Sound decision
Looks like I’m headed to Seattle, the picturesque city with Puget Sound lapping at it’s docks and shores. It’s time, say my doctors for me to go have another round of radiation therapy and they don’t offer it here in Spokane. I mean that the VA doesn’t offer it; I’m certain a number of the excellent cancer care facilities here in Spokane have oncology radiation facilities, but the VA sends us vets to Seattle to have the treatment rather than sub-contracting it out locally. I will be over there from two to three weeks I’m told.
While there certainly is a Seattle proper, the city is spread out among many townships. Much like the California Bay Area, there is sold population for miles to the north and south making up the Greater Seattle area. You can get around on buses and trams, assuming you know the city well, but for most everyone, a car is required. If you aren’t from Seattle, you’ll need a map and preferably GPS to guide you.
The long stay hotel my wife and I were accommodated in by the VA the last trip out there was in Tukwila. It was three blocks away from the closest place to buy fast food and 20 blocks from a shopping center. The last time I was there I was fairly mobile in contrast to today, so I called over to the Spokane VA to ask them what happened t the mobility scooter they promised me back on the 7th of January.
Well, it turns out they didn’t get the paperwork turned in until February 3rd, a week and a half after the scooter was promised. I called them on February 17th to ask why 5 weeks had gone by when they promised it in 3. THey explained about the delay in getting the scooter ordered, and again promised I’d get one in three weeks from the order date.
So I called them yesterday since another 5 weeks had transpired. This is when they told me that they did order me a scooter and it did arrive, but it was the wrong one and they had to send it back and order a new one again. For the third time they promised a 3 week delivery; except I wasn’t buying it. I explained that I would be in Seattle and needed the scooter, and since I was leaving early Tuesday morning, they had Monday to fix it. Of course they told me they didn’t think they could get me a scooter in time. I asked them if they could simply call Seattle, the larger facility with a lot of these in their inventory, and simply give me one when I got there. The VA is the VA, right? Wrong. They said they couldn’t do that.
After tactfully telling them that I would have to put off the trip to Seattle, placing myself in imminent risk of damage since I had no scooter to get around with. The guy on the other end checked my record and decided that he didn’t want to the involved in any such issues. Things like that can end a job; not a good happening given the economic climate and high joblessness. So they decided to give me a brand new scooter to use while they fetch the right one. I pick it up Monday. You can bet your Aunt Tillie’s Social Security check that I will try hard to keep both of the scooters when the proper one arrives.
I am conflicted about how I feel about a 3 week jaunt to Seattle. I’m growing more curmudgeon like and misanthropic as time goes by, and I enjoy the creature comforts of home, such as they are. I’m not worried about the radiation therapy; been there, done that, got the tattoo. While the immensity of the equipment can be a little intimidating, for me the last time was an anti-climax. No painful procedures, no extreme nausea, no stress. They told me I was lucky; many people do feel nausea but the greatest toll is tiredness. Oddly that kicked in a week or so after the radiation stopped. I slept about 18 hours a day for a couple of weeks, and then it was all over.
The reason for the radiation is pain control and to harden the bones in particularly vulnerable areas. This stops the advance of the cancer, but it costs the life of the bone in trade. That means less marrow to clean up and condition the blood, which will have ramifications later. But if I can experience less pain, and ergo take less morphine, that is, to me, a good thing.
Of course, I will tote along my trusty laptop so that might continue to keep this weblog, albeit on a glacier-like slow connection. That was the worst of my last trip to Seattle. The hotels and motels all seem to think that a single dialup connection shared among the many residents is more than sufficient. Yet all of them oddly procaim “High Speed Internet Here!” sigh.
I plan this time to deal with that my carting along my war driving equipment. This will allow me a wider yet larcenous selection of Internet connections to tap into.
