Well, I had wanted to title this entry “Tour de Hôpital”, but Neocities scrubs characters from file names that aren’t A-Z, or 0-9… Sad! Anyway. Yes! I’ve been to 5 hospitals in the span of 12 months, all across the country. That’s a tour.
Some days ago I took a 7-hour round trip to take a CPET (or a cardiopulmonary exercise test) from one of the country’s bigger hospitals. It would have been a year-long wait if I couldn’t travel.
I can check off breath tests, a CT scan, an echocardiogram, an additional psychological evaluation, and now the CPET.
If I can say anything positive, it’s that all the latest medical staff I saw were patient, professional, and easy-going. One of the guys was a medical student, and he carried out some basic tasks as well as attaching most of the equipment to me. The technician walked me throughout the the CPET, and I heard him read out and explain some the data as it was gathered to a third guy who observed with a clipboard. I forget who he was. But in any case, now the medical board has all information they need. I wasn’t to try to perform too well on the test, and in all honesty, I’m not on top of cardio despite being an active person. Despite that I do enjoy cycling. I just don’t have the stamina. I did ask about the wait, and it’ll be a few months down the line until I hear from any more medical professionals in regards to operation dates. That really got me down. I know very well I’m having a thoracic corrective surgery - the technician said as much during the test to the other man with the clipboard, and that the results of the post-surgery will be of most interest. Hell, I’ve known I’d be having a operation as far back as last year when I saw consultant surgeons at the very first hospital I visited.
I have to find some peace in knowing the majority of the tedious and essential tests are out of the way. It’s the wait. Waiting is agony.