Achmed’s Day is Drawing Near!

All these multi-part blog entries, as much fun as they are to write, and they are even more fun to live, have occasionally gotten me off track of what the whole point of this thing was in the first place. Granted, I like to let people know that I, as a person, have not really changed that much and still enjoy living life, although you probably don’t really want to hear about some of my adventures… they are not all exciting anyway.

Today there was some progress in what, in my opinion, has become a six-month battle of ‘hurry up and wait’. Finally there has been some movement on the Winnipeg front. I stress the word SOME, as I am still hanging in limbo for the most part, but at least I now finally know for sure that the wheels of Canada’s Sick-Care Program are starting to creek.

After about 2 weeks of trying to find out what the hell was going on with my travel plans, I finally actually SPOKE to Tammy in Winnipeg. Tammy is the Gamma Knife coordinator for the Winnipeg Gamma Knife Centre… who incidentally sounds kind of cute on the phone… and she is the one who I will be dealing with for the planning phase of the nuclear blast.

Apparently, Dr. West (the Gamma Knife Operator, who I figure must look like Marvin The Martian from the Bugs Bunny cartoons) is still waiting for all of my ‘images’ so he can confirm that I am indeed going to Winnipeg. I told Tammy that she had no idea what she had asked our medical system for, I have had so many broken bones that they have a special cabinet for all of my X-Rays. So I guess when the delivery truck finally arrives in Winnipeg, with all of my ‘images’, Dr. West will review them and schedule me in for a blast.

She was hoping to have an answer for me within a week and they will give me a week or two to get the travel plans in order. As I have said before, it is a good thing that I have a flexible job; this could be a real pain in the ass for a lot of people. Not that it is not a pain in the ass for me, but at least scheduling a few weeks off at the last minute is not one of the worries that I have to deal with.

So I am three-and-a-half weeks in since the General gave me my marching orders, and according to Tammy I will probably be up there in another three to four weeks, so I guess Batten’s six-week estimate was pretty much on the money… assuming that I am still going.

A small bit of movement on the financial front today as well. When I got home I had a letter in the mail from the NL Dept. of Health, approving my Gamma Knife Surgery if it goes ahead, and that billing will be directly to the Provincial Government. At least I know I don’t need to come up with that $17,000 now, although I never knew I was waiting for an approval letter. That really could have sucked if I got to Winnipeg and my Visa bounced and they just sent me home… seriously, health care professionals really need to take some customer service courses. As comforting as it is to know that they all treat this as routine because they are used to it, I am not used to it. This is, hopefully, a once in a lifetime experience for me and no one is keeping me in the loop on what is happening with MY head.

The frustration I have had trying to get information on this whole thing has been almost as stressful as my new little buddy. I know what good customer service is, perhaps I can get a nice consulting gig teaching the Health Care Department how it works.

Thanks to everyone who has sent e-mails, letters, cards and positive thoughts, it seems that just when I have had enough, someone calls, or drops me a line or does something to perk me up. Every little bit helps:)

From Achmed and Me… Live Life!