Walk-in Wow

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 10:04 am (Writing by Ear)
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I had an awful flu bug (again) a couple weeks ago — started out of the blue with body aches and fever and morphed into a killer sore throat and cold. By day 7 (day 5 of the sore throat), I was ready to rip my throat out with my bare hands. Could it be my first case of strep throat?

Stupidly, I never changed my PCP since moving three years ago — my primary care doc is still an hour away near my old house. So I decided to check out the new storefront “urgent care” place just 10 minutes away. I’ve never been to one before, so didn’t know what to expect. It’s open 9:00 to 9:00, and Mike and I got there about 9:10 a.m. on a Thursday. At least six people were ahead of us already as we settled down to wait after briefly registering and handing over my insurance info. Nice waiting room, big TV — what you’d expect from a new place.

After about a half hour (I’ve waited way longer in doctors’ offices even WITH an appointment), we were ushered into an exam room, and a nurse (or something) took some basic info and did a throat swab (my first ever, believe it or not). In a short bit, we were seen by a Physician’s Assistant — very thorough, very professional, very personable. She asked more questions, and in a jiffy, I had a blood test for mono and a urine test to rule out a kidney infection for my lower back pain. I’ve never had any of those at my regular doc, and certainly not done and analyzed right in the office!

In a relatively short time, I got a clean bill of health on all counts — no strep, no mono, no infections (and not pregnant, ha ha) — got a prescription for antibiotics with a firm warning that if the sore throat was viral, the meds wouldn’t help — and a prescription for a numbing gargle for my throat. And a very sympathetic, “I hope you feel better soon,” that sounded like she meant it.

Turns out I didn’t fill either prescription (not a big fan of drugs), and I started feeling better the next day (of course). But I left feeling very impressed with the experience. It was fast, considering no appointment, and a breeze, considering that my 10:30 p.m. trip to the ER last year for my 88-year-old mom lasted about 5 excruciating hours and was an awful experience on all counts. Mike was impressed as well and was even considering just using MedExpress as his primary care facility…it was that easy and that efficient.

And, to boot, they even called my home a day or two later to check that everything was OK! I missed the call, but can you imagine? I can barely get test results from a regular doc (usually I have to call them) let alone having them call and check on me like a concerned friend.

So, traditional doctors’ offices, take a lesson. If it’s possible for MedExpress to manage walk-ins that efficiently and that thoroughly, and to make anonymous patients feel cared for and not rushed through the system, why the heck is it so impossible for many of you to do that with patients who actually choose you for ongoing care?

Even though I really like my PCP practice and have been going there for 7 years or so (the doc I usually see is so young I call him Doogie), I’ve always felt I should choose a closer PCP…just in case. But now, maybe not.

 Well done is better than well said.
                    ~ Benjamin Franklin

 

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Falling for it

Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 9:45 am (Writing by Ear)
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Mike and I had the opportunity to visit Fallingwater this past weekend — an outing with Mike’s boss and wife. The timing was bad — so much work to do at my mom’s. But we had committed weeks ago, so off we went. I hadn’t been there in 20 years, and remember being so-so about it last time — those low ceilings? orange furniture? tiny bedrooms? It was okaaaay, but…

Twenty years of maturity and home ownership and design savvy later, I found it absolutely enchanting. As our guide said, “It’s a house you want to live in, but please refrain from living in it during the tour.” He was right. I had to restrain myself from plopping on the bed or the sofa to absorb the beauty of it. The drippy rain, the rushing water, the gorgeous hillside of blue forget-me-nots, the flowering trees. Those magnificent open corner windows, the built-ins everywhere, the charming bathrooms with their cork floors and walls, the boulder hearth — about as far from a McMansion as you could get, and thousands of times more desirable.

I remember very little about my last visit. This time, I wanted to hear everything the guide had to say, and asked a lot of questions myself. As a chatchke person, I loved the objets and art, noting a signed Picasso in the guest house. Genuine? I also admired the beauty of the new Visitor Center and the efficiency of the tours, with strategically placed umbrellas and really knowledgeable guides. Of course, being there with two architects, you get other insights as well. (For once, though, they found very little to be critical of.) 😉

The outing was for The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy annual members meeting, and included a lovely outdoor lunch, the Fallingwater tour, and hikes of the grounds if you wished. At the actual meeting, various Conservancy staff talked about their areas and showed slides of their work — very interesting, particularly the value of the 800 miles of creek fencing installed to keep cattle (and their bodily outputs) out of the water, the lands the Conservancy has acquired, and the urban beautification projects.

The “Barn” where the meeting was held (at Bear Run Nature Reserve) was really wonderful — a mix of natural and contemporary materials, including straw bale walls. Just walking from the Visitor Center to the house was a treat — nothing better than a walk along a wooded path, smelling the pines and seeing all the ferns and trillium and moss and quiet natural beauty.

Oh the joy of a relaxing and wonderful day — so very needed in the midst of my lately very complicated life and so inspirational. Maybe we can make that little cabin in the Smokies a reality someday (even though we’ll never be able to retire or afford long-term health care).

Oh well, reality is calling, but fantasy makes it so much easier to bear.

I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. 
                      ~ Frank Lloyd Wright, quoted, 14 August 1966

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It’s May, it’s May, the LUSTY month of May…

Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 3:39 pm (Writing by Ear)
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Any other Camelot fans out there?

Geez, May 1 and only 3 posts in all of April. And, my blog didn’t even recognize me when I tried to write this post (writingbywho?). Just thinks of me as another slacker blogger-come-lately I guess. And the writing page looks different from the last time I wrote a post. Goodness, I hope blogging is still somewhat cool and not, like, so yesterday.

Oh, and now I must try to reconstruct these next paragraphs because I inadvertently deleted them somehow (because my template doesn’t work the same way either). Hmmm, I remember thanking my friends who checked in on me during my hiatus. It’s great to know you’re out there (of course you are, that’s the beauty of friends!). I remember writing about being lucky — busy, busy with work and busy, busy tending to my mom. Not so lucky in the contractor department, but as I typed this before, the sewer guys were here — YAY! The ones who are going to dig up my concrete basement floor and under my front porch and replace the sewer line — YAY! And the one plumber knows our retaining wall guy (who’s been stringing us along for months) and maybe can prompt him to start too — YAY!

It’s amazing what passes for joy in this old house.

But really, what IS truly wonderful? Spring bursting forth in all its glory. I can’t recall seeing a more beautiful year of blooming trees — our magnolia was spectacular, the lilacs a vision of, well, lilac, the neighbors’ dogwoods, redbuds, crabapples — just a vision. I’ve been relishing the drive to visit my mom (along the “easy” road, not the dreaded Parkway East for a while) and marveling at the beauty. And just today, more good news, mom has the OK to be “partial weight-bearing” so she can start to get around with a walker now. YAY, really.

So, I think I’m officially back in the blog swing. I’ll be on the lookout for inspiration, as if a sunny day and the promise of an end in sight to sewer worries weren’t enough. There must be a Maypole I can dance around somewhere.

If you’ve never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul
by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. 
                                                       ~ Audra Foveo

 

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