I was determined to write something that wasn’t a living-with-cancer column today, but tomorrow’s pending surgery just looms too large.
I did get to see the endocrinologist, who was absolutely great. After he patiently explained his rationale for post-thyroidectomy thyroid hormone replacement, and came up with some ideas for how to manage the transition from mainland to island healthcare, I asked him if there was an alternate way to get in touch with him. “Yeah, our phone system sucks,” he said. An understatement, but it was reassuring to know he was aware of the problem. He said he’d had a sick child one day, and was unable to get through by phone to cancel his patient appointments. So, yeah, I assume he has complained and the great Dignity Health revenue maximizing machine hasn’t deigned to fix the problem. But he gave me an online contact portal and the prescriptions I’ll need to move forward after tomorrow.
The rest of the day has been taken up with paying bills that might be coming due while I’m incapacitated (in case that lasts more than a few days) and putting a simple key escrow system in place. Then there’s managing calorie and caffeine intake so I won’t collapse between NPO-after-midnight and my 09:15 surgery time tomorrow.
—2p