Like many others, this creeping crud - the cold or 'flu or upper respiratory infection or sinus infection or whatever the heck is going around like wildfire - is going around our family, too.
Kev and I got hit with it hard this past weekend. I managed to get into the office Monday morning to get some work done, and I stayed away from as many people as I could... about the only person I talked closely with has it already, so I figured I was safe with her. I left at mid-day and went directly to Urgent Care... where there was, as I expected, a 2-hour wait. Two hours. Expected it, but was heartily disappointed anyway.
I had already tried to get into our doctor's office, but he was out (doesn't work on Mondays), and the doctor on call and all PA's were booked. 'Tis the season. So I got myself on the list at Urgent Care, and then I went down the road to the local Redi-Med.
Our local Urgent Care, which is a very professional, top of the line walk-in clinic that's associated with our local hospital, is very nice; the Redi-Med not so much. The parking lot there was nearly empty. So, heaving a big sigh of dread, then coughing as a result, I went into that old, stinky office building. I think it used to be a bank, but I'm not sure. It smells like old building and industrial cleaning fluid. I had to fill out a set of forms because I hadn't been there, talk with overly cheerful women & see a doctor who gave me the creeps, but I was in and out in 20 minutes with a prescription for the Z-Pak in hand. Called Urgent Care and told 'em to take me off their list. Of course, the wait at Walgreen's to fill the prescription was an hour. Ugh.
The medical assistant at Redi-Med also gave me the creeps... I was escorted into Room 1 by her, and then she sat and began asking me questions, filling out her form. She was wearing a white coat. When she was taking my BP, I asked her if she was the doctor or a PA or what. She told me she was the medical assistant. I just looked at her white coat and then back at her. I didn't say a word. I thought that attire was just a tad, ummm.... misleading. Her demeanor was also misleading. She is definitely a doctor-wanna-be. Creepy. (A medical assistant would never get away with wearing a white doctor's coat at Urgent Care.)
Twenty minutes vs. two hours... I can take creepy. Dish out the creepy, Redi-Med, I can eat it by the plateful. In twenty minutes or less.
Anyway, Kev was so bad, he actually stayed home sick from work on Monday. I tried very, very hard to get someone, anyone, to also write a prescription for Kevin, but they wouldn't do it without seeing him. So yesterday morning, while Kev went to work and I stayed home, I called our family doctor and spoke with his receptionist or nurse or whoever/whatever she is... I told her how I had had to go to Redi-Med and got the Z-Pak and how Kev needed it, and after finding out Kevin could only get in to see someone there if he arrived at 11am, and then after explaining that he was at work and couldn't make it and he had to be at work and could not leave, and then after listening to her lecture me on how he was just spreading it around if he went into work, and how I managed to keep my mouth shut and not tell her to stuff it... they called in the Z-Pak to Walgreens for Kev. Whew.
I am fortunate to be able to work from home, but Kev is not. And he had to work outside much of the day yesterday. Poor guy.
I wouldn't go so far as to say we're both well on the road to recovery, but I think we're in the neighborhood where that road exists. I was planning to go into the office today, but I am coughing so much and so hard that I'm thinking I should just stay home. In the spirit of Sharing Way Too Much, as is my wont, I cough so hard sometimes that I either, a) throw up, b) piss myself, or c) both. And then I have to pick my lung up off the floor.
But... never tell your story first... My sister, Kathy, has been sick with some dreadful stuff, or stuffs, one after the other... pretty much since December 1st. Most recently some kind of viral thing that she immediately shared with her husband; both were really sick. And Bob is recuperating from surgery to his shoulder, so I'm sure the coughing is really helping that along. (Bob broke his collarbone a few years back, and it didn't heal properly so they had to re-shape it or something to fix it, and well... it hurts.)
I talked with my Mom yesterday, and both her and Dad are not germmed-up with any creeping crud stuff, but Mom, who is still recuperating from hip replacement surgery, is having a knee replaced early in March and cataracts surgically removed sometime in March or April. Mom also told me that yesterday my brother, Jim, saw the neurosurgeon who did my neck surgery because Jim's having back problems... methinks we're all gettin' old. Definitely feeling old.
I cannot wait until springtime. I am NOT the person who is usually saying that. I love winter. Love it. But this year, enough already. Give me sun and dry dirt paths to walk on. Give me warmth and no coats. Give me warm air that doesn't make my lungs attack me. Give me sunshine that turns the grass green, makes the leaves on the trees come out of hiding and makes the plants poke up to it.
Today, though... just give me Vicks Vapo-Rub and Nyquil...
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