July 15, 2019, 1:30 p.m.
I was a little nervous about this appointment, but not nearly as much as the first time! I was fortunate to find several empty parking places in the front parking lot and managed to find my way to the third floor when I got inside.
Lisa Galen came out to get me and she seemed more “normal”-looking to me than she did a month ago. I was prepared to see the shoulder-length salt-and-pepper hair, and she wore a calf-length skirt. She escorted me back to her office. She began with showing me a poster and asked if she had shown it to me last time. I said no, but the “Thoughts, Behaviors, and Feelings” chart is familiar to me because of the 9-week Depression Group I went through. She didn’t mention it again during the session.
I knew, of course, that I would talk about vacation and how my routine was totally different than it is at home. So, even though I didn’t (consciously) do the Monday and Thursday walks, I did walk quite a bit on different days. Plus the driving and sightseeing and camping kept my stress levels relatively low.
I was painfully aware of the passing of time, realizing I had only half an hour, and tried very hard to be as concise as possible. But I ended up “spilling my guts” about the faux pas on the part of the event coordinators that threw me into a major meltdown. She listened, and I was surprised that she didn’t give me a “solution.” However, we did discuss what I could do now, after the fact, to make things better for my psyche. I figured this discussion would use up all my remaining minutes.
However, I also found time to express to her my thoughts, feelings, and behaviors about Francis, my pain physical therapist. Turns out that she knows Francis and his wife. What a small world in Kaiser!
So my continuing assignment is to schedule walks for Mondays and Thursdays until my next appointment. At the very end, though, she implied that if this strategy did not resolve my issue, I should consider medication. Argh! I suppose the “preventive” approach of Kaiser does not apply to psychiatric and behavioral medicine patients.
As I was leaving, I stopped at the receptionist desk to schedule the next appointment, which is for Thursday, September 5. It may not happen at all if I do not get re-approved for another year of Medical Financial Assistance. *sigh*
