I had some GI Tract issues a fewweeks ago, and I had to visit the hospital for a triage appointment to determine how soon I could schedule a procedure. Today was that appointment.
My alarms were set to wake me up at 8 am, so that I could get myself ready to go to the hospital for a 10:30 am appointment. (I was supposed to be there at least 15 minutes early to fill out paperwork.) When I started filling out paperwork, I noticed something I haven't seen before - not only were they showing respect to the LGBTIQ community by asking both legal and preferred names, but doing the same for biological and identified gender related questions. Although I went to my appointment as Mario, I could have gone as Marian without any problems. This was a very pleasant surprise. If I didn't have another appointment later in the day which required Mario's presence, I might have wished that I knew about this policy in advance, so that I could have presented myself as I want to be seen.
15-20 minutes after I arrived, I met with the nurse practitioner who would be examining me. I talked about my symptoms, and she told me what likely happened. Instead of repeating a procedure done in my doctor's office, she took my description of what was done as truth, and then told me that I was about 5 years overdue for the procedure, So it was off to the front desk to schedule my procedure, then go on my merry way.
As I left the hospital, I made 2 calls: to Vicki, so that I have transportation to/from the hospital on the day of the procedure, and to RQS, so she knew what was going on. I guess that I'm going to be living a busy life for a while....
