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nightengaleskndI’m not actually sure they’re considered competing access needs when they all occur in one person. But anyway. Go ahead and count the myriad conditions, diagnoses and disabilities as I explain the how come my poor sense of direction led to my arm being sore.
I finally mustered enough executive function to get my overdue diabetic eye exam and also a new prescription for my myopia and astigmatism. I looked at the glasses they had available at the same place I saw the ophthalmologist. Most of their frames were too big. The only two that fit, one of them had lenses so narrow that I was looking over instead of through them, which is not so conducive to driving a car, and the other only came in lavender with teal flowers. I like bright colors as much, if not more than the next person, but that seemed a bit much. They suggested their branch office which has most of their children’s frames as well as smaller frames in general.
The branch was at 601 H Road, which happens to be quite near my once and future office. So on Wednesday I stopped off at my once and future office to discuss some paperwork with people, and then set out for the ophthalmologist. My blood sugar had crept up in the past hour. It had been at 180, which is not unusual for mid-morning and typically comes back down to 100 or so by lunch time, but instead it had crept up to 225. So I took an extra unit of insulin, got in the car and set my GPS for 601 H Drive.
My once and future office is on P Drive, which I knew turned into H Road at some point. My GPS told me to get onto P Drive, but did not specify a direction so I picked the one that went through the nearest traffic light, thinking that might be a natural place for a road to change names. After a short distance, the GPS told me to turn around, so I did, went back through the light, past my once and future office, and kept going. I’m not sure where exactly P Drive turned into H Road but my GPS told me I was arriving at my destination. I saw buildings labeled 409 and then a complex labeled 633-677 H Road. There was no building labled 601 between them. I drove back past the 409 building, turned around and drove slowly back to the 633 H Road complex. My GPS kept telling me I was arriving but there was no building in sight. Finally I pulled into the 633 H Road complex, got over my telephonophobia and called, describing my current location as well as I could. From the the 633 H Road complex I could see a branch of the Blood Connection. (They do all our local blood drives) They asked if I was on H Road or W Road. I hadn’t seen any signs for W road, and knew W as a quite busy road, so I presumed I was still on H Road. They said it was near the Blood Connection and told me to look for a 2 story building with a flagpole out in front. I drove the stretch again from the 409 building to the 633 building. Then I parked my car at the Blood Connection and walked all around the building to see if maybe the eye doctor was hidden behind it. It wasn’t. There was another road behind the building, and across that street was a 2 story building with a flagpole in front of it. Said building was clearly labeled with the name of an elementary school.
I called again and was told to turn left onto H Road, turn left at the first light which would be R Road, and they were at the corner of the two. The only light within view was to the right, towards the buildings with lower numbers rather than higher numbers, but she assured me this was the correct thing to do. I set out on foot. My blood sugar was 155 and dropping which would have been fine if I had not been setting out for a walk. I had some crackers and turned my insulin pump down.
I cancelled the program of 601 H Road and entered the intersection of H Road and R Road, instead. I noticed a couple of things. One was that my GPS claimed I was on T Drive, not H Road. Two was that it claimed I was going from 0.4 of a mile away from my destination to 0.6 of a mile away from my destination. Three was that the “city” where I current live does not believe in sidewalks. I found myself walking down a hill on the grass where a curb should be, ducking through low hanging leaves, picking my way with my cane. That’s when my arm started to hurt.
I walked past 640 H Road, which somewhat reassured me I was still on H Road, even if my GPS said T Drive. My GPS said 0.7 of a mile. I got to the first light, which was not R Road, as predicted, but rather HW Road, one of the very busy roads around here. I turned around and picked my way back through the grass. I got back to my car, looked at a map, had some more crackers, and set out in the direction my GPS indicated, to the right this time. I walked past the 409 builiding and a few buildings that did not have numbers and then, before I got to the light, there it was. I had driven past it originally but had not started looking at numbers because my GPS told me I had 0.5 of a mile remaining.
And I found glasses. And then I walked back to my car and drove home and collapsed on the sofa. Amazingly I managed to avoid severe hypoglycemia even though I unexpectedly walked about a mile on a unit of insulin.
Tonight I looked at a couple of maps and the Google satellite view and I still can’t quite figure out when P Road turns into H Road turns into T Drive. All evidence EXCEPT my GPS implies I was on H Road, not T Drive. The road on the other side of the buildings such as the Blood Connection appears to have been W Road, not H Road, so the directions to turn left onto H Road were incorrect. But I didn’t recognize W Road from standing on the side of it, even though I have driven on it many times. So all is suspect.
My legs were sore for a couple of days but now it’s mostly just my cane arm. Who knew that poor visual processing was dangerous to blood sugar levels and so hard on the muscles?
I finally mustered enough executive function to get my overdue diabetic eye exam and also a new prescription for my myopia and astigmatism. I looked at the glasses they had available at the same place I saw the ophthalmologist. Most of their frames were too big. The only two that fit, one of them had lenses so narrow that I was looking over instead of through them, which is not so conducive to driving a car, and the other only came in lavender with teal flowers. I like bright colors as much, if not more than the next person, but that seemed a bit much. They suggested their branch office which has most of their children’s frames as well as smaller frames in general.
