Outpatient Blood Draw at Virginia Hospital Center

It’s been a long six weeks. We have been dealing with non threatening but very annoying health care issues. It’s been a lot of doctor visits, pharmacy fills, and testing but with no final diagnosis yet. A lot of things have been ruled out. But my husband has a personality that needs to know or he simply won’t rest - creating many sleepless nights. So now he needs to have an ultrasound - scheduled for this afternoon, and more blood work drawn this morning. He had a video visit with the doctor last night. Since there was a staffing issue at the clinic that is right across the street from where we live, we needed to go to the hospital for the lab draw. Thanks to the patient portal, we were able to schedule it on line and sign all the paperwork before we arrived. The hardest part was finding parking. I wanted to avoid the parking structure, so we found a space on the perimeter and used the park mobile app and scheduled an hour. Navigating the hospital is always interesting since we haven’t been there except for outpatient GI tests two weeks ago. Once in the lab area it was quite simple and well organized. If we ever need to go back we will at least know what we are doing. Since we haven’t really needed this much health care it’s also been an exercise trying to figure out what insurance covers. We are not looking forward to the bills that are piling up. All of the results have already been sent through the patient portal and luckily they look just fine. Hopefully things will be the same this afternoon. And for the first time my husband is hungry again - of course on the day he has to stay “nothing by mouth” until after the ultrasound. I don’t know what he will do if everything is negative. It’s been a very anxious time for both of us so we will deal with that when the time comes. 

A Virginia Hospital Center Radiology Visit

Last week we had a telemedicine conference chat with my husband’s physician. It resulted in having to schedule a radiology appointment at Virginia Hospital Center. It’s bad enough having to go to a hospital without the virus around us, but even worse when it is. So the last week has been rather anxious for both of us. Since we moved from Capitol Hill last year, we now have all new doctors that are within a block or two of our house. But that also means going to new hospitals and clinics that we are not familiar with. This morning we took a 15 minute ride to the hospital. My husband was armed with his face mask, gloves, and hand sanitizer. This was the first time I was not able to accompany him on a visit. We always do things together, and I didn’t like the idea of just dropping him off at the front door in an unfamiliar place. After that, I drove around the suburban Arlington neighborhood and found a two hour parking spot across the street from the main entrance. Luckily it didn’t take very long, and my husband called me about an hour later to pick him up. He was pleased with the whole process and staff from start to finish and even more pleased that things looked good. Since he was in the “cootie” environment, I wasn’t able to hug him when I heard the news. This damn virus is upsetting in more ways than one. I’m looking forward to telling everyone things turned out okay - but my husband is waiting for the official report and not sure if anything else will be recommended. He’s taking a nap now since our schedule was weird today and anxiety has subsided. I am forever grateful for the good news having just lost my mom three months ago. Just another reminder how another day is never guaranteed. When we both worked in health care all those years we saw that all the time. But when it’s personal, it takes on a whole new meaning. 

Behind the trees is the Virginia Hospital Center