I was the movie monster in the film of my life today.

[jbeany]

Ahh, yes, it was time for the transplant checkup.  The good news is, everything is going really well.  Labs have been stable for 8 months, without so much as a skip in levels.  My weight is still a battle.  I'm currently at a cease fire - neither gaining nor losing.  (I was hoping for a "CLOSED FOR THE HOLIDAYS" sign on the scale, since it was the Monday after the yearly Thanksgiving feast, but no such luck.) My gut is still a mess, but stable and waiting patiently for a consult with a surgeon.  None of this is new.  All of this took a matter of minutes to discuss.

So, yes, I got up at five o'dark thirty, got ready and drove over 2 hours to reach the transplant center in time to do a lab draw with poorly aimed needles before my morning dose, and then waited around for my actual appointment.  Which lasted a grand total of 8 minutes.  I keep thinking, "Why can't we phone this in?"  Movie monsters is the only explanation I can come up with.

Someone just has to go up to it in person and poke it to see if it's still alive.

So, how many movie monster appointments have you sat through?  (I had them frequently before D and transplant, too, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised by now.)

Better question would be which movie monster I felt like today.......maybe the Blob, after getting no sleep and gaining weight.  So which movie monster are you at your appointments?

[casper2636]

I know I am the creature from the Black Lagoon. I hiss and spit and just miserable all over. Getting up at five o'dark and having to drive forty five minutes to Philly for an appointment, and then having umpteen viles of blood drawn (and having them tell me I'm anemic! I'm like of course I am, I'm always having blood drawn!!!!).All for the famous 8 minute appointment. I just want to scream "don't poke at me!!!". Yeah, I'm feeling pretty ugly by the time I leave (I never felt pretty when I got there, just think what I look like on leaving!).
jbeanny-so glad your appointment went well...got my fingers crossed for you.

[Chris]

Better yet, over the internet or email! All of the doctors except the transplant clinic associated with the transplant hospital use a doctor/ patient email system to either ask questions, get lab results, schedule appointments, request refill prescriptions, and a few other things. I would have hoped they would have done this when they moved the clinic to a different building of the hospital.
 
Are we askng to much?
Think more efficient than them?
Not everyone lives in the city next to the clinic and have to drive a long way. Atleast make it easier on the people who live further away.
 
Opps, soapbox 
 
The good news is that you are still stable jbeany and as Martha Stewart say's "And That's A Good Thing" or was that just on a sketch from SNL portraying her?

[jbeany]

Yup, Martha really does call just about everything "a good thing." 

Creature from the Black Lagoon is a good one!

Sometimes, I'd like to be that 50 foot woman, so I could stomp 'em all.

And now that I've got B-movie monsters on the brain - what the heck did they end up naming those things in "Tremors" anyhow?

[okarol]

Remember our member Frankenarm? I loved her referencing her fistula scars to Frankenstein. I wonder how she's doing. 

[Riki]

I hated those appointments.. I suppose it's cuz they have to see you..  We'd get up between 4 and 5am to get out the door by 6, drive the 4 hours to Halifax, get there between 10 and 10:30, and the appointment was always at 11.. Talk to the nurse for 5 minutes, talk to the doctor for 5 minutes, and you're done.  I was lucky enough that they let me have the bloodwork done at home a few days before the appointment.  I'd have to be there the night before, otherwise.. They don't do that anymore, though... a few years ago one of the many doctors in Halifax decided it would be easier on patients if he made the 4 hour trip here, so, every 6 months, he did.  He'd get one of the dialysis nurses to help him, and he'd see all the dialysis and transplant patients in the province over about 3 days.  Now, we have a nephrologist here.  I don't know what he does with the PD and transplant patients, but he doesn't do clinic visits for the HD patients anymore.  Seeing us groggy and stupid in the dialysis unit every 2 weeks is fine for him... but that's for another thread

[Slywalker]

I had my transplant checkup yesterday - and - I can't decide which monster I would have qualified for.  I had to cancel an appointment a few weeks ago because of bad roads but "they" let me do the blood work locally seeings how I had peed in a jug for 24 hours the day before.  Got there yesterday and half of the blood work was not at their fingertips, talked to a "pretend" doctor who just kept saying she was doing what she was told, finally "real" doctor showed up and blessed me for another year.  All in all not a satisfying visit - as is usual at that transplant center.  If they even appeared organized just once I might not mind it so much.  Even my meds on their computer were all screwed up.  They keep listing things I haven't been on since the first six months of the transplant. 
 On the bright side of life, I am still completely normal for which I'm very thankful.  My creatine has not moved from .9 since my transplant.  WOOHOO. 

Jbeany - same time same station next year.   

[kitkatz]

I am usually the Can't I phone this in Monster.  I hate rushing to an appointment from work and having the doc say There is nothing I can do for you.  I miss my old neph.

[chook]

jbeany, I might have to borrow your 'five o'dark thirty' expression - love it!! Not that I'm ever out of bed that early (awake, maybe)

[del]

You guys are lucky just a 2 (jbeany) or a 4 hour (riki) drive!! We have driven 6 hours to see a neph before hubby actually started dialysis just for her to look at him and take his blood pressure - total time in office about 5 mins!! We always had to stay over night because a 12 hour drive in one day is just too much!! Now we see the neph about twice a year at the hospital about an hour and a half drive from us where the dialysis unit is.

[MooseMom]

I've been told that my transplant unit has a satellite office that is in the suburbs so that patients don't have to go all the way into Chicago.  I think this is a great idea!