Testing times

Yet another hectic morning... I had decided to go and have the Glucose Challenge Test (GCT) today. I had phoned the pathology collection centre nearest my house a few days previously to check what I needed to do (and was told no appointment necessary, allow 2 hours, no fasting, etc. ... and advised bring a book to read!). I arranged for Gran and GrandPaul to babysit BallFiend, and planned my entire morning around having the test done.

So much for planning! Turns out that the real test was a test of my patience (and I hereby award another black mark against my hospital ... although admittedly, they are not entirely at fault). The pathology request slip listed a clinic in East Brunswick as a collection centre, and being only 5 minutes from home I decided to go there for the test rather than make the 30 minute trek out to the hospital pathology department. However, when I arrived at the clinic, I was told that the slip was out-of-date and that they no longer provide pathology collection services to my hospital. The pathology technician was very apologetic - he said that the hospital had given me an out-of-date slip.

So I jumped back in the car and rushed out to the hospital. Once again, no parking within 2 light-years. By the time I got inside, the pathology waiting area was full of people. I waited about 25 minutes then received my ever-so-tasty fizzy, glucose drink.

As I had an hour to wait until the blood sample was due to be taken, I dropped into the Family Birth Centre to tell them their pathology request slips are out-of-date. The midwife was grateful to be told this and said she would let the other midwives know. Then I sat down and worked on my "list of things to pack for hospital" until it was time to have the blood sample taken. By now, the waiting area was almost empty. Clearly I would have been better to put off doing the GCT until the afternoon!

At 12.00 pm I was back in the car and on my way home. All was going well, until I got to a train crossing just as the boom gates went down. However, not a train in sight! There was a side street just a metre ahead of me, taunting me with a way out, except I was in the right lane and there were two other lanes of traffic blocking my way. Thankfully, after nearly 10 minutes of waiting for the non-existent train to pass, the cars in the other two lanes finally got a clue and took a detour via the side street. At last I could escape (which I promptly did) and took an alternative route home.

I was greeted by BallFiend: "You go away mum! Go back to work!", a typical welcome-home when he is annoyed with DeepSpice or myself for leaving him.
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