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sameoldont_gal

Today is Lars appointment!!

Ont_Gal
3 years ago

Best of luck to you today Lars!

Comments (59)

  • bpath
    3 years ago

    Crank up your "I need this now" music on the 405 and sing!

    Ont_Gal thanked bpath
  • eld6161
    3 years ago

    My pet peeve is traffic and parking so I emphasize with you. Glad you are giving yourself extra time.

    Keep us posted.

    Ont_Gal thanked eld6161
  • whistle_b
    3 years ago

    Wishing you the best, Lars.

    Ont_Gal thanked whistle_b
  • 1929Spanish-GW
    3 years ago

    Sending good thoughts, first for traffic & parking and second for your scan. 😉

    Ont_Gal thanked 1929Spanish-GW
  • dedtired
    3 years ago

    Let us know how it goes, Lars.

    Ont_Gal thanked dedtired
  • cooper8828
    3 years ago

    Good luck!

    Ont_Gal thanked cooper8828
  • yeonassky
    3 years ago

    Good luck! Best wishes for a good report. Take care!

    Ont_Gal thanked yeonassky
  • OutsidePlaying
    3 years ago

    Good luck to you. Hope the traffic gods are with you today too.

    Ont_Gal thanked OutsidePlaying
  • Lars
    3 years ago

    I might get lucky with traffic, but sometimes the freeway crawls at 10 mph, which is why it could take an hour to go nine miles, especially during rush hour. I'm not at all happy about the appointment change, but I just want it to be over.

    Ont_Gal thanked Lars
  • 1929Spanish-GW
    3 years ago

    I’ve noticed traffic in OC has gotten worse, but maybe 75% of normal.

    Ont_Gal thanked 1929Spanish-GW
  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    3 years ago

    Will be sending you thoughts of your future good health in mind and with love.

    Ont_Gal thanked rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
  • marilyn_c
    3 years ago

    Positive thoughts for you, Lars.

    Ont_Gal thanked marilyn_c
  • stacey_mb
    3 years ago

    Wishing you the best.

    Ont_Gal thanked stacey_mb
  • morz8 - Washington Coast
    3 years ago

    I'll wish you an easy drive and ample parking quickly found, Lars. You're going to have good results from your scan, I just know it ;0)

    Ont_Gal thanked morz8 - Washington Coast
  • woodrose
    3 years ago

    I don't either, Michele. Wishing Lars all the best anyway.

    Ont_Gal thanked woodrose
  • nickel_kg
    3 years ago

    Ugh, traffic and parking. But it'll be worth the trouble to get good medical advice/care. Good luck with your whole day!

    Ont_Gal thanked nickel_kg
  • pudgeder
    3 years ago

    Thinking about you Lars!

  • sealavender
    3 years ago

    Good luck with traffic, parking, and appt!


  • Lars
    3 years ago

    The appointment is for a CT scan of my aorta, but I do expect good results also. I think my doctor is extremely cautious in his recommendation for this scan, but I do want to know the results.

    I have to wear clothes with no metal, which means no zippers or snaps, but sports bras are acceptable😜 I'm not sure why they told me about sports bras, but I will be wearing lounge wear with an elastic waistband, which is what they recommend. I always carry a shoulder bag with me, and so I'm already prepared to carry any essentials I may have, such as cell phone, keys, wallet, etc. I normally do not carry anything in my pockets anyway. My face masks have pipe cleaners sewn into the bridge of the nose portion, and so I might be required to take that off, or maybe I will make a new one to wear.

  • maifleur03
    3 years ago

    I have not seen any news articles for a while but at one time there were problems with wearing fabrics that had jade in them. They are mostly what are sold as "chilling" clothing. Good luck on your drive. I am so glad that here if the main highways are clogged there are always back ways that you can go. During our winters often the back ways are the only way to go, an hour vs. four to where I live from where I worked.

