Clown Care

 

Today I had an appointment at the hospital - just a standard mammography screening, of which I must have had some 15-20 over the past 30 years. The very first time, back when I was 40, I experienced the scare of getting called back afterwards, to also do an ultrasound... Thankfully, it turned out to be nothing. Since then, no repeat of that - but the memory still pops to mind for me every time! I'm in no particular risk group myself, but I have had enough friends suffering from breast cancer over the years (and some dying from it) to not take anything for granted...

When this year I got an appointment for 5 February I was half counting on having to re-schedule because of snow or ice or whatever. But the snow that fell over the weekend melted away again, and today we had sun and blue skies, and temperatures well over 0'C. My appointment was at 13:35 (1:35 pm), and there's a direct (although kind of "roundabout") bus from my part of town all the way to the hospital; so I had no trouble getting there. I even kind of enjoyed the bus ride as it took me along some streets/roads I don't see very often nowadays - but used to see all the more of during the years when the hospital was also my place of work! (I worked as medical secretary for a number of years.)

The photo above shows the main entrance. Just about the first thing I saw when I got inside was a couple of very oddly dressed characters... And what on earth were they doing??

Clowns blowing soap bubbles - and catching the attention of a small boy. :)

I have heard of hospital clowns, but I don't think I've seen any live in action before. Wikipedia has an article entitled Clown Care and it seems that this is something practiced world-wide now.

They parody the hospital routine to help children adapt to their surroundings, they also distract from and demystify painful or frightening procedures. The atmosphere of fun and laughter can help children forget about the illness and the stress for a moment.   -  Research on the physiological health benefits of laughter has been conducted for decades and continues to be carried out by medical physicians internationally. There is also a growing group of researchers that are exploring the psychological benefits of laughter, and specifically the work of Clown-Doctors. [Wikipedia]

Can't say I've ever been a really huge fan of clowns (or circus) myself, but this little boy did seem to enjoy the sudden appearance of bubbles, anyway.

A little while later, in a corridor on the floor above, I also saw the same little boy drawn to this playful zebra sculpture. Whatever else he was there for, I hope the bubbles and the zebra served as good distractions. :)  (In a way, I suppose they did even for me!!)

My own examination was as usual no "fun", but it was over very quickly; and then I was free to leave. I ended up taking a different bus downhill to the city centre, and then walked the rest of the way home from there. (All in all I wasn't away from home for more than a couple of hours.)

Two for One

This is as close as AI & I will get with an illustration for today's adventure, I think - even if I can't quite figure out which rubber tube in the image goes where and does what... ;)

Anyway, once again I had to get up early for a walk into town to my primary health care centre, this time to see the doctor and get the results from my blood tests last week, and discuss whatever else might need discussing. (A standard check-up of this and that.) 

As with all my health appointments this winter, I'd been worrying weeks ahead about what the weather might be like on the actual day. But so far this week the temperatures have stayed above freezing point; so there was no snow and ice on the ground today. Raining a little, but not much wind. So no problem walking into town as I usually do.

In the illustration above, there are two doctors, because while I was expecting a tête-à-tête with "my" doctor (whom I'd met once before, at a previous check-up 1½ year ago, and quite liked), this time he had a young medical student with him, who was to go through things with me, while the senior dr would just sit quietly in a corner and pretend not to be there (but listen in, and be at hand). "If that was all right with me"... And as I do realise that medical students do need to practice to learn, of course it had to be...

And yes, the young man was nice enough. He may well become a good dr.  I just really miss the times when I had one and the same doctor for many years, and knew that she actually knew me. Since the last one of that kind, it's been a new face every time for a number of years, and varying routines. Some do a lot of talking and very little listening... This student, on the other hand, pretty much left all the talking to me! (Luckily, the senior dr had not been asleep in his corner, so he did provide further comments at the end about some things that I felt I had not really got answers to...) (Afterwards it struck me, though, that neither of them said a word about the results of my blood tests. But I assume that must mean they were all okay, and did not need discussing!)

As for my blood pressure, that tends to rocket as soon as I set foot in a dr's office (no matter which dr), and this time was no exception.  Knowing that, I had actually checked it at home in the morning though, and then it was just fine. And they took my word for that.

Remains to be seen if they sorted out the prescriptions as discussed. (I trust the senior dr has to sign those, though, so no real worries.)

The good news (besides no bad news!) was that the senior doctor is a permanent member of the staff there now, and confirmed that I'm "listed" with him now. 

Nevertheless, I hope I won't be needing any further appointments for a while!

Double Vaccination

 Back in mid October or so I got a message from my primary care centre about booking time for the seasonal flu vaccionation + a booster dose of updated covid vaccine. The premises across town where they used to coordinate all vaccinations during the pandemic were closed after last year's flu season; and this year they are instead using premises in close connection to my primary care centre in the town centre (within walking distance for me). It seemed they were keeping the same time booking system as during the pandemic though, and as it worked fairly smoothly back then, I expected it to still do so now, even if in another place. So I booked myself in on the first day available (=today), at 2:10 pm, to get it over with. 

It was raining in the morning, but the rain stopped around noon, and I went for a 20 min walk into town, arriving at the health centre ten minutes before my allotted time. There was no queue outside - "so far, so good"... BUT when I got inside, I found the waiting room absolutely crowded, and chaos seemed to reign... The poor nurses at the reception desk kept explaining that somehow too many patients had been booked into each time slot, so they were running behind... And we were all told to "sit down and wait", even though there clearly weren't enough seats for that... Most of us were over retirement age and there were also quite a few people in need of canes, crutches, walkers or wheelchairs + someone to accompany them. The registration process did not seem optimised to run smoothly either. The nurses on duty were no doubt doing their best under the circumstances - I'd say the fault was in the overall planning... (And I have to say that did surprise me, considering all the experience they ought to have gathered from organizing things during the pandemic!)

