Post #7: Meeting Dr. Nicholas’ Staff on 12/18/08
The drive on December 17th from Indianapolis to Chicago was difficult. First, remember, that at this point, I was prohibited from driving due to my condition which puts us in a very unusual position for the first time in 38 years of marriage: Patty does all the driving and I sit next to her, trying to keep my mouth shut about her driving. It’s stressful for both of us. We got a late start from Indy that afternoon and drove north on I65 towards Chicago using our trusty Garmin GPS unit as a guide. The drive from Indy to the I80/I94 west exit ramp was easy. Then the fun began. There was plenty of traffic and it was getting dark as we swung north on I94 towards the famous Chicago Loop. So you know, Patty does not enjoy driving in busy city situations and on top of that our GPS kept giving way too many directions like “stay left” or “keep right”. We faced all this while navigating through lots and lots of crazy Chicago drivers. We exited near Ohio Street where we found our hotel, The Comfort Inn and Suites at 15 E. Ohio St., right in the “Magnificent Mile” commercial district. It was an exhausting and stressful drive but the hotel and room exceeded our expectations. We checked in and walked around the area finding a restaurant nearby. It was brutally cold and the wind was blowing hard on that Wednesday night. Clearly, we did not have proper clothing for Chicago in the wintertime.
After a good night sleep we prepared to travel to the University of Chicago Medical Center for our 10:30 AM appointment with the staff of Dr. Nicholas’ group on that Thursday (12/18) morning. After the stress of driving through the city the night before, we decided to take a cab ride to the doctor’s office instead of driving the 10 miles through the city. But, to our chagrin, dealing with the Chicago taxi drivers was no small trick. We were “turned down” by the first 3 taxis that refused to take us there. The fourth taxi did take us there and explained to us that the cab drivers don’t want to go to the Medical Center in the morning because they won’t get return fares. Of course, that’s patently illegal as well as deceitful to us. The other issue we noticed near the hotel was the blatant disrespect for pedestrians in the crosswalk by the Chicago drivers. You really take your lives in your hands walking through the streets downtown. The locals told us: “that’s the way it is here”. Obviously, we’ll keep up our watch.
We arrived at the Center for Advanced Medicine, entered and arrived at Dr. Nicholas’ office on time. We knew that Dr. Nicolas, himself, was on vacation and so we met with his chief assistant, Jean Arzbaecher, RN., and Dr. Nicholas’ associate, Dr. Rimas Lukas, M.D. These people could not have been nicer to us. They welcomed us and explained the entire situation to both of us. I was given a quick physical exam in their office after we spoke for about a half an hour. We felt very comfortable in their facility both with their abilities and welcoming attitude.
The drive on December 17th from Indianapolis to Chicago was difficult. First, remember, that at this point, I was prohibited from driving due to my condition which puts us in a very unusual position for the first time in 38 years of marriage: Patty does all the driving and I sit next to her, trying to keep my mouth shut about her driving. It’s stressful for both of us. We got a late start from Indy that afternoon and drove north on I65 towards Chicago using our trusty Garmin GPS unit as a guide. The drive from Indy to the I80/I94 west exit ramp was easy. Then the fun began. There was plenty of traffic and it was getting dark as we swung north on I94 towards the famous Chicago Loop. So you know, Patty does not enjoy driving in busy city situations and on top of that our GPS kept giving way too many directions like “stay left” or “keep right”. We faced all this while navigating through lots and lots of crazy Chicago drivers. We exited near Ohio Street where we found our hotel, The Comfort Inn and Suites at 15 E. Ohio St., right in the “Magnificent Mile” commercial district. It was an exhausting and stressful drive but the hotel and room exceeded our expectations. We checked in and walked around the area finding a restaurant nearby. It was brutally cold and the wind was blowing hard on that Wednesday night. Clearly, we did not have proper clothing for Chicago in the wintertime.
After a good night sleep we prepared to travel to the University of Chicago Medical Center for our 10:30 AM appointment with the staff of Dr. Nicholas’ group on that Thursday (12/18) morning. After the stress of driving through the city the night before, we decided to take a cab ride to the doctor’s office instead of driving the 10 miles through the city. But, to our chagrin, dealing with the Chicago taxi drivers was no small trick. We were “turned down” by the first 3 taxis that refused to take us there. The fourth taxi did take us there and explained to us that the cab drivers don’t want to go to the Medical Center in the morning because they won’t get return fares. Of course, that’s patently illegal as well as deceitful to us. The other issue we noticed near the hotel was the blatant disrespect for pedestrians in the crosswalk by the Chicago drivers. You really take your lives in your hands walking through the streets downtown. The locals told us: “that’s the way it is here”. Obviously, we’ll keep up our watch.
We arrived at the Center for Advanced Medicine, entered and arrived at Dr. Nicholas’ office on time. We knew that Dr. Nicolas, himself, was on vacation and so we met with his chief assistant, Jean Arzbaecher, RN., and Dr. Nicholas’ associate, Dr. Rimas Lukas, M.D. These people could not have been nicer to us. They welcomed us and explained the entire situation to both of us. I was given a quick physical exam in their office after we spoke for about a half an hour. We felt very comfortable in their facility both with their abilities and welcoming attitude.
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