unbeknowst to me...

... when I took the auntie to a dental appointment a couple of weeks ago, she had already been to see the family practice doc., having been sent on the van from Fellowship Home to get x-rays of her leg done. She had been limping along, occasionally, when the thought would randomly pass through her head that her right leg/knee was hurting. Causing the staff  to make arrangements to get her to the doctor, and have pictures tooken, hoping to identify the cause of the problem. I expect they were, like me, optimistic about a simple solution.

Which may possibly still occur: but since they failed to let me know about the gimpy leg, when family practice sent me a robo-call as a reminder to get her back for follow-up visit I was in the dark. In order to actually address what ever might be wrong it would, of course, be necessary to get the results of the pictures. Since I was completely ignorant, uninformed, and had no idea she had been to doctor, assumed the office was reminding me about an appointment made months ago. For some now forgotten/cured reason, that would be the follow-up for: treatment for flu-like symptoms? a fall that resulted in cracked ribs? routine six months check? who knows? I cancelled the visit, not knowing anything about the current health crisis.

Only when the person who drives the van to take people into town for medical visits gave me a call to ask if I was going to be there to take her - did I know she was supposed to get back to family practice for results. I was befuddled and quite taken aback. I told the driver, Maxine, who is occasionally the auntie's best friend (when she can remember who Maxine is), she would have to get them to schedule to get her back to consult for evaluation/info. about the x-rays. Apparently that never happened...

Move on to the end of last week, when a Home Health worker called me to get info. about the forgetful auntie, and I gave her the Cliff's Notes version of the past two years. Nickie, the Nurse, said the auntie was still having leg pain, intermittently, when she happened to randomly, occasionally remember about it. But would also deny having any problem at all, or tell her it was the left leg, not the right. Nickie suggested we make an appointment for the auntie to go to Orthopedic Dr. (the man who replaced one of her hips, and also the dr. she used for primary care when she got mad at the people at Family Practice office.) Hoping the solution would be nothing more than a cortisone injection in her knee.

I am going to Valdosta tomorrow, to take the auntie to Family Practice, and hear results of the x-rays done a month ago. Still hopeful there will be an easy solution, and the knee pain will be resolved. It will be a long day of driving six hours to go down and back - but with the alternative choice being spend the night there, I am prepared to go, take care of business, turn around and be back to sleep in my own bed.