Nurse Adulation...

To All the Kind Healthcare Providers, Bless You!

My father pulled me to the side of the pharmacy counter and admonished me for what I was wearing today. He calls my disheveled and mix-mashed attire the "homeless look". I had on gray elastic sweatpants, a long-sleeved gray pullover shirt with a white cotton t-shirt underneath, and some Nike Air Jordan tennis shoes. I didn't need a coat or jacket today as it was very mild outside.

"Wash your socks with bleach as well," he told me very carefully not to upset me. "They are looking kind of dingy."

"I barely got up and got going this morning," I explained to my father. "I grabbed the first thing I could wear. I feel very self-conscious about what I am wearing as well."

"We just need to go buy you some decent clothes," he said to me with a kinder tone to his voice. "Getting you to wear them is a whole other matter."

I was still almost half asleep and very disorganized as I grabbed my injection from my father's hands and drove the short distance to Kamath Medical. I was completely on autopilot and you could tell I needed my injection. I had barely sat down in the lobby when Rebecca called me back to an examining room. It made me smile a warm smile. I told her it was so very, very good to see her.

"You're going to have to bear with me this morning," I warned my dear nurse Rebecca. "I smell like Irish Spring deodorant, wet dog, and smoldering cigars."

Rebecca laughed jovially and told me not to worry about it. She said she has seen and smelled at lot worse things ar Kamath Medical. Ah, bless!

The Trip Down Yonder Ways and Back...

http://www.diffen.com/

http://www.lukiegames.com/

I hate surprises unless it is my birthday or Christmas, of course. My father dropped a total bomb on me tonight when he told me we have a visit to the psychiatrist in the morning.

"You're going to hate me," my father said.

To Dr. Edwards.we must go. I was going to stay up way late tonight on a moonlit (full moon) computer game binge. Some new games came in via UPS today and I am itching to check them out. Someone seriously pissed in my Cheerios this morning.

"Well, I'll be damned," I profaned among other words of brazen profanity.

It would have made an old sailor or an old salty dog proud.

"I thought you would revolt if I told you too early," my father said. "Get ready to leave at 9:30am."

Dad started to coach me on what to say so we won't have to come back until 6 months.

"Say your medications are working fine," dad told me. "Especially say you are feeling fine."

"We're still getting steak biscuits, aren't we?" a tradition when going to my psychiatrist and my father said yes. "I want two steak biscuits, packs of mustard, and an ex-large Coke."

It kind of softened the blow for all intents and purposes.

"Just don't get the homeless look or look crazy by your attire," my father said rather surreptitiously. "Do some laundry tonight and I am going to burn that baseball cap that you insist on wearing everywhere."

The Better Angels of Our Nature...

http://www.thinkingfaith.org/

I love that quote. I think Abraham Lincoln first coined it around the time of the Gettysburg Address saying we need to nurture the better angels of our nature to end the civil war and to abolish slavery.

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"Your daddy told me to cancel my dentist's appointment tomorrow since you have to get your injection at the same time," my mother told me over the phone this evening. "He says we might be putting too much upon you."

That must've have been a gargantuan, teeth gritting effort for her to do that as The Secretary doesn't miss or cancel appointments.

"I appreciate that," I replied to my mother,"I haven't been up this early and so often everyday in quite some time. I would have been fine, though."

I do have my injection in the morning and realized that's why I was feeling kind of scatterbrained and anxious tonight. It is also laborious to write this blog post with all the mistakes I am making. Dad's now headed down to the pharmacy to fill the prescription so I will be ready to go in the morning. He was off of work today.

My father also cooked supper and when I asked what he cooked he said it was a surprise. Oh, that must mean it is something I like very much. I'm hungry for some country vegetables. I just looked in the sack and my father brought me a plate full of food. I am having green beans, potato salad, creamed corn, and Cajun baked chicken breasts. He knows I enjoy spicy food. My father also put in a bag of sliced tomatoes  to eat with my meal so I could have some tomato sandwiches.

My father got busy a moment ago to participate in my medication ritual and Maggie's ritual. We further fed and watered Maggie as she anxiously look over the proceeding..

Full to the Very Brim...

"Come eat supper with us," my father said last hour in a phone call. "I'm at Roger's Barbecue right now ordering our supper."

