheelchair instead. After Johan explained that wouldn’t be possible, they said they’d try and find someone else. My appointment time (8.30am) came and went, and about 9ish we got a phone call saying that they’d tried to get someone, but they wouldn’t have been able to get me there until at least 10am and having spoken to the clinic that would have been too late for them. So the appointment was cancelled and I went back to sleep.
They have said that I’ve been put on the cancellations list (next cancelled appointment I get) and they’re going to get me an afternoon appointment next time, so there’s more of a chance I’ll actually get there. So far since last year I’ve had 5 appointments at hospital, and only made it to one of them, which was last February (so over a year ago now). One of them we rearranged as they made it too early in the morning (until recently the ambulance service didn’t start until 9am, but that’s changed now), but the other three I’ve not been able to get to because of problems with the ambulance transport. The reason I was able to get to the appointment last February was because I was doing better than I am now so didn’t need a stretcher, and it was at the local hospital where Johan taking me up on the bus is less stressful than travelling in the ambulance (hospital is 5 minutes up the road).
It is frustrating. The preparation yesterday took hours, and I didn’t get enough sleep last night because of the appointment, and then it didn’t happen again. We’re lucky that Becca was able to help, as otherwise it would have taken even longer. If I were less ill I’d be able to travel by wheelchair, though there’s no guarantee the ambulance would be able to transport me in it (two of the cancellations were because they couldn’t transport me in my wheelchair, before the last relapse made me worse). If I was well enough to go without a wheelchair I wouldn’t have needed the appointment. Being ill is complicated.
Becca is staying for a couple more days I think (we’ve not but a time on it yet). Tomorrow we’re kicking Johan out so we can work on sorting his bedroom out (he gets panicky if he’s here when we’re doing it, and panicky if he tries to do it). It’s mostly done by Becca bringing the boxes into my room, I work out where the contents go, and Becca puts them where they belong. We did a bit today and there’s now a bit more room in there, and tomorrow we hope to get a decent amount done. Having her here is good 🙂 We’re trying to teach her about Nerdfighteria. She’s also playing a lot of World of Warcraft (I’ve been playing some today- my Monk is now level 88 :D).
I’m hoping it won’t be too long until my next appointment to see my consultant. I really need to see him so the case conference can happen and I can get a hoist and shower chair. Until then I guess I’ll lie here and keep going on 🙂
Oh crap Danni big hugs. But at least they cancelled on you when you were at home. Ambulance transport (for my wheelchair) messed up my last appt but the hospital said they’d still see me even though they got me there an hour late. And the ambulance service swore blind they’d be able to get me home. Until the hospital said “we’re done with her, where are you?” and they floundered for ages promising phone calls “in five minutes” with an ETA that never came and then declared they couldn’t get me home. It got to the point where they had to get a (nonadapted) taxi to get me home and was after hours of arranging and broken promises (I left the hospital at 6:30, they were told at 4 I was ready). Literally I was moved onto the ward from wheelchair clinic because it had shut for the day and they were preparing to admit me over night because they couldn’t get me home.