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.
I had a blood transfusion when I was anemic. Another friend had an iron infusion though, and what she said is that it makes you sort of achy all over.
I had an IV infusion of iron for anemia maybe a decade ago. It wasn’t bad-I had no experience of achiness at all. I had to go to the hospital and it took 5 or 6 hours. It was in the oncology unit-that was the worst part-the saddness-just like the oncologist’s office.(Once someone in the next room was getting bad news-her sobs tore my heart out).I met a really sweet elderly minister who asked to eat lunch with me.I think it was a nice change of pace for him to have a healthier person to talk to. He told me all about his soup kitchen he ran in Asbury Park. He was interesting. The infusion worked and I’ve been fine since.
I am not sure when I will recover from the cuteness overload of the TB6-1 snuggling picture!
wait – I guess that’s TB6-2!
I know M.R. I am in long distance love with those lil cuties 🙂
Ha! The kittens look like they’re doing a circus act!
I had an iron infusion because I was anemic – they would not start chemo until my iron levels were up. Its not a big deal at all. They hook up a bag of iron stuff – its dark – like they would an iv. And you sit there for four hours – at least with mine. So bring a book. Its not a big deal. I was scared because I didn’t know what to expect – but its not just a shot, fyi. You get in-fuuuuuuused. 🙂 You’ll be fine.
You described it a lot better than I did, Donna. I read my book too and maybe it was 4 hrs.-I think they told me it might be 5 or 6. The worst part was feeling kind of guilty because the other patients were so much sicker. I was anemic and couldn’t tolerate the iron pills-they made me nauesous for hours and constipated me too. I had horribly bleeding hemorhoids-had surgery later-that caused the anemia. Kind of rare according to the gastro dr. It was painful and nasty but nothing compared to cancer.
Well, they called and scheduled the appointments this morning – she said each procedure would take about an hour, and I’m scheduled for five days in a row, early morning, thank god!
(And Donna, while I’m having it done, I’m sure I’ll be thinking “I’m being infuuuuuused!” Hee.)
No iron infusion here, but I can definitely relate to those road-boulders who clog up traffic!
Ive known people who’ve had iron infusions, most common complaints are tiredness and achiness afterwards. She would be fine the next day or two, just gotta give time for the body to say “Oh hey! This stuff is actually pretty good I needed it.”
🙂
Since my favorite shelter doesn’t stand a change of winning, I’m going to mention that The Animal Rescue site is doing another shelter challenge. If you put it on your page I bet your shelter could win something. And surely you have a touching kitten story for that new entry.
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Grand Prize: One $20,000 grant!
Second Prize: One $5,000 grant!
Third Prize: One $3,000 grant!
New! Most Touching Story*: Two $2,000 grants! (judged by The Animal Rescue Site)
State Winners**: Fifty-one $1,000 state grants (50 U.S. states and Washington DC)
I always schedule doctor appointments for first thing in the morning or right after lunch because those are times when they are somewhat likely to still be on time.
I had the ol’ WLS and had to have an iron infusion this summer. My iron was 7.2 and I was trying to get scheduled for breast reduction surgery. I went and they started an IV. They gave me a tiny bit of iron and then I had to wait an hour to see if I had a reaction. I was told that some people have itchy skin, heart palpitations and even psychosis from it. After an hour they started the IV bag full of it. I felt fine the next day. Six weeks later my iron was 13.2 I got to the same clinic monthly for a B12 injection also. The nurses were fabulous to me. They always remember things I have told them and ask about my job, kids etc. even though I only see them once a month for less than 5 minutes. That must be one of the toughest places to be a nurse.
All that talk of blood and his cold hands made me wonder if that doc is not a vampire. Then again maybe I have been watching too much True Blood. Heh.
Hi,
never had an iron infusion but THOSE STRIPEY KITTIES SLEEPING TOGETHER ARE SO UNBELIEVABLY FABULOUS I LOVE IT!! I don’t know how you can leave the house with a pile o’kittens as cute as that and as surreally stripey! What total artistic inspiration or opportunity for graphic arts. More of those pix!!!! Especially if you have a striped blanket to arrange them on.
One of my accts is a big oil company (think of little things found on the beach…ahem). Anyway, I was eating my lunch today and decided to log on to my bloglines to read my faves (off the clock after all). Saw that bitchypoo had an update and clicked on it to open the new window. Blocked. Objectionable. NSFW.
Hmmm.
Is it the name of your site or the multiple f bombs? We’ll never know.
🙂
I finally got a chance to see your post tonight at home. It’s full of kitten pics, of course. Which makes me laugh at the blocking. 🙂
Sorry for being so off topic. I hope everything works out with the transfusion.
I feel your pain, but thankfully I have a wonderful Dr. who is on time 99% of the time for my appointments.
And after she comes in she washes her hands then rubs them together vigorously to warm them up before touches me.
Love her!
I worked in an Oncology/Hematology clinic and we frequently did iron infusions and most people sail right through them. Probably the first day they will do a “test dose” first, make you wait an hour to make sure you don’t have an allergic reaction then you’ll get the remainder of the dose. They usually only do the test dose the first time, so your next 4 visits will be just the one hour infusion. Some patients did talk about feeling achy, but alot of people said they didn’t have any problems at all. The iron will be super dark, like you can’t see through the iv bag it’s so dark. Bring a book, but most infusion centers have tv’s to watch. Our patients were all in one big room w/recliners so our oncology patients were getting their chemo while our hematology patients were getting their iron. The chemo patients are amazing, you wouldn’t even realize that it’s chemo unless someone doesn’t have hair. They’re chatting w/everyone, playing cards, eating lunch, reading, it really wasn’t what I expected when I started working there. I had such a grim picture in my head and that wasn’t the case at all. Wow, this went on way too long! Good luck, you’ll do fine.
It seems as if I always get behind someone driving too slow (slower than the speed limit) in the left lane. When this happens I curse and long for a gun to shoot out their tires. Slow drivers will be the death of me or possibly them. 🙂 If you’re in the left lane, you need to drive at least 5 to 10 miles above the speed limit, people!
My head is exploding from the kitten cuteness. I love the tiger stripe kitties.
Oh, and I’ll help you with the left-lane squatters. Hate them. Even more, I hate the ones who get all indignant and think everyone else on the highway is being a jerk, even though they are the ones who are, in fact, breaking the highway rules!