Doctors

One of the difficult things about moving was leaving the doctors we had used over many years.  Our dentist made it easier by retiring.  Our family practitioner was cutting back some hours.  Jim, however, saw several specialists which complicated matters.

It also made our decisions urgent when Jim broke a tooth almost immediately upon our arrival in New Jersey.  We found a local dentist--very local.  She practices in an old house in nearby Kingston and doesn't always have assistants and certainly does not have modern x-ray technology.  After several appointments, Jim has his new crown and all is well.

Also complicating matters was that our AARP plan changed from a PPO to an HMO.   We asked family and friends and found an internist, Dr. Chattha.    She began with new patient visits and follow-ups and now we both see her for complete physicals next week.  What that involves we do not know.   It may  mean that we can skip the insulting Medicare competency questions which always make me so stressed that I do feel and may appear incompetent.

I got out my laptop and from Dr. Chattha's list tried to find specialists that would take our insurance.  Jim has now seen an opthamalogist and a rheumatologist.  We have both seen a nurse practitioner at the dermatologist's office and then had follow-up visits with the doctor himself.  Jim has two more visits scheduled with him for procedures and one more with the rheumatologist.  He has had a bone scan for the first time--never was asked to do it before.

I have followed up with Dr. Chattha because of my recurring insomnia.  She sent me to a cardiologist who is scheduling two more tests--a stress test and a calcium scan--but also got me started on a new (old, actually) drug that has already lowered my heart rate after one dose.  Dr. Chattha may ask for more tests and another referral.   I am going to cancel the gastroenterologist referral because a colonoscopy is more than I can deal with right now.

Is this what it is like to be 73?  I hope it all settles down soon as we get into regular routine appointments instead of all these consultations and follow-ups.  I know we need to be thankful that there are doctors here for us and we can still make decisions as to what we choose to do or what we choose not to do.  For the most part we have found the doctors to be caring and competent.

So now I will have the drink of wine my internist forbade but the cardiologist said was just fine.  I prefer her recommendation!

Libraries

One of the first things we did upon arriving in Princeton was to get library cards at the Princeton Public Library located very near Palmer Square and just off the busy Nassau Street bordering the university.   Parking is free in the Spring Street parking deck where you usually have to drive up to the top floors to find a space. I do not like parking decks!

To my surprise, I learned that 508 Barclay Square may have a Princeton postal address but it actually is located in Plainsboro, New Jersey.  I had to pay $75 to get a library card--a bargain at the senior rate.  I was happy enough to do so and the gentleman who helped me was very enthusiastic telling me all the benefits I would get for membership.

That may have been the first and last time I checked out books at the Princeton Public Library.  If we  live in Plainsboro, we decided we should find the Plainsboro Library.  It is a four mile drive from our apartment about the same distance as the Princeton Library.   Parking is easy in a large adjacent lot.   A library card is free and if the library does not have the book I want, I can use an interlibrary loan service that will find the book at one of about 30 libraries in Middlesex County.

  It is not high tech.  The librarian at the counter checks out books for you.  There are no electronic chips in the books to facilitate the process as we had in the St. Joseph Library in Indiana.  In fact, I was told they just stopped stamping the due dates in the back of books and are now using printed receipts.

Last week I began volunteering to assist the interlibrary process.  This involves unpacking books from those 30 libraries and sorting them into two categories--those being returned to Plainsboro and those requested from elsewhere for local patrons.  Then my job is to sort all the returned books into 30 piles--one for each library in the system--and pack them into bags or boxes.   It is not a difficult job but after an hour my back was hurting from bending over the array of books.  There were literally hundreds of books to be processed.

Just as in South Bend, I need to thank our libraries by volunteering.  At least here, no one made me take a drug test and no one is insisting I wear closed toe shoes.  Tomorrow I will go in and try to make it for two hours of work but I will also leave with a book on hold for me and another one I hope to find in the stacks.  How grateful I am for our libraries!

Apartment Living Part 2

We have been in our apartment for seven weeks.  There are still four paintings to be hung and five boxes of books to be given away and garage shelving to be assembled.  But the car can fit in the garage now and the place looks and feels like home.

We have delighted in being able to call maintenance a few times and let them fix minor problems easily instead of them being major problems to us.  The smoke alarm went off one day with a voice saying over and over "Fire. Fire"  There was no fire.  Alonso came immediately and changed the battery--although he said it should have been a new one.  One of the faucets dripped; another one leaked.  Another maintenance man came a few hours after we posted the problem on the tenant portal and cheerfully fixed both.  We hear the mowers and the leaf blowers and the grounds are not our responsibility!

This week I have begun using the stationary bike in the exercise room.  I have had the room to myself at 9:30 am and can choose my own TV channels.  I haven't used the piano for a few weeks but I will again soon.  Eboni in the office has helped us with faxes a couple of times.  We can make copies in the business center.


We have ridden our bikes to the towpath a couple of times and will enjoy doing that many times in the weeks to come.  We walk to the mail room in the main building and to the recyclable bins and trash compactor almost daily.  Walking down the sidewalk along Mapleton Avenue at sunset has given us views of the most beautiful sky over the trees.

We are on the far end of the complex which turned out to be a great location.  We look at trees from our living room and bedroom windows.  We can hear traffic faintly in the distance. Our neighbors are quiet.  And we are far enough away from the smelly and noisy trash compactor which we would not have even considered to be a problem when we signed the lease.

We are not sorry about our choice of Barclay Square and Princeton itself.