3-Tim Day – Reno, NV

We haven’t added much to the blog lately cause we have been in and out of Reno for Boots’ eye. Finally yesterday-Monday (after seeing them the previous Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) they referred us to another ophthalmologist whose specialty is corneas. This new doc was able to fit us in the next day (today at 9:30am).
It is a 2 hour drive into Reno from Quincy, so to quote Ruthi, “we were up before the crack of dawn” to get ready to drive in. We packed the truck, put the dog in the back seat and then the truck wouldn’t start. We called our Ford Roadside Assistance to find out that we are no longer covered under the warranty. We knew we were out of warranty on the truck but didn’t get the connection to the Roadside Assistance.

Lucky for us, a few weeks ago we had signed up for Good Sam Roadside Assistance. They were very helpful and got a tow truck to us in 45 minutes. We still do not understand why they couldn’t have sent a truck from within Quincy but oh well. So, Tim-#1 shows up and off we go to Reno. We had called the doctor’s office about the delay. They were a bit unbelieving but said to call them when we got to Reno. Since they had squeeze us in they had less patience that might be expected of the medical field.

Our ride into Reno was full of political discussions. While we seemed to be in opposition to Tim-#1 (the tow truck driver) on most topics we did find common ground. You figure in 90 minutes there would have to be bloodshed but we agreed that it’s time for a woman president and that Hillary is a great option, Romney’s business background isn’t sufficient for the presidency, and there should always be a separation of church and state. Points we disagreed on were Romney’s religion is an issue, President Obama is a Muslim, and the Affordable Health Care bill requires governmental “death panels”. Though on that last point, we did get him to agree to research the “advanced directives” so that he could understand the impact better. Besides explaining the language in the bill, we talked about our own directives and how they might be used. Interesting, huh???

When we got to Ford, we worked with Tim-#2 to get the truck admitted for analysis and repair. He told us that they really like to do “cold starts” on diesels to ensure everything is in working order. So, we rented a car to get us around Reno, to new doctor, and back to Quincy. We have to come back to Reno Thursday night anyway because Boots has an early Friday morning appointment at another doctor. She is just falling apart as Ruthi watches. So, Tim-#2 is fine with the arrangement to keep truck until we return and agrees to call us with the prognosis and charges as soon as he knows. No political discussion here.

It’s now about noon and both Ford and the doctor’s offices are closed for lunch. We wait it out and then call the ophthalmologist and try again to get into see him today. They suggest we come to the office and sit in the waiting room until they can get us in – really fun!!! While the clinic wasn’t able to fix Boots’ eye issue they were fun and friendly to us as customers. This new office was less than friendly, we sat in the waiting room for maybe 30 minutes before Boots saw the doctor.

Tim-#3, the doctor examined Boots’ eye pretty much ignoring Ruthi. Well, trying not to be rude but wanting to be included, Ruthi asked questions. Tim-#3 commented on how large the problem on the cornea was (11.6 sq mm). Ruthi commented that that seemed to be pretty large. Tim-#3 asked Ruthi if she wanted to see. Of course she did. He allowed her to view it and even watch as he took a biopsy. So, he didn’t put us together as a couple but he did begin to look at both of us in his discussions of treatment and next steps. Before we left we had a better interface with the office staff and now feel like patients of theirs not just extras, so to speak. We also found out that Tim-#3 is really Tom not Tim, opps!