The Hospital part 1: Arrival

Some of you may be aware that I went to Sydney to go to a psych ward at St John of God in Burwood. Wow, that was a mouthful and I wasn't even saying it out loud.
Anyway, I was there for some awesome program they call "Wise Mind" which is, in reality, nothing more than DBT (Dialectic Behavioural Therapy.)

So I've been wanting to do this program since my last hospital visit in Canberra (July, 2009.) I even roped my psychiatrist into writing my referral and checking out the program himself. Yes, I do have some special powers when I want to convince myself something is worth doing.
My shrink made the referral and the phone calls and then we waited... and waited... and waited. I finally get a call at the end of October that I've finally been admitted (or will be upon providing my private health fund details.) Woot! I'm finally going to see what DBT is all about since Canberra doesn't actually have a DBT program.

I square away all the private health fund details and am then told that I need to be admitted BEFORE 2:30pm that day! Now, let me paint you a picture..
Here I am, in Canberra, on the phone to someone in reception at St John of God in Sydney. Door, to door, that's roughly a 3 hour trip. I look at my watch. Oh. My. God. It's already 11:30am and I haven't finished packing! There is no way I would make it to the hospital by 2:30pm, Sydney (unlike Canberra) has traffic!
The first of many panic attacks for the day, begins to take hold and I ramble in a voice so high pitched I'm sure I could hear windows shattering. The lovely person in reception said it would be okay to arrive at 3pm, they'll make an exception as I have to drive there.
Suddenly I am able to breathe again, kind of.

The next ten minutes is a blur of me packing the last bits and pieces, throwing it into the boot of my car and making sure I've locked the house, have my phone and purse and other essentials. Then I left.

It took me exactly 2.5 hours to reach St John of God, Burwood. I passed three cop cars (only one stationed at Goulburn) doing 120 - 130 and not one of them stopped me. Perhaps they thought they were seeing things as little cars like mine aren't meant to go that fast... Either way I wasn't booked! Points for me!! (Not that I condone speeding in any way.)

The parking in Sydney is always crap, EVERYONE knows this. Thus the reason most people either leave 30 - 40 minutes earlier than they need to, or they attempt to use public transport and still leave 30 - 40 minutes earlier.
I cruised, in a rushed kind of way, up and down the tiny street looking for a space big enough to fit my teeny tiny car. After driving up and down the road for 10 minutes I decided I didn't care if I cut off half of someone's driveway I was going to park my car no matter what!

The car is parked, I unplugged my iPhone from the speakers in my car, grabbed my bag, hid my charger and attempted other assorted hidings to maintain the facade of "there's nothing in my care worth stealing", then ran (okay I walked, but ran sounds much more dramatic) to the reception area of St John of God.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked at the statues and other religious paraphernalia and I suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to say "I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore."

I had arrived.