The branch was at 601 H Road, which happens to be quite near my once and future office. So on Wednesday I stopped off at my once and future office to discuss some paperwork with people, and then set out for the ophthalmologist. My blood sugar had crept up in the past hour. It had been at 180, which is not unusual for mid-morning and typically comes back down to 100 or so by lunch time, but instead it had crept up to 225. So I took an extra unit of insulin, got in the car and set my GPS for 601 H Drive.
My once and future office is on P Drive, which I knew turned into H Road at some point. My GPS told me to get onto P Drive, but did not specify a direction so I picked the one that went through the nearest traffic light, thinking that might be a natural place for a road to change names. After a short distance, the GPS told me to turn around, so I did, went back through the light, past my once and future office, and kept going. I’m not sure where exactly P Drive turned into H Road but my GPS told me I was arriving at my destination. I saw buildings labeled 409 and then a complex labeled 633-677 H Road. There was no building labled 601 between them. I drove back past the 409 building, turned around and drove slowly back to the 633 H Road complex. My GPS kept telling me I was arriving but there was no building in sight. Finally I pulled into the 633 H Road complex, got over my telephonophobia and called, describing my current location as well as I could. From the the 633 H Road complex I could see a branch of the Blood Connection. (They do all our local blood drives) They asked if I was on H Road or W Road. I hadn’t seen any signs for W road, and knew W as a quite busy road, so I presumed I was still on H Road. They said it was near the Blood Connection and told me to look for a 2 story building with a flagpole out in front. I drove the stretch again from the 409 building to the 633 building. Then I parked my car at the Blood Connection and walked all around the building to see if maybe the eye doctor was hidden behind it. It wasn’t. There was another road behind the building, and across that street was a 2 story building with a flagpole in front of it. Said building was clearly labeled with the name of an elementary school.
I called again and was told to turn left onto H Road, turn left at the first light which would be R Road, and they were at the corner of the two. The only light within view was to the right, towards the buildings with lower numbers rather than higher numbers, but she assured me this was the correct thing to do. I set out on foot. My blood sugar was 155 and dropping which would have been fine if I had not been setting out for a walk. I had some crackers and turned my insulin pump down.
I cancelled the program of 601 H Road and entered the intersection of H Road and R Road, instead. I noticed a couple of things. One was that my GPS claimed I was on T Drive, not H Road. Two was that it claimed I was going from 0.4 of a mile away from my destination to 0.6 of a mile away from my destination. Three was that the “city” where I current live does not believe in sidewalks. I found myself walking down a hill on the grass where a curb should be, ducking through low hanging leaves, picking my way with my cane. That’s when my arm started to hurt.
I walked past 640 H Road, which somewhat reassured me I was still on H Road, even if my GPS said T Drive. My GPS said 0.7 of a mile. I got to the first light, which was not R Road, as predicted, but rather HW Road, one of the very busy roads around here. I turned around and picked my way back through the grass. I got back to my car, looked at a map, had some more crackers, and set out in the direction my GPS indicated, to the right this time. I walked past the 409 builiding and a few buildings that did not have numbers and then, before I got to the light, there it was. I had driven past it originally but had not started looking at numbers because my GPS told me I had 0.5 of a mile remaining.
And I found glasses. And then I walked back to my car and drove home and collapsed on the sofa. Amazingly I managed to avoid severe hypoglycemia even though I unexpectedly walked about a mile on a unit of insulin.
Tonight I looked at a couple of maps and the Google satellite view and I still can’t quite figure out when P Road turns into H Road turns into T Drive. All evidence EXCEPT my GPS implies I was on H Road, not T Drive. The road on the other side of the buildings such as the Blood Connection appears to have been W Road, not H Road, so the directions to turn left onto H Road were incorrect. But I didn’t recognize W Road from standing on the side of it, even though I have driven on it many times. So all is suspect.
My legs were sore for a couple of days but now it’s mostly just my cane arm. Who knew that poor visual processing was dangerous to blood sugar levels and so hard on the muscles?
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Kudos to you for perseverance.
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When I stopped laughing I reminded him about visual processing and that yours makes mine look amazing.
"Ooooooh." He replied. And didn't say anything else.
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I finally figured out that some of the building numbers applied to the road behind, rather than the road I was on. Almost in an alternating pattern. Like one building would be 325 W Road, and then the one next to it would be 623 H Drive. Even though you could drive into both parking lots via H Drive and it didn't act like the "back" of any of them and had the address number (but not the street name) on the H Drive side.
Like I always say, it's not that I can't read a map. It's HOW I read a map. . .
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Lately I've been pointing out the pervasiveness of ableism in medical culture as "the fish doesn't see water." Cultural competency too. First you have to accept that your perspective actually IS a perspective and a culturally driven one, rather than just being "the way things are."
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"Perseverance if I want to do it, perseveration if I don't."
This is why perseveration and circular thinking keeps me awake so often when I want to sleep.
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