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Presbytery weekend. Last night's gathering was smallish in size but seemed more connected than sometimes. We ended by holding hands in a circle and singing Taps. Warm and friendly.
 
chansen said:
Who let a dysfunctional family run so many important services?
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Same people who let a dysfunctional monopoly (aka Bell and related companies) run all our telecommunications until competition was introduced in the 90s.
 
It is the event ending Santa Clause parade today in our city.

It is raining. It is dark. It is cold.
Yucky, yucky night for a parade for spectators and participants
 
Pinga said:
It is the event ending Santa Clause parade today in our city.

It is raining. It is dark. It is cold.
Yucky, yucky night for a parade for spectators and participants
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London, too. Haven't gone since Little M was, well, little.:rolleyes:
 
The one here used to be indoors, although it moved outdoors. I think it was yesterday, decent weather for it if that was the case. It warmed up to around the freezing mark after a fairly cold week.
 
ChemGal said:
I've been around here a fair bit, but I feel fairly disconnected. Not because of anyone, just fatigue. I feel like I'm not managing things all that well, it's coming up on almost 3 weeks of that.

Totally worth it, but things sorta pile in - found out yesterday of an appointment with a new specialist for today - and I already had an appointment scheduled with my GP. Luckily I did have 2 med students to keep my mood up. I'm actually there to teach them, they are not there for me in an official role, although the point of them tagging along to an appointment was for them to experience being a supporter for someone with a chronic illness (as being a patient just isn't possible to cover the same way!) and what a better chance for them to do this than new clinic, new doctor, uncertain outcome.

So now I am struggling about what to do with myself. It's funny just now thinking about what I should (or more likely should not) do this weekend and what's going on this week and I realize I have a bunch of testing to arrange, lots of timed stuff and while timing for some stuff overlaps the requirement for some would affect the other so it's going to take a few days and there's even just a cognitive burden of having to arrange the appointments as I find the labs are never really understanding that no, I can't wait for an appointment for 3 weeks because my specialist expects to have results by the time I see her next. So looks like I need to avoid anything optional.
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@ChemGal I hear you. I'm sorry you are feeling disconnected - it's a horrible feeling.

I'm so glad that you are showing the med students what it's like to be a complex patient. I feel like we chase them away in mental health when they sit in but it's lovely for them to actually shadow a specifc person and see the trials and tribulations of scheduling, informing, advocating, etc. In Ontario we have a program called Healthlinks for people with complex medical needs. They asked me to take part (the first time mental health has been included) and it's been a really tough integration. I am on my fifth coordinator in that many months - none of it my fault - change in geography, promotions, restructuring and pregnancy. My new care coordinator just graduated with her MSW in October so she's a bit green but super nice and committed to helping me so I'm happy. Back to what I was trying to say - thanks for breaking in the baby docs.

I also totally get waht you are saying about the cognitive burden of trying to figure out your life. I have been talking about that in a big way the last two weeks. Still not quite sure what I can do in what time period. It's hard to schedule appointments, workouts and volunteer commitments (my work). My family doc fill-in (locum) didn't want to treat my IBS so she sent me for tests and referred me to a specialist who is taking appointments for "non-urgent" cases for end of 2018 so I am apparently just supposed to manage all these awful IBS symptoms without assistance because she thinks it's too bad to treat (the dietician had some suggestions but she was reluctant). I tried to book a follow-up with my family doc and he's booking at the end of January. And they can't tell me if they have my test results - they think they're with the doc but aren't sure but that's the best they can do. Our medical system is so broken with so many silo thinkers.

Hang in there! I hope you feel more grounded this week.
 
Pinga said:
The extended circle of folks diagnosed with a reoccurrence, being watched, or having friends/family die, including in wondercafe.

I am aware that life is a gift, and am aware that i sometimes squander it.

Our church has had a 10 week sermon series on generosity. I have been particpating in a shorter small group series on generosity at church as well. I am aware of my wants, desires, and needs...and I wonder the lines for each, and what is reasonable.
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Holy cow Pinga that's a lot for anyone person. Especially someone who is empathetic like you.

I struggle with the notion of squandering my life gift and someone told me something that really helped and I've been looking for it and can't - something like not having to be on all the time so that you can fully enjoy the big moments be they actually big or small.

our church sermon series sounds amazing - is it on-line?

take care
 
@Seeler sorry to hear about your daughter - that's rough. I broke my scaffoid bone (actually we still don't really know if I did despite many x-rays and an mri) and it was tough to get it healed properly. And then another break -wow. I found it isolating, it impacted my balance and made daily living annoying. I did get a shower "condom" for my arm which was a Godsend.
 
many of our labs now allow patients to directly access their test results. You get a super secure id.
but it's essentially the same system the doctors use. The hospital lab opted out.
The tests are easy to read with a flag if results are above or below expected level.
I like knowing my 3 month blood sugars (HA1c) before my doctos appointment and then we discuss and make a plan.
 
Tabitha said:
many of our labs now allow patients to directly access their test results. You get a super secure id.
but it's essentially the same system the doctors use. The hospital lab opted out.
The tests are easy to read with a flag if results are above or below expected level.
I like knowing my 3 month blood sugars (HA1c) before my doctos appointment and then we discuss and make a plan.
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We have to pay for that privilege with Dynacare the lab that seems to do most non-hospital bloodwork. I only get bloodwork about twice a year so it did not seem worth it - now I wish I had.
 
@Tabitha I would love that! There are things that weren't caught as they were within normal range, but trending in a bad direction. With all the GPs I had, there was no mention and there really isn't time at appointments for me to start going through everything. If I could check it out on my own, I could then make note of what to bring up at an appointment. I am glad to have a good GP now, she picked up on one of those trends that we have plans to keep an eye on.

@Justme sorry you're struggling with getting the IBS treated. I really do understand the frustration with it.

I'm not well, been coughing up mucus fairly low in my respiratory tract with blood. I have no cold or anything like that though. Went to the doctor today with low expectations. I saw someone new at the clinic as my GP wasn't there today. I at least liked the doctor, but didn't get any answers. It was pretty similar this summer when I was coughing up stuff due to the smoke. Asthma was good even though I was totally out of breath anytime I walked a very short distance. I was hoping a nebulizer treatment would help, but my GP didn't even think it was worth a try. At least this time around the breathlessness isn't as extreme.
 
Justme said:
We have to pay for that privilege with Dynacare the lab that seems to do most non-hospital bloodwork. I only get bloodwork about twice a year so it did not seem worth it - now I wish I had.
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I use Lifelabs and it's free with them. I usually see the results before the doctor now.
 
AHS doesn't give us the option, it doesn't matter if I go with Dynalife (which as mentioned earlier doesn't do all tests anyway) or the hospital labs. If a test is free at the hospital, it's free with Dynalife and the same goes if it's not covered under the provincial plan. I am at least glad that the provincial system got it together enough that they can look up results regardless of who ordered them. For some of my older stuff I had to call the university clinic, as it's on their electronic system, but not the province's.
 
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