Scheduling Is Tricky

This is on the way to my radiation treatment at the cancer center. It was a beautiful day to be out and about. This picture is taken at Mill Lake just a couple of blocks from the hospital. 

Someone had spread seed for the ducks and geese so they were having a wonderful time getting easy food. 


The scheduling at the cancer center was a bit of a gong show for me today. When I checked in about an hour before my appointed time they did not have me on the computer. My card that they gave me with my times said 12:48, but their computer said 4:12. The receptionist made me feel like it was my fault because I had not confirmed the time with her yesterday. She even used Whiteout on my card and changed it to the 4pm time so I did not even have proof of what the card had originally said! Later the technician wanted to see my card, but it had already been changed so I had no proof of what I said.

I don't quite see that it was my fault because the receptionist filled out the card herself. They said that I could leave and come back at the new time or they could try to squeeze me in in 40 minutes. That was about 20 minutes earlier than the time I originally was supposed to have. 

All of this makes it difficult to time the full bladder!! When I am drinking a lot to be ready for this appointment I need to empty about every 15 minutes so I have to time carefully to have the right amount when they call me into the radiation suite. 

Well I timed it right so I had the full bladder in 40 minutes but they were not ready for me yet. The technician came out and talked to me about the timing and if I was going to be okay and I said I would use the washroom one more time and maybe it would work out about right. But that 10 or 15 minutes came and went and I could not hold it any longer. I used the washroom again and started getting ready for the next 10 minutes and at about 10 minutes they said it would be another five minutes before I could go in. Six or eight minutes passed, I was beginning to feel a bit desperate, and they came for me. I used a lot of willpower and "kegals" and made it through the treatment but was about ready to burst!

One good thing about this process is maybe it is helping to stretch my bladder a little bit so I can hold more 🥴. 

Even though the receptionist made me feel like it was my fault the technician apologized to me several times for their mix up in the scheduling. So she kind of made up for the other negative feelings. 

It seems to me that with all the high-tech equipment they have that they could improve this one aspect. I realize that sometimes there are emergencies and changes and people miss appointments or show up at the wrong time but I believe there is a solution. I think they should have their computers hooked up to a monitor that the patients can see the various suites and the appointed time for them. Kind of like the schedule at the airport terminal.

If they are concerned about confidentiality and everyone seeing everyone else's time, they could simply give each of us a personal ID that no one else would know except the patient and then you could see on the screen how many people are ahead of you and that would make it much easier to time ones bladder. 

I have observed that there are quite a few both men and women that have to have a full bladder before their treatments. There may be other reasons having a schedule like that would make it easier for the patients to see how long of a wait they have. But then no one is asking me my opinion. 😁 

Tomorrow is another early one at 9 a.m. so I need to leave the house at 7. At least the sun is pleasant in the morning and it is fun to ride my bike that 45 minutes to get to the hospital.

I found a blog that really speaks to me in this thing I am going through. I identify with this blog

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