Why I Hate Going to See The Doctor

Next week is looking awfully busy and my shoulder has been quite troublesome, so I went to the walk-in clinic today.  I almost didn’t go.  I had visions of it being nightmarishly busy and I was feeling a little stressed out and the thought of a busy waiting room with crying kids and sick people wasn’t a pleasant thought.  I sucked it in though and went.  The beauty of this visit was the waiting room was pretty much devoid of people.  Yay!

That’s where the pleasantness ends.

I hate doctors!

The first problem was me trying to explain to the doctor what the problem was.  I hadn’t really thought too much about how my shoulder hurts… just that it hurts.  Worse at night and in the mornings, enough so that it is hard to sleep.  Moving it causes pain, and if I raise it so my elbow is up and to the side, a backwards motion creates a nasty pop in my shoulder.  Driving is hard because I have my arm elevated.  But as for range of motion that hurts???  I couldn’t really explain.  Up over my head is uncomfortable…. lifting it out to the side causes it to grind, but not necessarily painful.  There is definitely a spot on my shoulder that is sore to touch.  So we went through all these different descriptions.

LOL.  When he asked how long it has been hurting, he led off the discussion with … “a couple of days?” to which I replied, “No, more like three weeks.”  “What began this pain?” he asked to which I had no reply.  We reviewed the history of my shoulder – I hurt it a number of years back in karate with a failed double kick and I have had a few troubles with it since then.

“What do you expect out of coming here today?” Welllllll…. that’s always a loaded question and I’m not sure, but I have the feeling that other people show up at walk-in clinics in hopes of procuring some rather strong drugs.  Me?  What did I want?  I hate asking for drugs by name, but told him that in past we (my doctor and I) have treated my shoulder with Naproxen (anti-inflammatory.) How the heck do people ask for anything stronger than that anyways?

He agreed to the anti-inflammatory but then he went one step farther.   Ugh!  The second reason I hate doctors… they sometimes order stuff above and beyond what I want to do.  He ordered a shoulder x-ray explaining that we needed to check to make sure that I didn’t have arthritis happening in my shoulder.  Blah!  And double BLAH!  I do not want to go for an x-ray… it means another trip, to a medical place, another waiting room…. ugh ugh ugh.  Do I need to say more?

So prescription in hand, I headed to the pharmacy which is conveniently located right next to the walk-in clinic.  Handing over the prescription, I am informed it will be a 20 minute wait.  Okay.  I hate waiting but I headed out to the car and cranked some tunes.  After 25 minutes, I went back in to the pharmacy to be told that they were sorting out something with my prescription and the pharmacist was talking with the prescribing doctor.  Ugh!  I hate complications but waited while they ironed out whatever the problem was.  The pharmacist called my name and I went to see him.  It appears the prescribed medication will interact with my Lithium with a risk of developing toxicity, as a result the dosage amount was decreased.  Even worse than that, seems I am to make an appointment with my doctor to get my Lithium level tested next week to make sure that the levels haven’t gone too high.  Well damn it, anyways!

Going to see the doc about my shoulder was a chore unto itself but now I need to go get a shoulder x-ray AND visit my doctor?  Holy snapping turtlefish!  Darn. Frig. Flip. Flap.  ARRRRRRRRGH.  I DON’T want to see my doctor.  Son of a gun.. I’ve been avoiding him for a long time because of all the other freakin’ tests he wants to run.

So yeah… I hate doctors.  I have a whole lot of reasons to hate going to see them.

Damn shoulder!

“Wondering How You’re Doing . . . “

I have been remiss in calling my mother daily.  I have tried, but often life gets pretty busy and I get distracted and sidetracked.

I have seen her twice in the last two weeks, visits prompted by the arrival of my aunt and uncle from out of town.  The visits have not lasted too long due either to the late nature of the visit or, as with the one on Friday, the number of visitors warranted not staying too long if I were to keep a firm grip on my sanity.

Today I had an IM session with her where she asked how I was doing, stating that when they don’t hear from me they know it means I’m not doing well.  Wellllllll… I explained to her that I’m actually doing as well as I have for the longest time and that I need to let the people I know and love know this more often.

But, I believe the conversation was about much more as we turned to talking about a couple relatives – one who has just passed away from lung cancer and another that has cancer of the jaw.  For reasons I can’t really explain, except to say that the topic of cancer is a very touchy one in my house, this situation is one full of a lot of tension.

Other things happening include the break up of my one brother and sister-in-law.  While this move has been coming for some time, it is still difficult to sit back and watch.  There are three kids involved in the picture which makes the split even more difficult.

So, the conversation from my mother was a bit strange to me… only in that I think of all the family, I am the one who is doing quite well at the moment.  I feel stable… I feel steady… I feel good.

It’s my turn to be the listener and the supporter maybe?

Bye for now.

Restless!

And the rain keeps coming and coming and coming….

Blah!

Can’t even take the dogs for a walk when it’s like this.

The gym closes at 8:00 on weekends and….

I feel restless…

With the energy of a Tasmanian Devil!

Blah!

No Farmer’s Market Today

Today is truly a day to relax…

No Farmer’s Market, the weather is kind of blah and having not had the greatest sleep last night, I’m quite content to putter and do a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

There’s a few things going on, not to me personally but that involve family members, that are the source of some irritation for me.  I have vented to hubby about what they are and surprisingly he agrees with all of them.  This concurring of his on all counts might be a first in the household.

We talked for a little while this morning about what they were and once I figured out that I was still feeling grumpy about them, I ventured out to snag me a Tim Horton’s coffee.  I thought I would also stop by Costco and see if they still had those $50 iTunes cards on for $35 but alas, they were all out.  I really wanted to get one to stash away for a rainy day.  Oh welllllll…. I will keep my eye peeled for the next time they come out.   Haha.. in some ways I was glad they didn’t have any because when I looked at the lineups at the tills, I’m not sure my anxiety/panic would have lasted through trying to get through one.

No gym yet today.  Perhaps later on I will make it, but I will be relegated to doing the exercise bike or some other type of cardio workout that does not put pressure on my shoulder.   I’m thinking of going in later in the afternoon.  If I knew what time the gym wouldn’t be busy on a Saturday, I’d go then but I suspect that the gym is pretty much busy all day Saturday.  Bummer.  Hubby and I eventually plan to purchase an exercise bike to put in our downstairs exercise room.  Even as we do this, I know I will have to be ever vigilant to not use this as my exercise and continue going to the gym as I feel the gym has benefited me in many ways other than just the physical.

Before I finish up my blog entry for today I should mention that last night’s family gathering was good.  It was difficult to be in a trailer with 16 people – the screech and noise made me wanna crawl out of my skin, but time spent with family is always worth tolerating that type of discomfort.  When my husband and I went to leave, my mother seemed quite envious of the fact that we were escaping to the relative quietness of home.  LOL!  Once we got back home, I managed to fiddle around on the computer for a bit, but not for too long as I realized about 9pm that I was feeling quite fatigued by the whole affair.  No more birthdays until December now… Yehaw!

Bye for now.