Hospitality Suite

Last week I was feeling kind of tired so I decided I needed a vacation. I managed to secure a negative ECG and booked into the Toronto General Hospital.

My first accommodation was in the emergency department, aka pretty basic. The cubicles were all full so I was given a room in the Hall. I got a lot of attention there, some of it uninvited. The patient across from me in the hall was a little needy and called out for the nurse all night. When nobody came immediately, she climbed out of bed and roamed the halls calling “Nurse, Nurse!”

At 4:30 am the floor cleaning machine came along, over and over again, washing and polishing the floors. After that was finished, I was moved into a cubicle, which is really part of the hall but with a curtain around it. The noise level was the same but I had a little privacy for when my hospital “gown” came undone. The nurses visited often for blood pressure checks, ECG’s, IV installation, and medications. It was pretty hard to sleep even with all my equipment.

At breakfast time I was handed a paper bag with a cup of orange juice, and a box of Shreddies with a carton of milk. And No Coffee! I was starting to think I had booked the wrong travel agency. Until… a staff member with a wheelchair picked me up and told me I was going from the “madhouse to the penthouse!” And he was right.

I was whisked up to the 5th floor, cardiology, and into a private room. It was large and sunny with a big window, a dresser, a bedside table AND my own bathroom! Now this was living. Well almost living, except for my heart acting up. I continued having test of all sorts and visits from cardiologists who would talk to me separately and then have a conference with each other outside my door. It’s hard not to eavesdrop when that happens but, since they were speaking in medical language, I had no clue what they were saying!

Gradually the doctors and tests all arrived at the same conclusion – I needed a pacemaker. Basically I needed to be jump-started with an inside battery. Now that I was nearing the end – to my treatment that is – I was moved again, this time to a semi-private room. I still had a window, and a bathroom that I didn’t have to share because the other patient in the room was bed-ridden. And there was a lovely lounge area nearby overlooking University Avenue. By this time the food was much more edible, and served on a tray with real dishes and cutlery. I still wasn’t seeing any margaritas, but the Greek salad was quite tasty.

After my pacemaker was installed, I stayed one more night and then went home just in time for a new patient to settle in and watch the Santa Clause parade. My experience was a different kind of vacation. The staff were all friendly and helpful. The service was efficient. But what I’ll remember most? Whether in the hall or the penthouse or anywhere in between – I had family and friends texting, phoning and visiting. That part was the best!

Sue

Here’s my grand daughter Agnes’s contribution: Christmas decor

The Heart Of the Matter

I had been having some dizzy spells accompanied by shortness of breath, and my doctor was concerned. For some reason she is committed to making me live past 90. So she ordered several tests: blood work, bone density, chest X-ray and 3 heart tests. It seemed that I would have no time for anything fun. But she said that several of the tests could be done at a lab nearby, and the 3 heart tests would be really exciting – at a brand new heart centre.

My heart appointments started at 9:15, and I didn’t want to be late for this exciting adventure. So I set my alarm, threw on “comfortable clothes” as requested, and set off to One Heart Care. There was no traffic and I sailed through every intersection on green lights. I arrived at 8:30. There was no Timmy’s nearby so I figured I might as well go inside to wait.

But there was no waiting – I was checked in and given a map of the facility, with the locations of my 3 appointments. I only waited about 10 minutes for my first test – an echocardiogram. This is the test where the technician rubs freezing cold gel all over the chest and then drives a probe all over the gel racecourse making lots of forwards and backwards moves, sudden stops and turns. After what seemed like a marathon, the technician said the pictures weren’t bright enough. I offered her my phone but she declined and said she needed to add some little lights to my blood stream. Then she was at it again, around and around, up and down. Stop.

After I wiped the gel off and got re-dressed, I was directed to my next test – the stress test. I was not looking forward to this one – the one with the treadmill that speeds up as it rises into the air. I was sure I was going to become breathless and dizzy – the problems I came to get fixed in the first place. But the technician was very sympathetic and told me to just concentrate on the lovely scenery out the window, which happened to be a highway with hardly any traffic.

So I persevered. The treadmill and I got faster and higher and faster and higher – until I passed. Not passed out – passed! Yea! I got to sit down for a bit and drink some water. Then I moved on to the final appointment, with the heart monitor. I had heard this one had jewelry.

Some jewelry. I got decorated with 5 different electrode patches in lovely shades of green, red, black, brown and white, all attached to wires which fed the monitor with heart data. The monitor was placed in a small pouch in light blue. It could go around my neck or in my pocket, and was to be worn for 3 days straight. I even got to wear it in bed. But no showers or I might electrocute myself.

Back at home, I was decorated and dirty for 72 hours. The patches got itchy. I was scared to death of electrocution. At night I had to wear pants with big pockets so the monitor wouldn’t fly around and hit me in the face when I rolled over. My dirty hair – well I am not going to show you any pictures of that.

