Day One at the Institute (pt 1)

When I got up this morning it was raining, and my appointment was at 12:30. Before I left for my appointment, I had a message from the Third & Main office that the credit card that I used to pay my rent had been refused. The institute has a gated parking lot right in front of the building which makes it very convenient. You don’t have to worry about finding a place to park but it does have a gate code and someone had driven right through the gate without entering the code. I’m thinking “Road Rage”. So, it’s raining, credit card refused, the parking lot gate is broken. Are these signs of things to come? I remind myself that I believe in the science and not the signs.

As soon as I walk in the front door of the institute, I’m greeted by the receptionist whose name is Mary. After almost a year and a half of walking into doctor’s offices, clinics, hospitals, and labs, I have come to realize that there are two types of receptionists. The first type is the receptionist who has the attitude of “Why are you bothering me? How dare you!” I would imagine they developed this attitude after dealing with many demanding, sick and/or dying patients. It’s probably a defense mechanism. The second type is the receptionist who greets you with a warm smile, asks you how you’re feeling today, and then asks, “How may I help you?”. This is Mary. And from what I have observed, she must deal with hundreds of people a day.

After checking her computer, Mary issues me a premade ID card, walks me over to a check in computer and shows how I will use this card to check in every day. She then tells me she will notify my team that I have arrived.

I went to a secondary waiting room were nurses took my vital statistics and I was informed that this will happen every day. After a short wait and filling out some online forms, my care nurse, Caroline, reviewed what today’s events would entail. Then I went back to the waiting room and waited for my oncologist team to meet with me.

This was a long day and this is a long post, so I’ll make this a two part post. (TBC)