Thursday, October 13, 2011

Life

The stress levels have been steadily rising 'round my little slice of the Deep South these past few months, and the forecast isn't looking much rosier for the future. So instead of dwelling on Gah! LIFE! I don't want to be an adult anymore!, Let's focus on the good. Wait, first I have to say that at work we are now firmly ensconced in our trailers. And they are as trailor-ific as we can make them, which is, sad to say, not so much. On the other hand my department has the only trailer with a sink in it that is not located in a bathroom, which gives us a nice little kitchen-ette area now that we have the mini fridge, microwave and coffee pot plugged in. This is in direct contrast to another trailer, the staff of which chose to convert one of their bathrooms into a break room by covering the toilet with a table and tablecloth. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of that. So, on to being an adult: I made a doctor appointment a few weeks ago. In the whole "let's pretend I'm not an adult" phase of my life - a phase I'm being pushed out of against my will - I've never had annual blood work done. If I don't know that my cholesterol it is over 400, it doesn't count, right? Well, that was my thinking. But The Professor - who sees his doctors regularly whether he needs to or not - started insisting daily (instead of monthly) that it is necessary, and I finally caved. It had been 4 years or so since I'd seen my good ole Doc, and then it had only been to get a note to say I was fit enough to do some PT at work. It's been over seven years since I've needed to see him. Maybe he missed me? And apparently I am completely un-adept at making routine phone call's to a doctor's office. Me: Hi, I need to make an appointment with Dr S. Her: Ok, what's he seeing you for? Me: Oh, I'm fine, I need just to get some blood work done. Her: What kind of blood work? Me: Um, I don't know, cholesterol? Her: How often do you have that checked? Me: I never have, that's why I want to come in. I want to get some annual blood work done. Her: Annual... Me: Well, let's try this: I'm going to *start* getting blood drawn once a year for whatever it is adults need their blood tested for. Her: Ok...{silence}... Dr S will talk to you about it and figure it out when you get here. AND! Did you know that they force you to fast before you come in for this nonsense? Not only can you not eat breakfast, but you already know you're going to get used as a pin cushion! No wonder the receptionist was confused - she was wondering why I was volunteering to come in! Anyway - yes, I'm finally getting to the good part of the blog post - it all came back wonderful. Cholesterol, triglycerides (What the HECK are those, anyway?), iron, liver, thyroid...my blood is so healthy it could take your blood out in hand-to-hand combat. The technician actually wrote "Great!" at the bottom of the report, which kind of made me feel like I was getting a report card, but I didn't get the gold star. And just to prove I'm not really an adult yet: They had so much trouble with my veins (I got to get pricked by more than one needle. Fun!), that they had to get out the little bitty needles they use on kids and stick me on the side of my elbow, instead of in the crease like normal. And then I almost passed out. Because they probably took too damn much of my healthy blood.