I left the house yesterday afternoon at 2:20 – I had an appointment on the south side of Huntsville at 3:30, and since it was a new doctor, they wanted me there half an hour earlier. I showed up on the dot of 3:00, gave them the paperwork they’d sent me in the mail, and waited for fifteen minutes.
(Luckily I’d brought a book with me. Although, they did have a pretty good selection of magazines, too.)
The nurse called me back, weighed me and took my vitals, and then told me to go into another waiting room until they had an empty room.
At 4:15, I texted Fred to tell him that my prediction that I’d see the doctor at 4:15 (given my appointment time of 3:30) was wrong. A few minutes later, the nurse came and got me, and took me to an exam room. I had been sitting there reading for a good solid five minutes when the door suddenly opened and an old man – definitely not the doctor – stood there, blinking at me.
“They snuck you in here while I was in the bathroom!” he exclaimed. We went out to see if a nurse could solve this dilemma, and finally the old man flagged down the doctor, who was suitably embarrassed and ushered me into another exam room to wait. Another nurse bustled in a moment later and apologized profusely, changed out the paper on the exam table, and then left again.
I was just texting Fred to ask him to give the cats their Snack! when the doctor finally came in.
(It was 4:50. Good thing I showed up at 3:00, isn’t it?)
I think I was in the room with him for approximately 7 minutes, he did a cursory exam, and then I was on my way.
The physical I had a few weeks ago showed that I was severely anemic (despite the fact that I take a daily iron supplement), so my doctor referred me to a hematologist (who’s also an oncologist, and boy THAT is a fun waiting room), who told me he wanted to order iron infusions (once a day for five days) to bring my iron level up. It was what I’d expected (well, the five days came as a surprise, but I’m assuming he knows what he’s doing), and he told me that the scheduler had left for the day, so she’d call me to schedule them.
(I wanted to say “Oh, really? Your scheduler leaves at 3:30? OH WAIT. IT’S 5:00!”)
Observations:
1. This doctor had the coldest hands I’ve ever felt on another living being in my LIFE.
2. This doctor happens to be married to the doctor who put a tube in my ear almost 10 years ago (something I discovered through Google, when I was looking to see where his office was, not because it came up in the course of the exam). He’s as nice as she is, but he has the added benefit of not having a thick Indian accent, so I had no problem understanding him. (Thank god – being unable to understand someone with a thick accent always makes me feel incredibly stupid.)
3. If anyone ever schedules me for an appointment in South Huntsville at that time of day again, I will promptly call and reschedule the appointment for another day, much earlier. The location that took me 35 minutes to get to, took over an hour to get home from at rush hour.
4. I will (consider) shoot(ing) the next goddamn motherfucking asshole I find who’s just goddamn fucking lollygagging along in the left lane. Do people UNDERSTAND that if you’re driving down the interstate in the left lane, NOT in the act of passing someone, you’re DOING IT WRONG? I’m a fairly patient, non-aggressive driver, but people who just drive along in the left lane drives me fucking NUTS. If you couldn’t tell.
Okay. So. Who’s had an iron infusion, and what can I expect?
FYI, it’s not unheard of for people who’ve had weight loss surgery to have a problem with low iron; the changed innards can lead to the inhibition of iron absorption. It’s almost certainly connected to my weight loss surgery. In case you were wondering!
Off goes my sweet boy Terry, to get his fancy new eyelips.
I hate having to take him to the vet and leave him there. He’s my sweet little snuggler, and I hate the thought of him being scared and alone.
(And I know they’ll take really good care of him. They always do!)
I will be so glad when the operations are over and the eyelips are healed.
(I might miss his squint a little bit, though, once it’s gone. I love it when he peers up at me like a little old man.)
In my comments yesterday, Helene asked for a close-up of Sam’s face.
This is the eye where part of the graft fell off. It looks really good, compared to how it looked before surgery. It just looks a little hairless! (See it larger, here.)
I wasn’t able to get a straight-on shot of him, but you can see his still-healing eye on the right side of the picture (his left eye). (See the picture larger, here.)
Kara found herself on the outside window ledge (she jumped from the ground to the air conditioning unit and from there to the window ledge; Tommy does it all the time), and didn’t seem to know what to make of the experience.
Previously
2008: I’m certainly enjoying all the naked male behinds that pop across the screen pretty regularly, too.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Just call us the three bears.
2004: small things that will remind me of my grandmother.
2003: Man, this whole running-a-business thing is strictly FOR THE FUCKING BIRDS.
2002: Fred (as if narrating a book): “She was a bitter-butted woman….”
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.