Twilight Zone

That's where I felt like I was when I went to my appointment with Dr Feler this morning. I don't know if I'll be able to do this story justice, but here goes....

Last time I saw Dr Feler (neurosurgeon), my appointment was in Memphis. For my follow up appointment this morning, he was actually coming to Union City for the day. They told me, or so I thought, to go in the East entrance to the hospital, take the elevator to the 3rd floor, and the reception area was right when you get off the elevator. Easy enough.

I walk in the East entrance go the elevator and push the top button only to realize that the button I pushed was for the 2nd floor. There wasn't a button for the 3rd floor, just a sign that said, "To go to the 3rd floor, don't push any buttons". Union City Hospital is really old, so that didn't seem odd to me.

I rode the elevator to the 2nd floor, let the door open and close, and waited to go to the next floor. Nothing happened. So, I push a button to open the door, step out and push the up button, get back in. Nothing happened. Ok....maybe I should start over. Push the 1st floor button, go back down. Door opens, step out, push the up button, back in, door closes. Nothing happened. Ok...maybe I should get out, let the door close completely, push the up button, get back in, door closes. Nothing happened. Forget the elevator, I'm late.

Where are the stairs? I find the stairs, walk up 3 flights, while thinking about how sad it is that my legs are burning, get to the top, try to open the door.....it's locked. Nice. Ok...back down 3 flights of stairs. Now I'm thinking that I have to find someone b/c I'm really late. There's no reception area or any human in sight, or I would have already asked how the heck you get to the 3rd floor.

Just as I'm about to go find someone, Dr Feler and his nurses walk in. They had just gotten there. Oh, thank goodness. So I explain in kind of an excited mumble that I've been trying to go to the 3rd floor and couldn't get the elevator to work. I step on to ride with them and one of the nurses explains that you can't take the elevator to the 3rd floor without using the phone right beside the elevator. What? I'm questioning in my head why they won't let me ride the elevator with them, but I thought that maybe I had to call to check in or something like that.

So, back off the elevator, pick up the phone, push the button, wait, push the button again, wait. Finally a lady answers. I tell her that I need to come to the 3rd floor. She rudely questions who I need to see. I say that I'm there for an appointment with Dr Feler. She says....."He's not on this floor.....this is the psychiatric ward and alcohol rehab floor". Nice. I've been trying like crazy to get to the psych floor for the last 10 minutes, which is where I felt like I needed to be at this point. Turns out Dr Feler was on the 2nd floor.

I could go on and on about the other 10 things that made me feel like I was in the twilight zone, but for the sake of time, here's the quick update on the actual appointment. When I saw Dr Feler in Memphis they did not run all of the lab tests they were supposed to, so I had to have more blood drawn today. The tests they ran in Memphis came back normal except my hematocrit levels were low, which translates to anemia. Nothing new. I'm most interested in the tests he ran today. Hopefully they will show something. I should know in a week or two.