1. So I wake up this morning and realize that my mom is missing. I called her last night from 9pm to 11pm and this morning I called at 8am and there was no answer each time I called. If she had been out earlier last night, it sure seemed as if she never came home. I called my sister and we both called her friends to check up on her.
2. I had a doctor's appointment this morning at 11am so I biked to the train station and went to the validator machine. It started making funny sounds, which it did last week in front of me. I thought, "Oh no, not again," and I scrambled to get my ticket in time but suddenly the green "insert here" arrow was replaced by an orange "out of order" sign. Not again! That's the second time the machine konked out right in front of me. So I had to track down a conductor on the train to validate my ticket.
3. When I got off the train, I saw that I had some time before my appointment, so I thought I'd run an errand. Had to go to three different stores to find what I wanted. No line at the register, but then I noticed that the product I was getting was damaged so I had to go back to the aisle to get an undamaged one. Left my train ticket behind in the aisle. When I got back to the line, it was now long and they were getting a price check.
4. I finally got what I wanted but I was already late and in the distance I saw that the next train had come on the other side of the tracks. I needed to catch the bus that leaves the train station to go to my doctor, and the bus usually leaves when the train leaves. I had to go through a pedestrian tunnel to get to the other side and the train was leaving when I was going through. Sure enough, when I got out, the three parked buses were leaving. One left, the second was in the process of leaving.
5. I ran like hell to flag down the second bus. I tripped, twisted my ankle, and fell to the ground. I struggled up but it hurt like hell. I managed to get to the bus which took me to the street where my appt. was, but I had to make my way up the street with my ankle hurting.
6. I got to the appt. and checked in. The nurse at the window told me I'm an hour late. I told her my appointment was for 11am. She said, yes, I see the doctor at 11am, but the tests I needed to take were at 10am. No one told me that. Because I was late, I was put at the bottom of the queue and had to wait almost an hour to get the tests done.
7. I told the nurse about my ankle and how much it hurts to walk, and she asked me, "Did you fall here on the premises or elsewhere?" I said, "Off the premises". "Then it's not my concern," she said.
8. I tried to call my doctor (my GP) on my cell phone but there is hardly any reception in the waiting room of the cardiologist. I had to clamber over to the opposite side of the room to press my phone against the window behind the venetian blinds to get any reception. My doctor was seeing a patient at the time, so I asked the nurse when my appt. was scheduled for because they said I was an hour late. I also asked them what to do about my ankle. They were going to call me back, which meant that I had to keep my phone pressed against the window glass for the hour.
9. I asked the nurse there at the waiting room if she had an ace bandage so I can tie up my foot and ankle. She said she would check. She came back saying, "No, we don't have any". I was incredulous. "Don't you have a first aid box"? "No." "This is a doctor's office!" "We're cardiology, we don't have a first aid. If anything happens, we just send ppl to the hospital".
10. Finally, I heard from my mom. She's fine. Turns out that she had her bathroom painted the day before and stayed at a friend's house so she wouldn't breathe the fumes.
11. I then went to see the technician to get the tests done. Because I hurt my ankle, I won't be able to have the walking test.
12. The doctor came in and we talked about the tests. I then told him about my ankle. He took a look at it and said it looks fine. I complained about the nurses in the front who didn't care at all that I had twisted my ankle. He said, "Well, to be fair to them, we don't have anything that could help you". I asked him directly if they had an ace bandage and he said, no. I asked if they had any first aid kit, and he said, "No, we're a cardiology office and all our supplies are heart-related". I said I couldn't believe a doctor's office didn't even have a first aid kit -- even the library where I work at has that! He said that in the twenty years he's worked there, no one has ever needed first aid or a bandage. I thought that was a lame reason -- first aid kits are for preparedness, you don't wait until someone has a problem before you get one. Then he said, "I don't want to waste my time arguing about this, I'm a cardiologist and I can't treat your ankle anyway". He's an M.D., all I was asking for was a bandage, and he was thinking about liability???
13. I finally got my GP on my cell phone and she apologized about the mixup about the appt. times, and I told her about this unbelievable doctor she referred me to, and she was quite dismayed at what I told her. I then talked to her about my ankle and she had me examine it myself. This cardiologist doctor said it looked fine, but I could see a big hematoma swelling. My GP told me what to do and determined it wasn't likely sprained, tho if it gets worse she offered to make a house call, but for now just to ice it and keep off of it. I thought I sprained my foot a few years ago when a brick fell on it, but then too it was mostly okay.
Anyway, I could've sworn this was Friday the 13th, just my luck today. Ever have one of those days when everything seemed to go wrong?