“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 841 (Monday) – ortho visit

Last night, in preparation for the appointment at the orthopedic surgeon before work this morning, I looked up the name of the office, got the address online, and programmed it and the desired arrival time into Waze. The referral sheet from the primary care office showed the Chelmsford address, but my appointment was at the Westford location because I could be seen sooner there. I needed to leave by 7:45 to arrive on time. The morning ran according to schedule and I was showered, dressed, hair dried and styled, and ready to leave at the designated time.

In the lobby of the building, a different orthopedic office name was listed on the directory, and under the practice name, none of the names was the doctor my appointment was with. I panicked a bit, stepped away, and took a breath. Then I returned to the directory. Nope, still not there. But both the wrong information and my panic were present and accounted for.

I returned to the car to call the office. The referral list was consulted for the practice name, and it was entered into Google just like the night previous. The address found was that of the parking lot I was sitting in. The number in my phone was called.

The rabbit hole of hold messages and doctor bios felt like forever before I got a person on the line and could verify where I was supposed to be. I was in the right town and close, but instead of telling me the correct street to reprogram the navigation, the office person gave a series of landmarks that meant little to me – CVS, Cumberland Farms, Major Name chain hotel. I finally got the correct address and Waze informed me I was barely a mile off course and a straight shot down the street. 

I arrived later than planned and even more stressed than usual. There was a ream of paperwork to complete. The waiting room was cold and the sweater in my bag was pulled out and donned. Despite having had x-rays done at Lowell General after my regular checkup, the office wanted more and different ones done. Then there was a wait in the exam room where a couple of the new x-rays were illuminated on the screen near some models of bone bits. 

The good news out of the appointment is that my knees aren’t rotted, I don’t need surgery, and ibuprofen may be my salvation. After the doctor left the exam room without dropping a clue about what I was supposed to do next, I sat for a minute, then peeked out of the room and down the hall. There was another patient at the “Please check with secretary before leaving” window. I hung back to not crowd them.

The nurse practitioner appeared with a printout of exercises to help stretch the something or other at the side of one thigh and said I was ok to go. Unfortunately, the ibuprofen regimen the doctor mentioned wasn’t written down, so after three times a day for a week, I have zero recall of what came next. Why do doctors not have something available to write down the instructions, especially when it’s “take this much, then taper to that much, then taper off altogether”? About 50% of the time, the instructions are forgotten before I’m out of the office and 99% of the time they are 100% forgotten by the time the car is started.

If the ibuprofen works and I can walk without pain again, maybe I can start hiking, biking, and being more alive again. It will be nice to be able to move without pain. So, so nice. Really looking forward to it.