Monday Night
7-22-2013 Going into Tuesday 7-23-2013… LOST
By Brother Tracy
Gibson…
Here is the scenario of the last 20 hours. I was working at
my desk at about 12:30 A.M. To 1:30 A.M.
in the morning on Tuesday early morning. I hadn’t taken three of my five blood
pressure medicines for two days—or had taken in intermittingly. I tried to put my hands on top of the desk
and I struck my hands unwittingly on the desk. I knew my perceptions were off
so I thought maybe a stroke or heart attack was eminent so I got my shoes and
socks on and got myself together to go to the Pennsylvania Hospital at 34th
or 36th and Spruce Str I walked to the corner after putting my shoes
on. I waited and waited for a bus [the
number 21, because I didn’t want to cause an upset by walking.]. I waved down two of Philadelphia’s finest,
but they said they couldn’t drive me to the Hospital. I am very aware that the
cost of an ambulance is not necessarily covered with health care [I only have
Medicare]. So I balked at the idea of raising everybody’s health care cost and
I refused an emergency ambulance. I also know that the police in Philadelphia
and other Big Cities let activists like myself get tousled around in the back
of police patty wagons and ambulances until they get brain damage and / or hurt
badly, so I didn’t trust them. Two
busses about 20 minutes apart had driven right past me even though I waved my
hands and was obviously waiting for the 21 Bus. I gave up on that and walked to
market and 52nd Str to catch the el.
I didn’t think I could make it walking to 34th str. It was
about 2:30 A.M. and the sky started pouring ELEPHANTS AND ZEBRAS!! It started raining really bad. There was no el that early and there was no
attendant at the terminal at 52nd and Market so after I waited a
while I came back down the steps and told the Community Cab driver I needed a
ride to the hospital, but had no money.
He told me to wait there, because he had a fair and would be back. I waited a few moments and there was a sudden
new cloud burst. It
started really raining Zebras and Elephants now, like crazy. I thought I could walk to Mercy Hospital so I
walked up Market Str. To 55th Street and South on 55th
str. To find Cedar. But I lost my
barrings in the driven rain. I ended up at 55th and Christian str. I
could not see where I was going because of so much rain. A kind lady told me to
go right and right again a few blocks further and I would be at Mercy Douglass
Hospital. It was still raining ELEPHANTS
AND ZEBRAS and I could barely see where I was going. I finally found Mercy Douglass Hospital, but
my clothing was drenched in the torrential rain. The attendant at Mercy Douglass Hospital gave
me some clean, dry hospital night gowns to put on, so I took off the dripping
wet clothing. I told them I had very
high blood pressure. They checked me
out and they had no record of my having been there before, even though I had
been there several times before, but not recently as a patient. I thought they were lying. [I have been to Mercy Douglass at least
three times before.]. They could not
give me prescriptions because they wanted me to go see my primary doctor. They told me NOT to take the Potassium
Chloride ER [20 MEQ], which I have plenty of and have spent my goode hard-earned
money for. [You know, those big White
pills.] It was late in the night / early in the morning so they could not reach
my pharmacy [one of the current problems with our health care system.]. They let me leave there with no treatment and
no resolution to my high blood pressure problem. I had bought groceries, but didn’t have
enough money left over for medicine. [I have to admit here that I spent $20. On
two movies. I have an addiction to movies that hasn’t even been recognized by
my therapist as yet. That money should
have gone to my medicine.] I walked back home [to 213 South 49th
Str.]. It was about 5 A.M. Like I said I made it to the Mercy Hospital, but I
was not treated for high blood pressure.
According to the Blood Pressure machine at the CVS on Pennsylvania
University’s Campus, my blood pressure was 170 over 118—which if I am not
mistaken, is very, very high… When I got home, I took what medicine I had:;
Hydrochloroth / Lisinopr [25 million dollars]; Potassium [ 20 MEQ; I also took
my Trifluoperazine [ 5 mg]; and Tegetol / Carbamazepine {its’ generic name} [200
mg.]. {I had no Labetalol HCL [200 mg];
Nifedipine ER 90 mg, or Procardia its’ brand name; or Spironolactone [ 100 mg] to take as yet.} . I rested a bit and put dry clothing on. I put
the rain-wet clothing in the dryer with some other clothing that was already
there in the dryer and I turned the dryer on high for 60 minutes. I didn’t eat breakfast because I was so
worried about my blood pressure. I went
back out, this time, determined to go to the Philadelphia Public Clinic at 44th
and Haverford Avenue. I walked from my
house because I didn’t expect the bus to stop for me. I walked from 49th and Walnut to
44th and Haverford Avenue. I
filled out papers to see the doctor at the Philadelphia Public Clinic it was
about 8: 30 A.M. on Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013. I was told that the
Doc was booked up with 15 patients [another problem with ouR health care
system] and was told to come back the next day. Now I was really, really
worried about my Blood Pressure and general health. I was frustrated again, but I went right to
my Doc’s office at 205 North Broad [Doc Joseph Boselli] taking the Public Trains and busses, which are
usually on time, but left me standing there in an emergency earlier. At Doc Boselli’s and Doc Miller’s {Drexel
Medicine} they only had an appointment for 3:15 on Thursday the 25th
of July, 2013…. {I had missed three appointments because for one I had no SEPTA
Transpass to get down town and for another I lost the date and my calendar. {They
said they can drop you from their service if you cancel three times without
notice, which I had done, so I was grateful they let me have an appointment for
Thursday.]. I was again concerned about not having all my medicine for an extra
two days, but that was all they could do.
They did NOT see me or take my blood pressure at Doc Boselli’s and Doc
Miller’s Office. .. I was still fearful
of a stroke so I went across the str. To Hahnemann Hospital where my doctor,
who I saw leaving the Medical Office at 205 North Broad where I was just at, while
I was talking to the nurse He also has his practice out of Hahnemann Hospital.
At Broad near race street [across the str. From the medical office where I
was.]. When I got to Hahnemann Hospital,
they gave me some medicine I had not heard of intravenously and a Procardia and
they were kind and attentive. They took
blood and ``P’’ as well for testing. I
was there for four or five hours, I’m not sure which, and they said ALL my test
were fine and negative. [They didn’t
explain what they were testing for.]. I left the Hahnemann Hospital Where my
mother and father were treated before they passed away at home over the last
five years, and I promised I would go see Doc Boselli on Thursday the 25th
of July, 2013 at 3:15 P.M. I went to
the pharmacy and got my prescriptions after showing them my Emergency Room
notices. I owe them well over $100. That has to be paid by Friday the 26th
of July, 2013. I have no way to pay them. I
will be seeking legal counsel concerning the events described here.
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