The Tyranny of Time Scheduling
Date: Fri, May 25th, 2012 11:09:49 am Author: Chapter President
We all know how enormously overscheduled people are, running between meetings at work, to the doctor, dentist, etc. Many medical professionals have a strict scheduling support system - if you are fifteen minutes late, forget it until a slot opens up in a few months time. In many cases, when a client does not show up, a provider may lose potential income because they can't fill the slot in time; this is true of physical and massage therapists, and many others.
If your PD symptom repertoire includes freezing, making appointments becomes difficult in general. Many service providers require 24hours cancellation notice, but my body often only gives me a few minutes notice before it goes into a sudden freeze, and it can take 30-90 minutes to "thaw" out. My freezing episodes seem to be strongly correlated with anxiety, so being aware of a time deadline makes it worse. In general, I do make it to most appointments, but sometimes getting there requires heavy overloading on medication, which is not recommended.
Unfortunately, most service providers do not understand what happens in PD, and may have never seen someone go suddenly "off". Your late arrival or missed appointment has nothing to do with your intent to go or not go, but has everything to do with your body's capricious response under PD.
So, what do you do? Here are a few suggestions:
- Find service providers who genuinely offer flexible scheduling, and preferably ones who have worked with PD patients,
- Agree with the provider that they will be compensated for the time, so that your non-arrival does not mean they miss out on the income,
- Discuss with your doctor if "rescue medicine" may be appropriate for you.
