DRY RUN

I was complaining to the physical therapist at Avenidas about the strong tendency of my left hand to curl up into a weird fist, especially at night.  She suggested that I go to the Stanford Hand Clinic and be fitted for a night hand splint.  The purpose of the splint is to keep my hand straight.

I talked to my doctor, and he wrote a prescription, which I sent off to the aforementioned Hand Clinic.  I received a call back to set up a series of appointments.  Now some years ago I was at the Stanford Hospital for something else, and I remembered that parking is nigh onto impossible except for their parking garage, for which there is a charge.  Further, I’d recently heard that the road to the hospital is pretty messy because of ongoing construction.

So when I’d finished setting up the appointments, I asked about specific instructions, both in getting to the hospital, and how to find the Hand Clinic.  The young lady proceeded to give me very specific instructions, which I jotted down.  After hanging up I thought that it might be a good idea to do a dry run to be sure I’d know where we were going.  So Cliff and I decided we would give it a try right after Avenidas this past Friday.

Oh, boy!  It’s a good thing we did!  The road is in a terrible mess, which slowed us down.  After we finally parked the car, Cliff retrieved my scooter, and we found our way out to the area of the hospital.  Unfortunately the area didn’t look anything like what I’d remembered.  We finally found what we figured to be the proper entrance and then more confusion ensued.  Cliff pointed out an information desk, so we inquired there.  And that’s where we were most lucky.  One of the volunteers guided us to the Hand Clinic, and I even found the young lady with whom I’d spoken the day before.  Bingo!

More luck ensued.  Now we knew where we’d be going the day of the appointment, but arriving on time was going to be iffy.  Then our guide told us about a different route to the hospital, and avoid all that construction work.  At home I checked it on a Google map, and it appears that what the guide suggested will work very nicely, thank you.

Oh, yes -- can’t forget!  Cliff and I were so happy to have that over with, that on the way home, we treated ourselves to chocolate milkshakes!  Delicious!


Cartoon time --