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| Bill waiting for his eye surgery appointment this morning |
Today was one of THOSE days in which I screwed up, BIG TIME.
This morning Bill had an appointment for his second cataract surgery.
We arrived half an hour early.
The fine folks at the Delaware Eye Institute cataract surgery center took Bill in right away. I left, asking them to call me when Bill was ready to leave.
That was 8:00 am this morning. His appointment was at 8:40 am.
I took advantage of my time down the hectic Route One and did some chores. First was Walmart.
Then I stopped at Food Lion and Ace Hardware. Then I went home, awaiting a call.
9:30 am. No call.
10:00 am. No call.
10:30 am. No call.
11:00 am. No call.
Now I was getting worried. I thought maybe there were complications with his eye surgery. I left home at 11:20 am to take my place on the backed up traffic on Route One to the Delaware Eye surgery center.
After a couple of close calls (yes, two close calls, this is Route One in the summertime after all), I pulled in the parking lot of the Delaware Eye Institute.
I walk to the front desk. I tell them I'm here to pick up Bill Kelly.
The woman behind the front desk says to someone in the back 'He's here.' She doesn't look happy. In fact she wasn't happy at all.
I soon found out the reason why. They had been trying to reach me for TWO HOURS!
Bill was in the back, distraught. He was crying. I don't want to go too deep into Bill's psyche but he cannot handle any kind of stress. That's why I advised him to quit his job thirty-three years ago and took over the sole position of bread winner for our household.
One of the nurses had her arms around Bill, trying to comfort him. I was trying to figure out why I wasn't getting their calls. I tried to call them but all I get is a voice mail.
I figured out why I wasn't getting their calls. Apparently my iPhone has to be cleared out of 'Recent Calls' or else my mailbox fills up and calls don't go through. And no, I didn't have the Do Not Disturb Sign on.
Now I know why I wasn't getting calls from the surgery center prior to Bill's surgery. In fact, when I checked Bill in this morning at the surgery center I asked them to check the phone number they had on record for calling me. They had the right phone number. What I should have done is ask them to call my number and then I would have realized my mailbox was full.
Well, now I had a group of nurses who didn't like me. A position I'm not used to being in.
I'm a firm believer in always showing up for appointments on time and doing the right thing. I believe in always being cooperative and patient, especially when dealing with the medical establishment.
This morning I screwed that part of my reputation up big time. One of the nurses told me 'You caused us a big problem this morning.' I know why, because they operate on more than one person and by having Bill sitting there in a wheel chair, distraught and crying, my stupidity disrupted that assembly line process.
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| Bill after his eye surgery this morning |
I apologized but they weren't interested and I don't blame them. Especially seeing how upset Bill was.
This morning I felt as bad as I've felt in many a year. How to fix this? For one thing clear out all the 'Recent Call' on my frigging iPhone.
And good thing because as soon as we got home I received a call from Bill's gastroenterologist scheduling an appointment next month for an endoscopy.
I guess you could sum up this morning with that famous quote from 'Cool Hand Luke'
'What we have here is a failure of communication.'
And folks, yours truly failed big time today.
The only thing I can do is make sure it never happens again. But I don't think I'll ever get those nurses to like me.