Luckily, my car was still warm from sitting in the sun all afternoon which was a blessing. It sure was a cold day today, though, barely getting above 40°F. I drove over with a double mission of eating supper and getting my sodas for the day.

Mom and dad were already eating when I arrived and walked in their back door. Dad got me two barbecue sandwiches and a large Brunswick stew. It was heaven on earth let me tell you. Dad got me a bag of potato chips as well and I brought them home as a snack for later.

Mom announced she had to have cataract surgery like Charlie had to have. Dad looked at me and rolled his eyes. Mom went out of the room to go use the bathroom.

"You realize there is no coincidence that Charlie had cataract surgery a week before your mother has to have it as well," my father told me with a jaded tone to his voice. "She loves doctors and appointments."

"That's our Secretary," I replied with a smile before I took another bite of my last barbecue sandwich. "She's a health insurance company's worst nightmare."

My father affectionately squeezed my hand as I headed out their back door to drive home.

"I'll see you in a few hours," I told my father of the medication ritual.

image credit:  http://vaughteyeassociates.com/blog/b_37025_getting_yearly_eye_exams_is_important_for_both_children_and_adults.html

Concentric Moons Aligned...

Maggie and I were in the bed at 4 am this morning and slept until 4 pm this afternoon. It felt so good to wake feeling fully rested. Like I've said before, Maggie just loves our new routines. Bedtime is a good time to her. I don't have anything better to do anyway.  It is also nice just having to wait a few hours until medication time as well.

I'm also looking forward to playing Shining Wisdom for the Saturn tonight as well. What a fantastic game that is turning out to me. It plays just like The Legend of Zelda.

What's a Wee Prick Among Friends...

I signed it at Kamath Medical and got ready to wait this morning.  Dr. Bacshi was seeing patients and the lobby was just full of people.  I had just started to warm my seat cushion when my nurse, Rebecca, stepped into the lobby and called me back.  I was so relieved. I have little patience for these kinds of things these days.

Rebecca and I talk mostly of her kids.  I've learned through trial and error that a person's family makes for great small talk. I just sit and listen as she revels me in her two daughters' latest antics.

"Are you done?!" I asked Rebecca when she told me to pull my pants back up. "I didn't even feel it."

"It's my special touch," Rebecca said beaming with pride.

Sweet Dee Dee already had my next appointment set up when I walked into the reception area.

"Dee Dee, you are awesome," I told her. "Totally awesome."

If a black lady could blush, then Dee Dee would have been doing so at that moment.

"All of you are awesome," I said as I turned to Pat as well as she sat in front of her computer. "I will see you all in two more weeks."

Well, now I have a new lease on sanity for another few weeks. My treasured feeling of euphoria never arrived.  I am now very drowsy but determined to stay awake so I will sleep tonight.

"That was quick!" my father said behind the pharmacy counter.

"They take good care of me at Kamath Medical," I replied.

The Secretary's Got An Appointment...

I called mom last hour to put my six Diet Cokes out on the porch.  I have to say I have been enjoying getting them again.  I just wish I could learn to not drink them all in two hours, though. I am so obsessive/compulsive. That's one reason I quit drinking them in the first place.  I was trying to moderate things in my life.

"Normal people don't drink six Cokes in two hours," my father told me the other night. "Just like they don't drink a whole pot of strong and caffeinated coffee in a few hours as well."

"I am fixing to go get a permanent," my mother then told me. "I will put your Cokes out before I leave."

"Just what is a permanent?" I asked The Secretary.

"Your hair is supposed to hold its shape much longer," The Secretary told me.

"But it's not permanent!" I said laughing with a good-hearted jab at my mother.

Mom nervously laughed back stymied not knowing what to say.  Dad likes how I call them "Big Hair" days.  It will make him laugh when I say that tonight.  Mom knows she looks pretty and has lots of machismo and self-confidence.  She can also be very outspoken as well causing my father to raise his eyebrows.

The bridge on Cherry Drive is still completely washed out from our Christmas Eve deluge leaving only two main avenues of travel to my parent's house.  One is through my old childhood neighborhood (which is way out of the way) and the other is by the police station.  I've noticed the drive past the police station is making me buckle up for a change.  I also go the 25 mph speed limit.

image credit:  http://passion-hair.co.uk/hair/permanent-waves-and-straightening/