  • C Marlin
    3 years ago

    Lars, I've been to UCLA Medical many times, parking is easy, I think it is $5, but I've always found lots of open parking spaces. Are you going to 200? Anyway, don't stress about parking, it is easy, the hard part is remembering where you parked when leaving...

  • blfenton
    3 years ago

    Take a deep breath, lars. You've got this and we've got you.

  • Kathsgrdn
    3 years ago

    Hope all goes well!

  • Lars
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    C Marlin, you must not have been there recently, as parking now costs $13 flat rate, which is good for one day, but if you are there only 30 minutes, it is still $13. I've not always found parking to be easy, and I generally have to go to a lower level, as B1 is usually full, unless I just happen to get lucky. I get disoriented when I drive around in circles looking for parking spaces, and that is nothing new for me.

    I am going to 200, but radiology is in the basement, and so it should be close to the parking. I'm going to Suite B165, which should be on level B1. I may or may not be able to park on that level, but I will try to. I always write down the column number closest to my car so that I can find it. Once I wrote that on my appointment sheet, which the office wanted to take from me and recycle, but I explained to them that it had my parking space info on it and that I needed it back. I always have a couple of pens in my bag with me, so that it is easy for me to write notes to myself.

    GPS generally does not work inside the parking garage, and I do use it to check on traffic going home. There is the option to take Sepulveda Blvd part of the way, but it is even slower than the 405.

  • sprtphntc7a
    3 years ago

    best of luck to you, Lars!!!

  • sable64
    3 years ago

    Good luck, Lars! Your friends here are waiting to hear!

    Sable

  • C Marlin
    3 years ago

    I haven't been there for a few years, I did change to Manhattan Beach for mammograms, my DH still goes to the urology dept for protaste tests. $13 wow.

  • seagrass_gw Cape Cod
    3 years ago

    I haven't driven to a hospital in years. I usually take an ambulance. Best wishes to you dear man.

  • katlan
    3 years ago

    Best of luck Lars!

  • lucillle
    3 years ago

    Good luck, waiting to hear how it goes!! Yes, hospitals have fairly recently looked into parking as sources of revenue, and the fees have risen drastically.

  • Fun2BHere
    3 years ago

    Best wishes!

  • maifleur03
    3 years ago

    I hope the turnaround time for the report is very short for you. Do not be surprised if it is not several weeks before you know.

  • Lars
    3 years ago

    I do have the option of getting a Lyft ride through my insurance, which would be free, but I don't want to take one of those at this time. Also, I prefer to drive myself when I am in a condition to do so, and there is no reason why I would not be able to drive today. I do take Lyft rides to the dermatologist when I will be having surgery and also sometimes to the ophthalmologist when they will be diluting my pupils.

    Parking at medical building in Santa Monica is $14 to $15, and that has always seemed a bit excessive to me. It often amounts to more than what a co-payment would be, but fortunately I no longer have co-payments. Since my only income right now is SS, $13 makes a difference, not to mention the expense of gas, but I have a very small car that gets very good mileage. Still, it would have been much nicer (and closer) to go to Manhattan Beach, and parking there is free. Traffic can be irritating in Westwood, especially when trying to change lanes on Wilshire Blvd, as I have to do that within a couple of blocks across four to five lanes in two blocks.

    Seagrass, aren't ambulances expensive?

  • C Marlin
    3 years ago

    I hear you on the Westwood traffic and the Wilshire/Westwood chaos, I'm happy to know I'm not the only one. Honestly $13 is a lot for parking at a medical office, but going to UCLA is worth the price, you'll get top medical care. Not that it helps you pay the fee!

  • maifleur03
    3 years ago

    Lars not to answer for seagrass because the cost of a medically necessary transport will vary with your insurance but to mention that some areas offer insurance similar to the air ambulance insurance that you might have seen in Texas although it might have started after you left.

    Last time I checked the program here was less than one unpaid trip of $750 base. Or at least that was what the initial bill stated.

    Perhaps nothing that you or your brother may ever need but at least in the midwest we have what are called medical transport companies. They will take people for medical appointments and return them home. While expensive they are less than ambulances. Some do have similar programs where you receive a discount if you are in their programs.

