A complicated day

I had intended to make a blog post last night but we had such a busy and hectic day that I fell asleep watching my nightly telenovela. You know I am tired if I can not stay up for that!

Funny how people give advice but do not follow it, myself included. I have often told people if at all possible to pre-register at the hospital.  This past Friday it was in the three digits and I did not want to go out in it. Wrongly assumed that it being a long holiday weekend there would not be that many people come Monday.  How wrong I was...I should not assume anything!

We were there at 7:45 a.m and the waiting room was already packed. It took over an hour to be called to be registered (there is that darn word again). Lucky for us the Radiology Department only had a one person wait and the procedure did not take very long.

With the cataract surgery and other eye issues she has been experiencing, we had put on hold mother's driver's license renewal. While she no longer drives she has a license for identification purposes. She decided she would just get a regular State of Texas ID.

My goodness, I had no idea how difficult it would be to go from a driver's license to a state I.D. I could understand if it was the other way around. You have to prove that you have been a resident of Texas for at least 30 days, you have to have two government issued I.D.'s which showed her physical address versus the P.O. Box which is our official mailing address. She needed two utility bills in her name and would not take her water bill because it is in Dad's name and he had to sign off on it. I explained to the clerk that he was dead and she has been paying for it all these years!

We had to make two trips to bring back all that is required including her voter registration and US passport. Another problem was that in an effort to control our mail clutter I signed her up for e-billing. The lady clerk did help me with that as I have no idea how to get into the utility website, download the current bill and then e-mail it to DPS from a computer, much less from a cell phone.

The Optometrist office is just down the road from the DPS station, I wanted to see why they had not refilled her prescription. A sign on the door answered my question, they are closed for a week.

It was 100 degrees so decided to treat her to a sundae and me to an iced coffee. The coffee tasted awful so had to buy me an ice cream cone to get the terrible taste out of my mouth. Oh, what a complicated day it was!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Bats, CT Scan, Ihop, Laundromat

Re-scheduled mother's appointment for yesterday Thursday, February 20th at 8:30 a.m.  We were on our way to the hospital around 7:10 a.m. when I saw this large flock of black birds but they flew funny. Since there was quite a bit of traffic, I ignored them.  When we got to the stop light a block from HEB another black flock of birds flew by...that is when I realized they were bats!

Unless it is a matter of vital importance you wont find me driving the streets of Del Rio at this early hour. Not only did I see bats heading south ( I suppose to Mexico) I saw an unusually large amount of black birds as well.  There were leafless trees covered with birds. It looked rather eerie...kind of like a scary Halloween movie.  All the way to the hospital we saw wave after wave of bats. My camera was in my purse in the backseat so was not able to take any pictures.

Even though the Radiology Department has someone there 24 hours, they do not open to the public until 8:00 a.m. at the same time that the business office opens so they can take your payment.  I always pre-register my mother to avoid the morning rush or surprises like down computers.

CT Scan room, now with a functional machine

We were the first ones there and they took mother for her CT Scan at 7:50 a.m. forty minutes before her scheduled appointment...that was a welcomed surprise!  As I was waiting for her I overheard other technicians saying that yesterday it was the CT Scan machine that was down and today it was the other machine.

I went next door to see if it was the MRI machine but no it wasn't it.  The time clock is across from the waiting area and what do you know, it was down as well!  Got to hear a couple of choice words being uttered as employees were trying to unsuccessfully clock in.

After her tests I asked her if she needed anything else from town before we headed back home.  I was so surprised when she told me she wanted to go to Ihop!  My mother is not much for restaurants and ever since they closed Luby's cafeteria she refuses to go to another eating establishment.  I hurried on to Ihop before she changed her mind....jajajajajaja :D

 I had already started eating before I remembered to take a picture.

Those red droplets are Tabasco Sauce

On our way home we passed the laundromat and there were only two cars in the parking lot. Dropped off mother and went back to tackle that dirty chore.  All in all got a lot accomplished yesterday that is why I decided to give myself the day off today.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Not the best of days

As I mentioned Friday when I took mother to get pre-registered at the hospital...I like to get this done before and not the day of, as there is always some computer glitch or problem that surfaces its ugly head.  Today was not the exception...they could not find her paperwork!  I was given a number instead and they would use that rather than her name.

I thought it was only my mother but I soon saw that they did this to all those that arrived.  Down computers again?  They just spent a bundle remodeling their facilities maybe they should of spent part of it on a new computer system?

Mother was scheduled for a CT and had to fast since 10:00 p.m. last night but she started at 8:00 p.m.   Her appointment was for 9:30 a.m. but of course she was not called until 10:45 a.m.  My mother is elderly and started feeling bad early this morning as she had to drink that white chalk like substance.  She was left to fast for 14 hours 45 minutes but it wasn't until we got home at noon that she was able to finally eat something. What is wrong with this picture?

They called her number and I went to the front desk and the technician asked me "why I had not given them the medications mother takes"...I told her "because you did not ask me"...to which she replied " Yes, I did"...I wanted to punch her because she was calling me a liar and where was she going to write it?  They did not have her paperwork!

As if that was not enough, earlier after I had dropped mother off in the front door I went to park the car.  Was making my way back to the hospital when I decided to stop and take a picture of the entrance.  That is when I noticed this well dressed lady with her fancy purse and laptop bag looking at me.  She purposely stopped and waited for me.

She asked me what news media I was with because she was not aware of anyone coming to take pictures.  I was going to have a cow if this woman told me that I could not take a picture of the outside of a PUBLIC hospital !!!

She was polite but very inquisitive and prying....you all know how I feel about prying strangers...GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!   I wanted so bad to tell her the article I was photographing for was going to appear in the Terlingua Dreams Times!  Was she perhaps the Public Relations Director for the hospital?  Who knows, who cares....she was a PIA!

So as you can see...it was not the best of days.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.