It’s been another medically busy week.
On Monday, I tried to hack the system by just passing a message to Doctor Chao that I needed my prescriptions renewed.
Denied! Well, it was worth a shot. Had to set up a phone appointment instead.
And it turns out it was good that, I did, because…
Yesterday, Tuesday, I had wound care, and the nurse took one look at my left foot and saw that there was a huuge blister under the wound there and immediately went and got Linda, the Wound Care Clinician, who also looked very distressed about it.
And you know she’s seen some shit.
So Linda poked the thing with a sterile needled and drained it, and then she trimmed away the big flap of skin left over.
The blister, or maybe hematoma, was a bit bigger than a toonie and a horrible mottled green/brown color, and you might well be asking yourself, why on Earth did it take a nurse to tell me there was something very wrong with my foot.
The answer to that question is surprisingly complex.
For one, there’s my general cluelessness. I am school smart and reality stupid. That’s what happens when you’re so withdrawn that you deal with reality only the absolute minimum amount it takes to not starve to death, soil yourself, or walk into traffic.
The hilarious but not in a haha way thing is that I had been wondering why my right foot felt “weird” when it was in a shoe – like there was something in the shoe with my toes.
And there was. It was a big fucking blister.
Once more I shake my head at how bad I am at taking care of myself.
Another reason I needed a nurse to tell me about the blister is that one nurse had already seen it, last Friday, and she didn’t seem to think it was a big deal.
I very often take my emotional cues from other people.
I’m just so impressionable!
My two nurses today seemed to think that the Friday nurse really should have caught the blister and done something about it.
But I don’t blame her too much. It’s very easy to get caught up in my aura and be part of my reality bubble and get swept along, and I usually don’t even know I am doing it.
I suppose I should fix that.
At one point, there was talk of sending me to the ER because the nurses were worried about the infection that caused the blister.
Thank goodness that after the whole thing was removed, they decided that I didn’t need to do that. It would have been such a pain in the ass.
They did take a swab and send it to the lab, though.
Later that day was my appointment to get a needle in my other eye, my right eye. That was no fun, still hurt like fuck, but it was over in a second.
I’ll be going back in six weeks.
Today, I had a phone appointment with Doctor Chao in the morning. I had three things to get done and I did all three, which I am proud of.
- Tell him about the stuff with the blister, Check!
- Get all my prescriptions renewed at the behest of my pharmacist, SImon. Check!
- Get a referral to this place for physiotherapy. Check!
Hopefully enough physio can restore at least some functionality to my legs.
But honestly, even if it ends up just being exercise, that’s good too.
I just want someone who knows about these things to tell me what exercises I can do without harming myself.
I know that exercise will do me good on pretty much every level.
But I’m scared.
Stay tuned for the other adventure I had today
More after the break.
Some fun stuff
If there is more of this comic, I wanna read it!
Suddenly I have a deep desire to travel by train.
And then there’s this tribute to sneks and carbs.
My fuzzy friends know of such neato things!
Now I’m really craving a good dinner roll.
The last thing
The last thing today was finally getting that lab work done.
It had been at least two weeks since it had been assigned and I was feeling very guilty about not having done it yet.
As patient readers know, I tried to get it done last Friday but at that point, I hadn’t fasted, so I couldn’t do my good ol fasting A1C.
So I had to come back. This time, I was smart, and booked an appointment online in order to minimize the probability of having to wait in line.
That did mean waiting till today, though. Oh well.
Julian dropped me off at the LifeLabs just half a block away, There’s another one near us over on 3 Road but I don’t like that one.
The lady who took my blood was amazing because she got the needle in my vein on the first try with no hesitation or “searching”.
As patient readers know, I have veins that not only “hide” but that are also sort of rubbery in a way that actually deflects the needle.
So today’s super easy withdrawal from my personal blood bank was a testament both to her skill and my ability to communicate exactly where the good vein is in the crook of my right elbow via body language and telepathy alone.
Then came the pee test. And of course, once I was in the bathroom, I, who has to pee ten times a god damned day, came up dry.
And after I had deliberately drank half a liter of water right before I left, too. I guess it hadn’t made it through my system yet.
But luckily I knew just what to do this time. You see, I knew that when I strain to poop, often a little pee comes out as well.
So I just sat down on the toilet and strained (without pooping) and managed to slowly milk the requisite quantity of urine from my reluctant system.
Thus I foiled one of fate’s attempts to make me feel awkward and embarrassed.
And now you’re all caught up!
I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.
Oh wait, PS. I solved my video game problem.
I won’t go into the details, let’s just say, I was a victim of ambiguous language.
Anyhow. See you tomorrow!