I am taking baby steps, but right now it feels great just to be taking steps. By baby steps I am referring to my progress, and while it is no secret that it has been slow and steady, lately I am really feeling the pace is picking up. Yesterday, for the first time that I can remember, I went for a walk, outside, all by myself. It was such a great day that I decided I would make the approximate 10 minute walk from my Dad’s to my Mom’s. It was a great day and the walk was one more step towards my independence. It did feel really good to be out in the fresh air by myself, almost like I was a regular person!
During my walk I began to think about my efforts to rebuild my strength in the past month, and I have realised that my desire to do social activity has often times lead me to pass on the physical exercise. During times like XMAS and most recently Superbowl Sunday, I have chosen to do the social stuff as opposed to burning my energy on the physical stuff. I’m very happy with those choices as I really cherish that time of year and did have another great XMAS. However now that we are passed that period I once again need to switch my focus and commit to my new strategy. So for the next while I will be placing my physical conditioning near the top of my priority list. As one of my major physical goals is to be able to play soccer this summer!
Now for my mental goals. Yesterday I contacted the Leukemia Research Fund of Canada (LRFC), who are based in Ontario and raise money for Leukemia research as well as create awareness about Leukemia. They have fundraising efforts throughout the country but have a poor representation in the Maritimes and Newfoundland. So I contacted them to see where I could be of assistance and have found a few places right off the bat. The first involves ‘raising the flag’, which occurs in June as that is Leukemia month. Representatives from across the country raise ‘the Leukemia flag’ at their respective City Halls. I have offered to represent them here this year, as last year they used an official from the UFCW, who do a significant amount of fundraising for LRFC. The other part that I am really excited about is I will very possibly get to contribute an article to their April/May newsletter, which will be highlighting the events of Leukemia month. I’m not sure how the content will work itself out but you can be sure you will know as I do.
The other piece of my mental goals puzzle is that today I have my very first, but definitely not my last, meeting at the St. John’s Healthcare Corporation. As you may recall one of my biggest frustrations with our system has been as an outpatient and being asked to register prior to clinic visits. To clarify this is not a regular registration process that sees the patient check in at the clinic desk, that must done be after you go to the main registration desk just off the lobby of the hospital. This registration desk serves every patient and the POLICY is that every patient must register there before registering at their respective clinics. Well on days when it was all I could do to walk from the main door to the clinic I was quite frustrated to find out that they were attempting to force me to drag myself back out to the main desk and wait in line with the masses. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want special treatment I want that whole process eliminated as all the information gathered at the main desk can quite easily be obtained at the clinic desk. Of course I have refused to register at the main desk and in the 15 months I have been frequenting the Health Sciences I have never registered there, and don’t ever plan to. So far I have not been refused service. Today I will meet with the lady in charge of the Admissions and Registration procedures, her name is Faye Drodge and in the few times we have spoken she seems like a very nice lady. As always I will keep you updated on the events of today and will hopefully have some good news for me and all patients at some point later today.
That is a little recap of my last few days and some insight into my new arrangement of priorities. I’ll be back soon.
Geoff
#4