  • Kathy
    3 years ago

    Lars, i hope all goes well.

  • clearwaters
    3 years ago

    Sorry I missed an opportunity to send my well wishes, but I spent hours being tortured, myself, this morning. That's the dentist to the average viewer. Came home and went straight to bed.

    I hope you're long since home and relaxing.

  • Cherryfizz
    3 years ago

    Hoping for good results for you Lars.

    Ont_Gal thanked Cherryfizz
  • laceyvail 6A, WV
    3 years ago

    I'm late to the party too, Lars, but still hoping for the best for you.

    Ont_Gal thanked laceyvail 6A, WV
  • User
    3 years ago

    fingers crossed for you Lars. you're one of my favorite people here!

  • desertsteph
    3 years ago

    I'm glad that part is over for you. I don't like going in for tests and was thinking of you and hoping it all would go well for you. traffic, parking, finding the place and the particular office needed is all additional stress.


  • kathyg_in_mi
    3 years ago

    Waiting to hear the good news!

  • hounds_x_two
    3 years ago

    Sending good thoughts your way.

  • Lars
    3 years ago

    Glad to receive all the good thoughts! I think that is very helpful.

    Parking was very easy this time, I guess because my appointment was so late and a lot of people had already left. I found a spot very close to the entrance/exit gates, and it was also close to some elevators. Since my appointment was on B1 and I parked on B1, I thought I could go directly to the place where my appointment was, but instead I had to go up to the ground floor and take a different elevator back down to B1. I thought this seemed odd, but I've had to do this before. The set of elevators from the garage does not connect with the part of the building where I had to go. Anyway, I took the stairs to avoid being in an elevator with other people, but when I went to the part of the building that had the other elevators, one other person got into the elevator with me, but we were able to keep our distance.

    It was nice being able to get my appointment over with quickly. The technician who did my scan was very nice, and she seemed very happy that I was able to hold my breath when necessary, so that she got a very clear picture with the first scan. I had never had a scan like this before, and so it was a very strange experience for me.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    3 years ago

    I am so glad it went well and was relatively painless from start to finish including the drive both ways. Apropos of nothing, it is fun to hear you talk about Wilshire Blvd and other roads that we here in the east think of as iconic! Ha. I suppose it is a bit like when we talk about streets in D.C.

    Have a wonderful weekend!


  • blfenton
    3 years ago

    Glad that the experience was painless and hope the results will be positive (negative?)

    I hope the drive home was an easy one.

  • Lars
    3 years ago

    The drive home was brutal, but I made it. It took me 45 minutes to drive less than 9 miles, and so I averaged about 5 MPH on the freeway. The side streets would have been worse. I guess the light Covid traffic days are over.

  • chisue
    3 years ago

    Over and done. Guess you won't hear much until Monday. Do you have MyChart with your providers? My doctors can release test information to my inbox on that feature. Very handy to have 'everything' on that page. All my doctors in that hospital's network can access it -- and outside of that network, with my permission.

  • Lars
    3 years ago

    Yes, the UCLA medical portal is linked with MyChart, and so I can access information either way, and all the doctors in my network can see my information, so that I don't have to keep repeating it. When we sell the house in L.A. and move to Palm Springs, I would not be able to keep UCLA as my network and would have to switch to Desert Regional Medical Center, which my doctor in Pacific Palisades says if very good, and so I'm not terribly concerned about that. We might sell the house in Cathedral City at the same time, or just rent it out, as we originally intended, only then we would rent it full time, as we would not need houses in both Palm Springs and Cathedral City. Palm Springs is still a lot less expensive than L.A., and so we should be able to buy a decent house in PS with what we get from the sale of our house here. Hopefully I will live long enough for that to happen, as my brother Kevin will not be retiring for another 12 years.

    There is nothing in my UCLA portal yet, except that I have completed the test. It looks like it says that the lab results are not in yet, but then I was not expecting them until Monday.

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