Car trouble, why do you plague me?

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . November 9, 2009 . 10:34AM

Yesterday was a no good, very bad day.

It didn’t start that way. It started just fine, well, as fine as a day can start when I’m on a 4 day caffeine induced headache can start. However, I’ve been getting my fitness on and eating well and I was convinced I could get rid of the headache with some really fantastic endorphins. The ones that the elliptical gave me on Saturday were…superb to the say the least.

So, AJ and I headed to the Y and left the sickly Leon at home to face his chest congestion. AJ loves to go the Y and swim while I work out and I like having the company while I drive. We were almost there when I saw joggers going past. As I turned into the Y, I made sure that I made a wide arc to give them plenty of room. I know what it’s like to be on the side of the road and have cars so close that I can feel their heat. I was not rewarded for my good thoughts this time, though, as there was a huge area of pothole/uneven pavement with jagged edges that had my name on it.

It took out both of my right tires and I swerved to avoid rolling down the small hill. When I swerved, I must have bent the rim of one of the tires. When my heartbeat got back to normal, AJ and I got out of the car and hiked up to the Y. We had Leon on his way and roadside assistance coming with the tow truck, so there was nothing to do but go work out. The other option was sit in my car and stew about it. Honestly, I’d rather listen to my mp3 player and work off the calories.

This still hasn’t hit the part where my day was bad. I can handle things like that. As long as I have some semblance of control, I do fine. However, an hour later, the tow truck had not arrived and the place to replace the tires was only open a little while longer. During that time period, Leon’s car battery died. As he was about to lose his shhhh, a gorgeous man was flagged over to help us jump start the car. Of course, this happened after I’d worked out and I. was. stank. Figures.

An hour and a half later, the tow truck finally showed and offered to take my car to their shop and fix the tires. Ok. That worked for me. I hadn’t eaten and was about to Hulk Smash someone, so we grabbed food and went on our way. When we got there, they let me know that the rim was bent, and the two tires punctured beyond repair and they couldn’t fix my car that night, so it would be the next day before they could help us.

Yep. No good very bad day. If you want to contribute to my new tires, you know where the donate button is.

At least it wasn’t as bad as this guy, who drove his car into the flower bed at my office building and knocked down the office sign.

Even doctors are feeling the economic crunch

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . March 21, 2009 . 2:39AM

Yes, it’s true. Even doctors are feeling the crunch of the economy. No, my doctors are not breaking ethics, social norms or common etiquette to tell me that their clientele have fallen off. I have been able to deduce this by the number of times I’ve been asked to come in for a follow up visit for something that could have been taken care of in the last 3 months with a simple phone call (aka test results or a prescription tweak).

A clear example of this occurred when I went to my dermatologist today. My dermatologist is, hands down, one of the prettiest women I’ve ever seen in my life. She’s like doctor Barbie, but in a down to earth package. If she weren’t so stinking nice, I might dislike her in my shallow “but you’re way too pretty to be really nice, you must be faking it” kind of way. Yes, I have growing to do, too. This isn’t the case with Doctor Barbie (I’m not calling her that in a demeaning way, but I’m giving you her name, either. She’s mine. Not yours. You can’t have her. I like getting in to see her quickly.)

I’m a pale, pale woman. A friend of mine used to lovingly refer to me as a “china doll.” This is great in many ways unless I want to 1/tan or 2/avoid skin cancer. I’m also a moley person. Blame awful genes, but you could play a mean game of connect the dots on my torso. As such, I had surgery about 3 weeks ago and they took a nice hunk out of my abdomen. All is well and the cells ended up non-cancerous. Just ugly. I’m glad they are gone. I was to go back today to have my stitches removed.

When I arrived, the medical assistant looked at the stitches and, even though I’d popped one of them nicely thanks to my determination to do well at physical therapy this week, overall, they looked good and are healing. I nodded and asked if Dr. Barbie would be coming in to remove them and the medical assistant replied “No, these are dissolve-able stitches. We’re just making sure everything looks ok today.” Hrm. Because she’d initially told me I would use dissolve-able stitches, then told me last time I’d have to have them removed, and now they are dissolve-able again. So, I decided to use it to my advantage and have her address my other moles and skin issues while I was there. I’m not coming back for yet another appointment in 2 weeks. But I’ll see her in 6 months for a mole check up…

If it were only Dr. Barbie, I wouldn’t question it, but hands down I have seen my doctors more this year than any other year. I’ve had more lab tests ordered and have wasted more hours in waiting rooms than I’d like to count. It’s not because I’m more ill than usual, though I have felt better in my life, it’s because the follow up appointments are being required more and more often. The only difference I can see is that, when I’m in the waiting room, it’s more empty than usual and the phones aren’t ringing. Someone has to pay for the doctor’s education. Looks like it’s going to be me.