 

The main difference between the (AI generated) image above and today is that I think I was the only (!!) person in the room actually wearing a face mask. I'm not really fanatic about that in most contexts now - but as soon as I saw how crowded the waiting room was, I immediately chose to put one on (I had one with me). They also had some at the reception desk, but no one was told/asked to wear them (as we always were during the pandemic), and I saw no one else using one! - neither staff nor patients.

 

While I was booked for 2:10, I had to wait until nearly 3 o'clock until it was my turn. I found an empty chair after a while though (and even a bit to the side), so at least didn't have to stand the whole time. 

 

Once I got into the nurse's cubicle (I think they had three of them) the actual procedure of getting my two injections went smoothly, though. I've never had both vaccines at the same time before, but I got one in each arm this time. 

 

 

I did not manage to get AI to draw exactly the image I had in mind (an octupus injecting itself) but I kind of like the facial expressions on these two above... ;)

 

Just after 3 pm I was out of the chaos; and as it was still not raining, I had another fairly pleasant 20 min walk back home - where I settled down with a cup of tea and a piece of cake in front of the TV to relax for a while... Phew!

 

Remains to be seen how I'll be feeling tomorrow, having had both vaccines at the same time. I have absolutely nothing planned for tomorrow except a day of rest, though! On Thursday I have the laundry room again; but I can move that booking if I don't feel up for it. And on Friday I have a delivery of groceries coming, but I don't have to go anywhere.

Update

A month ago I wrote a frustrated blog post about a visit to my health care centre, being a bit worried about a suspicious-looking mole. As some may remember, I was not all happy with the procedure, as I only got to see a nurse (well, to be fair, two nurses) but no doctor, and for some unexplained reason they were not able just then to book me in for a later appointment either.

But they did say I could call back in April. So I did. The phone call at first gave me an eerie feeling of déjà vu, as the procedure suggested seemed to be the same as last time (“you’ll get to see a nurse, and then perhaps a doctor”). However, this time I did get to see a doctor.

Since my last visit, I’d been using my camera to keep record. (My own idea.) This meant I was able to show the doctor now, instead of just trying to explain verbally.

The GP will write a referral to the dermatology department at the hospital. He does not think it likely to be malignant but it should perhaps be surgically removed anyway.

So story to be continued.

Mole

I spent hours this weekend digging for information about moles. Not this kind. The other kind. But I like this picture better… (Good thing I keep my blog in English. This would not work at all in Swedish!)

Most of us probably have several different kinds of spots here and there on our body. Just lately there’s one of mine that I’ve been wondering about a little (not that I think I have any special reason to fear malignancy, but there is definitely some kind of suspect activity going on). As I can’t even see it properly myself, I decided to contact my health care centre.

This means throwing yourself at the phone at 8:00 am, and if lucky, you will be given the possibility to press buttons, and get a call back later.

Sometimes when not urgent, I’ve tried calling later in the day. I did try that last Monday too. But then I just got an automatic voice telling me “we have no more appointment times”. No option given of getting through to a live human being for further inquiries.

So Tuesday morning I sat watching the clock with the phone in my hand, ready to push the call button at 8:00 on the dot…

Punctuality in this case paid off; and I received a return call rather promptly. I explained my errand the best I could, and after a bit of mumbling they squeezed in an appointment with a nurse on the Friday. It was made clear it would just be a nurse. If something was to be done about it, then a later appointment would be made with a doctor. Okay by me; it seemed like a reasonable enough routine.

So on Friday morning I saw a nurse. She took one look and then said she’d go and see if there was a doctor available. (Can you feel your pulse rising? I could!)

Then she came back and said alas there was no doctor available. After a moment of hesitating silence, she then asked if I could wait half an hour – she might be able to get a doctor to take a quick look then? I said yes, no problem. (Keep calm…)

Then she turned to her computer to try and work some magic there. The system evidently did not let her do what she wanted to do. She humphed again, said sorry, then told me to wait again, and disappeared again down the corridor. (How’s your pulse now?)

Then she came back with another nurse instead for a second opinion. Their joint assessment then suddenly seemed to be that there was no need for a doctor neither then nor later – as far as I could understand, because the shape of the thing is still round. I was still adviced to keep a plaster on it though (as I had been doing, on my own initiative, for a week or two already).

(So am I to keep a plaster on it for the rest of my life?)

When I showed some hesitation, they added that I could call again “later”.

Me: Er – how much later? 
Nurse: (hesitating again)… In April?

Bewildered, I asked if they could not just book me in for a later appointment with a doctor? (like in April?) But apparently they could not. No explanation. As far as I could gather, this had more to do with presently ongoing changes in their computer system, than with any actual needs or worries of the patient. (Just the thing to make one feel safe and cared for…)

Adding further to my confusion, it seems that the “assessment of spots” I had seen listed among their services on a website does not actually yet exist. Nurse 2 said that there are plans for such a surgery. Nurse 1 seemed surprised at that. (And there I was, thinking my appointment with her was actually part of it!)

All in all I left feeling doubly confused about health care organisation and not very reassured about my mole. (Even if the thing is not planning to kill me, I’d still like to have some idea what it thinks it’s up to.)

Sooo… I might try and call back sooner than April. But I do think I need a few days to recover mentally first (and get my blood pressure down), before I make the attempt.

I guess in the meantime the mole will just have to remain undercover. * (Shh!)

* In espionage jargon, a mole (also called a penetration agent, deep cover agent, or sleeper agent) is a long-term spy (espionage agent) who is recruited before he or she has access to secret intelligence, and subsequently works his or her way into the target organization. [Wiki]