Processing the Philadelphia Trip

As you., my few readers know, I went to Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon, had my doctor appointment at 0800 and left shortly after to return home.

We drove down Route 287 for a while until the navigator, harboring its own thought-processes on how to get there, took us off the highway and put us on Route 206 South, which was, in short, a nightmare. We passed through small towns; many, many traffic lights, all of which turned red just for us; cows; farms; open fields... it was boring, long and complete with schoolbusses, the root of all evil where road travel of any kind is done. I wanted off of those backroad, backwoods lanes NOW!

Eventually we made it to Route 95S (the other Route 95S - don't ask!) and there I happily took my chances with the local constabulary doing 80 - 85 the remaining distance until we reached Route 30 in Philly. Then the wretched traffic confined my speeding to low but steady numbers. That, and sheer stress - I hate driving in cities. Any city, really, but especially tower metropolises, like Manhattan, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas and (the number one, absolutely highest criminally wrong place to drive, Boston! The "engineers" who came up with that nightmare should be shot.

We found the hotel with relative ease. I am terribly ignorant of cities outside of Manhattan and so really hadn't realised that the hotels close to University of Pennsylvania Medical Center are not really the better places to stay - or that this is the most savory area of the city. Philadelphia has tons of history, good restaurants, fun places and things to do.... and the less well-lit sides with the violence, the drugs, the usual inner-city issues. I wasn't in the heart of South Philly, but I was not in the better parts of town, either.

The first hint was the local in general, which did not look... great. When we got in and checked in, it was less great. This was a one-night stay over, so I picked the hotel that was very close to the hospital - 4.5 miles away. The Best Western. For one night, who cares?

I cared when I requested two pillows and after the third request, the Front Desk told me they would send Security up with the pillows. Say what?! Sure enough, a huge burly friendly looking guy came up wearing a gun and a radio popped by with two pillows. I said, "You're my hero." and took the pillows gratefully and could not close and triple lock the door fast enough.

During the waiting time for the pillows, the room "behind" us became someone's love shack or "office" (take your pick), when the moaning and bed-banging sounds began. I couldn't believe it. I said t0 Luis, "We won't be returning here - this place must rent by the hour." Well... she certainly made the most of the hour. I don't know if this was one woman pleasuring herself, one woman with one silent guy, or one woman with three different silent guy but there would be 19 minutes of moaning and yelling and sex sounds, three or four golden minutes of silence and then another round. Three times.

The telly could not be loud enough.

We did survive the night, obviously, but we got up around 0600, got washed and dressed and outta there after a very continental breakfast. Time for the appointment.

The drive to UPenn was indeed short, but we passed some really posh hotels and that is where we are going next time. The money will be well spent. With room service and comfy beds and a view that would make Ben Franklin smile!

Luis dropped me off at the front of the building and went off to find parking. I went in and had no trouble finding the neurology center. I was all signed in and ready to go. In fact, they kept excellent records and had everything set up... but they did not ask for my new insurance card and so I owe them $5 (it is nice that since my last visit to UPenn, 18 months ago, the copay has only increased that much). The office was empty, just a couple of employees and one or two other patients, so I will remember to set up my annual visit for first thing in the morning.

I went and had my vitals checked, which true to form were fine and then returned to the waiting room. Luis came in and sat with me and around 0830, Dr. Lauren Elman came out with another doctor, introduced herself and the student, and we went into the room.

She ran me throught the usual tests, push on that, pull on these, don't let me push this, don't pull that, grip my fingers, tight, really tight, now let go fast! I have no neck strength, can't get out of a deep knee bend, have trouble with my balance, can't always let go of things right away, and can't lift much (including myself). But I have a good, strong, healthy heart, and I have other positives. She did ask if I snore and I looked at Luis - I'm asleep, so I have no way of knowing if I snore. Luis was nodding away, so I guess I do! The doctor recommended I have a sleep test for sleep apnia and I am sending an e-mail to my doctor's office to do that. I can't wait to jump into that - I would love to sleep well again.

She also suggested that I see an opthamalogist - I have to check what it is that I need to go for (I either missed the reason or the conversational ball was moving so fast that I did not get that far. Luis has an opthamalogist that never processes his insurance correctly, so we are going to seek out a new one together. And finally, Dr. Elman gave me a new script for a muscle relaxant that can be used as needed, so I won't be on something all the time.

And I asked the big questions: can I keep working (both jobs) and will I need to be in a wheelchair one day. She was very positive and encouraging in the work area - there are new things coming out all the time and we will meet once a year and I can call her ANYtime with questions or issues - and (Drum roll, please!) while there is some chance that I could some time down the road need a walker or something like that, she would bet her career that I will not end up in a wheelchair. She said I have had this all of my life, and she is sure that when I come and see her next year, that I will not have gotten worse than I am now.

That is HUGE!

I feel so much better - it hasn't fixed me and I will undoubtedly have work to do to keep on a better path but to hear that was so reassuring, so great! An enormous weight has been lifted!

And it is back to the gym and yoga for me! I need to get back to doing that.