Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Monday, February 13, 2012

I am bone tired

even though I was only at work for the first and last part of the day. I left at 12:15 so that I could catch the bus that would get me to a doctor's office in time for a 1:45 appointment. I walked from the transit centre to the office, which was by Good Samaritan (they used to have an office over near my apartment; I didn't know until I made the appointment that they had moved, and only because I asked). I made it back to work about 4:15, this time waiting for a bus to take me down to the transit centre and then transferring to my other bus. I could have walked, but I'm not used to walking several blocks since I've had the foot problems for so long, and it was doing a number on my feet and knees.

It was a gynaecology appointment for a routine exam, for which I was slightly overdue. Because it was UK, there was not just the regular doctor and nurse but also a resident, who did the exam. It's the first guy I've had do the exam and pap smear in awhile. The regular doctor did have the presence of mind to pull the blinds before I asked. We all thought it was one way glass, but weren't sure, and if not, anyone walking or driving by at the right angle might have gotten an eyeful from a ground floor window. :)

The gowns were not big enough (the arms were quite uncomfortable), but I had a nice big sheet for privacy. I tell you, the best gowns in the city are at the St Joseph Breast Centre over at Eagle Creek. Even I find them comfy, even voluminous.

Because some women only have a GYN as their main doctor, there were a whole lot of questions on their checklist that had nothing to do with reproductive health, such as vaccinations, alcohol use, colonoscopies, that sort of thing. The paperwork even asked for odd things, too, like my mother's maiden name and my father's first name. The history, of course, was complete, and that was good. The one thing they never asked, which I thought was interesting, was whether I was sexually active. They just asked if I was using birth control, and if so, if I were happy with it.

I will say they were very thorough. They took my weight, blood pressure (which was good), listened to my heart and lungs, did the actual pelvic exam, and did the pap. Apparently my cervix played hide and seek with the resident. I had no idea that it could turn away from the speculum. Who knew? Apparently mine was shy. :) I must admit, I was amused.

I arrived early, of course, but the wait wasn't very long. The bus took more time than anything else.

I'd scanned several articles for a doctor from our journals this morning. This evening I retrieved the last article from a database I'd been locked out of earlier (there's only one licence, so we get turnaways sometimes). Then I entered all my charge sheets and got that all squared away.

Tomorrow will be fairly busy because 1) I have another doctor's appointment, but fortunately it is in the morning and across the street from me, 2) I need to request several articles via interlibrary loan, fill one request from another library, and catalogue, and then the charge entry should be quite busy as clinic is very large, plus I'll get sheets from today's clinic and the OR.

Today I got my new Medic-Alert card in the mail, and also the farewell episode of M*A*S*H on DVD from Netflix. I'm excited to see that again after all these years, but I'm not sure I'm up to it tonight.

The plan is to do a load of laundry early in the morning, since my appointment means I'm leaving the house later than normal.

Do you think I could take a nap without crashing for the night? I got sleep last night, but I felt a little hung over this morning since I'd been up 17 hours on Sunday, had cleaned house, done the grocery run, and played the game (in which we finally defeated the creature that could walk through walls and phase her hand through your chest, squeezing the heart until you died). I got home at 11 and I was probably asleep within a half hour. I tried to get up at 6, but it wound up being 8:30.

So tired. We'll see. At least I'm going to chill for awhile, maybe listen to some music I have out from the library. If I don't write again, good night.

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