I Screwed Up Big Time Today

Bill waiting for his eye surgery appointment this morning

Today was one of THOSE days in which I screwed up, BIG TIME.

This morning Bill had an appointment for his second cataract surgery. 

We arrived half an hour early. 

The fine folks at the Delaware Eye Institute cataract surgery center took Bill in right away.  I left, asking them to call me when Bill was ready to leave.  

That was 8:00 am this morning. His appointment was at 8:40 am.

I took advantage of my time down the hectic Route One and did some chores. First was Walmart.

Then I stopped at Food Lion and Ace Hardware.  Then I went home, awaiting a call.  

9:30 am. No call. 

10:00 am. No call.

10:30 am. No call.

11:00 am. No call.

Now I was getting worried. I thought maybe there were complications with his eye surgery.  I left home at 11:20 am to take my place on the backed up traffic on Route One to the Delaware Eye surgery center.

After a couple of close calls (yes, two close calls, this is Route One in the summertime after all), I pulled in the parking lot of the Delaware Eye Institute.

I walk to the front desk.  I tell them I'm here to pick up Bill Kelly. 

The woman behind the front desk says to someone in the back "He's here."  She doesn't look happy.  In fact she wasn't happy at all.  

I soon found out the reason why.  They had been trying to reach me for TWO HOURS!

Bill was in the back, distraught.  He was crying.  I don't want to go too deep into Bill's psyche but he cannot handle any kind of stress.  That's why I advised him to quit his job thirty-three years ago and took over the sole position of bread winner for our household.  

One of the nurses had her arms around Bill, trying to comfort him. I was trying to figure out why I wasn't getting their calls.  I tried to call them but all I get is a voice mail.  

I figured out why I wasn't getting their calls. Apparently my iPhone has to be cleared out of "Recent Calls" or else my mailbox fills up and calls don't go through.  And no, I didn't have the Do Not Disturb Sign on.

Now I know why I wasn't getting calls from the surgery center prior to Bill's surgery.  In fact, when I checked Bill in this morning at the surgery center I asked them to check the phone number they had on record for calling me.  They had the right phone number. What I should have done is ask them to call my number and then I would have realized my mailbox was full.

Well, now I had a group of nurses who didn't like me.  A position I'm not used to being in.

I'm a firm believer in always showing up for appointments on time and doing the right thing.  I believe in always being cooperative and patient, especially when dealing with the medical establishment.

This morning I screwed that part of my reputation up big time.  One of the nurses told me "You caused us a big problem this morning."  I know why, because they operate on more than one person and by having Bill sitting there in a wheel chair, distraught and crying, my stupidity disrupted that assembly line process.  

Bill after his eye surgery this morning

I apologized but they weren't interested and I don't blame them.  Especially seeing how upset Bill was.  

This morning I felt as bad as I've felt in many a year.  How to fix this?  For one thing clear out all the "Recent Call" on my frigging iPhone.

And good thing because as soon as we got home I received a call from Bill's gastroenterologist scheduling an appointment next month for an endoscopy. 

I guess you could sum up this morning with that famous quote from "Cool Hand Luke"

"What we have here is a failure of communication."  

And folks, yours truly failed big time today.  

The only thing I can do is make sure it never happens again.  But I don't think I'll ever get those nurses to like me. 

Digital Communication

Communication by FaceTime

These days it's fashionable in some quarters to denigrate the new digital way of communication with friends.  The hairs on the back of my neck always bristle when I hear someone suggest "We should put away all the smart phones and go back to the way we USED to communicate with friends."  

I get it, that criticism assumes that using smart phones to check our various forms of communications in this Digital Age (e-mail,social media, et al) is replacing the old fashion face to face communication.  WRONG.  Not so.  

I will never apologize for using my iPhone in public. Whether I'm checking my e-mail (so I can keep up on my communications with my friends, neighbors, co-workers and others) or I'm checking the latest stock market activity or the latest news bulletin.  Leave me alone.  If you want to ditch your hand held electronic device that keeps you up with the world then go for it . . . . for yourself.  As for me, I'm taking advantage of this new Digital Age and the communication revolution.  Just as I get in my car to drive to the local supermarket instead of my horse and buggy, I'm taking advantage of the evolution of our civilization. Excuse me while I live in the modern age.

I have a couple of dear friends that I talk to on FaceTime almost every day. One lives in the north of this state but we only see each other in person usually only once a year.  That's when he comes down for his birthday in June and we get an old time photo taken. My other good friend, as regular followers of this blog know, lives in Toronto Canada.  We of course do not see each other in person but maybe twice a year (if we're lucky).  All the other times we communicate and share our friendship on FaceTime.  What would our friendship be like if we didn't have FaceTime? If I bowed to the retro shaming of those he eschew using modern hand held electronic devices to communicate with friends? Telephone calls, that's what.  And I probably wouldn't do telephone calls anyway because I hate talking on the telephone.  Always have, always will.  So impersonal.

The famous "Lar" of Claymont, Delaware
a HUGE Joe Biden fan

For me, the new "personal" is my electronic communication.  So if you see me walking down the street with my face glued to my iPhone or see me in a restaurant checking my e-mail on my iPhone (more likely you'll see me in a medical waiting room checking my e-mail on my iPhone but I digress), you'll have to excuse me for not joining into the Greek Chorus demonizing our new form of communication. 

Greek Chorus chanting "Oh don't use your iPhone!  Whatever happened to face to face communication?"
Answer: Miles - when you live miles apart from friends you talk FaceTime - just like being there