All in all, though, I was impressed with the way our health care dollars were spent on this facility. One-stop shopping for the heart is a valuable asset, especially for seniors. I’m going back there next week to meet a cardiologist. I’m sure he’ll be nice, but I hope he doesn’t want to become best friends.

Sue

WAIT TIMES

In the last couple of months, we have found our calendar notations changing. A Lot! Instead of being used for social purposes, now the calendar looks more like a medical journal.

Back in May, Peter and I had time for lots of fun activities: a Jays game, some meet-ups with friends, fitness classes followed by coffee, Peter’s poker party, lunch with our “bridge group,” even a short trip to Montreal! Then all that changed. Lately we have been spending our time in doctors’ waiting rooms.

With a bang, I fell and fractured a bone in my shoulder, which required almost 7 hours in a hospital, wheeling from waiting room, to exam area, to sling-fitting room, and back to waiting room. All that was before I even escaped from the hospital the first time! Then I was required to return 3 times for follow-up consultations. Besides that, I had physiotherapy appointments twice a week for several weeks. But at least the wait time for those is usually short.

Peter’s eye doctor was up next. Her office is the worst. I usually go with him just to pass the time together. First we wait in line to see the receptionist. Then we wait for the tests: distance, eye pressure, pictures of behind the eyeball and so on. Then we wait to see the actual doctor. And on this last visit, we waited to see yet another person to arrange cataract surgery for Peter. That surgery requires 4 more appointments; one for measuring the eye, two for the eye operations, and a final one for follow-up.

Then last week I began to feel some shortness of breath. I figured it was the heat or the poor air quality so I ignored it for a while. Then I gave in and got an appointment with my family doctor and of course she ordered tests. So last Thursday I had to cancel golf and spend the morning in waiting rooms for blood work and chest Xray. Then the cardiologist’s office called to give me an appointment for next week, and I had a choice: cancel Peter’s cataract surgery OR cancel golf – again! How unfair is that?

On top of that, the dentist has started leaving phone messages about our semi-annual cleaning. She wants her share of our time too.

I know that we are very lucky to have these services so close and so available. And the wait times are easy to manage when one of us runs next door to Tim’s for coffee and muffins. Then we open our devices and read about people in many other countries who wait a week or a month for a bag of flour. Sometimes they even die while waiting. How unfair is that??

Life is pretty darned good in Canada. So if/when you find yourself in a doctor’s waiting room, use the time to learn more about our country’s wonderful people, including our 2 budding athletic stars: Summer McIntosh and Vicky Mboko, and our top-ranking Blue Jays team. One day in the future they too will be in doctors’ waiting rooms.

Sue

PS Sorry this is late – but, and this is the Truth – I was in a waiting room from 7:30 am till almost 11!!

Walking For Brain Health

On the last 2 weekends, Peter and I signed up to go with our doctor daughter on 2 fundraising walks; one for Alzheimers’ disease, and one for University Health Network which does a lot of research on brain health. They were both fun – getting new tee-shirts, doing warm-ups with the adults and children, admiring the many different breeds of dogs, adding lots of steps to our fitbits, and holding up traffic as we crossed major intersections.

The routes varied; the Alzheimers walk started at Fort York and went south along the waterfront, and back to the starting point, about 3 kilometers in total. Although it was cool, Lake Ontario was enticing as always. Boats were already sailing and people were sitting on benches with their coffee, enjoying the view. The finishing line greeters went wild with flags and balloons, welcoming about 500 of us back home to burgers and drinks.

This past weekend, the walk was quite different. Approximately ten times as many participants, about 5000 people, of all ages, gathered at Toronto General Hospital’s parking lot, walked to Toronto Western Hospital, and back. It was more fast-paced and crowded, and the walk through Chinatown was like being in another country.

As we got close to the finish line, Peter suggested we take a Spadina Street detour down to see the construction on the Ontario subway line which runs not far from his investment condo. This was probably ill-advised because, as we rushed back to catch up with the other walkers, I tripped and went splat onto Queen St. My shoulder really hurt and I had broken my glasses. Doctor Andrea said we should probably go to emerg. to see what else had broken. Yikes. Like magic, an ambulance appeared and whisked me off to the finish line -Toronto General Hospital.

Now readers, you may be thinking that I was trying to cheat and arrive at the finish line early, but that is definitely not so. I waited with Andrea for about 7 hours, well past the end of the event. Since I am old I needed to have, not only xrays on my shoulder, but also blood tests and a CT scan to check for brain injury. The irony of the walk to get to the hospital was not lost on us.

Looking on the bright side; I picked a good place to fall – with Andrea there, and the hospital nearby. I have a small non-displacement fracture on my shoulder which is likely to heal without issue, a few scrapes on my face and one knee, and glasses broken on only one side. The bad thing is that I am finding out how many things you can’t do with only one arm!

Stay upright everyone and keep all 4 limbs going if you can.

Sue