I think I may have sagged with relief when I came in the house after getting the injection in my eye. One week ago, at 7:12 a.m., the doctor’s office called to cancel all appointments that day and said someone would call after noon to reschedule. Around 10 I was weeding in the garden and fished for the phone in my pocket. I agreed to a new time a week later. As soon as I went in the house, I let Vaughn and Marylynn know that they wouldn’t have to take me to Sylva, a town in the next county. They had kindly agreed to take me when they found out the bus will not take anyone to an out-of-county appointment after 2 p.m. I had no idea they quit so early. The new appointment time was 12:35, and I booked the bus right away.
It’s a bit nerve-wracking to sit near the window watching for the bus. I have to be ready for pickup 1.5 hours before the appointment, and the bus is often in my driveway at that time. On occasion the bus has arrived only half an hour before the deadline, and I argue with myself whether to call and check on it. Then there was the time it came two hours early! Someone had made a mistake. I was basically ready, anyway, and I knew I’d have to sit in the waiting room a long time. Mostly the system works well, but I have to be ready for anything.
I told myself to relax as the bus began to move. The drive to Sylva is a beautiful one through mountains. This day there were two cloudbursts that erased the view almost entirely. Following directions from a tablet, the bus driver turned left instead of right. He didn’t think that was correct, and neither did I. After a short tour in a poor area of the town, we turned around and easily found the office. I was stunned that the waiting room had only a few people in it, since there is often standing room only. The receptionist looked for my name on her computer, and I knew something wasn’t quite right when she wanted my birth date.
She said, “That appointment was canceled.”
I was stunned. How would I know it was canceled? She replied, “You should have gotten a phone call and a computer message.”
I may have told her that I had neither and that I had to call the bus three days ahead to get there. She had pity on me and said she’d check in the back. It seemed to take forever, while my mind was spinning, wondering what was happening. Coming back, she said they were looking to see if they had the right medication in stock. They did! Gratefully, I sat down to wait.
Within five minutes another patient stood at the counter and was told her appointment had been canceled. Aha! I wasn’t the only one left in the dark! The medication she needed was also in stock. Surely that was all that would go wrong. In the treatment room, the assistant made my next appointment for a June date. I agreed to it, then asked her to repeat it because I didn’t have pencil and paper. She reassured me that I would get a notice of it. That reassurance erased the information in my head. I must remember to call and ask for the time and date, because I have no faith at all in their system.
The ride home was uneventful except that sometimes my right eye worked, and sometimes the vision was totally blurred. That was not unusual. At least this time I didn’t have a cobalt blue bubble bobbing around. I never plan anything else on eye injection day, because anything could happen. I had held myself together all day and just had to get inside the house without stumbling. Luckily Kacey didn’t knock me down as I opened the door. I think we were equally glad to see each other.