Slices

A trip into downtown Seattle to go to a VA hospital appointment is always exhausting. It takes an hour to get downtown and then walk to the next stop. If you go through the south entrance, you get to explore the cavernous building and get lost. I got to my appointment and I was asked if I wanted a diabetic neuropathy check and I said no; when I said that the lady wanted to know why, and I said it is unnecessary, which it is. If I had neuropathy, I assure you I'd be aware. I also said I wanted the COVID vaccination today, but NOT the flu shot; last time I got both together on the same day, I regretted it. I was really sore and the shots made me sick and miserable. There is time before the end of the month, to get the flu shot.

My provider did a diabetic neuropathy test anyway, in spite of my saying it was unnecessary. I felt the touch of the needles everywhere it touched me. Why do they not listen?

When I questioned my provider why they recently told me to cut my Metformin tablets in half, she said didn't know. Then, thinking back on why they they said I should cut the tablets in half, she said that smaller pills were unavailable. That did not explain why I get less Metformin. I started taking a full dose and things were fine; I lost weight and had better control of my appetite.

I also explained how I injured my right foot recently, and she said the back spasms were not the result of the Allopurinol. It is designed to reduce uric acid levels in the blood and prevent gout attacks, which is certainly laudable. I have had lots of experience with gout, and have no desire to go through that again. Neither do I have any desire to get Shingles again, as the first two times were more than sufficient. I got the shingles vaccine - twice. It was no more fun than the COVID or flu.

If a patient has no say-so in his or her treatment, the medical care is flawed. If I had something really serious and decided against an arduous treatment course. that should be sufficient. Good intentions are insufficient; you have to deliver on the promise. 

I realized what date it was a little while ago; Friday the 13th !. My reaction was to ask, "Can I just go back to bed now?". The answer was, "yes", "but it will not change the date." I will sacrifice a virgin to the new moon; that should protect me LOL.

My provider insisted on listening to my breathing and my heart, but before she did, I asked, "Can you hear me now" to her stethoscope, as I had a sweat shirt on and I thought it would be necessary to remove the sweat shirt, but no, it was not.

I got back home, by the grace of God, but boy was I tired. I ate a little dinner and crashed. So now it is 01:22 on October 13, 2023 - "O dark thirty" for some of you civilians LOL.

Did you forget that humor is a necessary part of being a hermit? It is a central part of being a HUMAN BEING, so being a hermit is doubly necessary. The Lord has a sense of humor, but it is not always appreciated, as St. Theresa of Avila remarked once. And another time, she slipped in the mud upon getting out of a coach, and she said "No wonder You have so few friends."

Sometimes I cannot fathom why things happen. Yesterday I tried to pick up my cup of coffee, and my left palm felt as if a nail had been pounded through it. Just as quickly as it started hurting, I grabbed the cup with my other hand in order not to spill the coffee, and the sensation disappeared and did not return. The connections by which we hang together are subject to deterioration and we don't hold together as tightly as we should, so nerves get pinched and aggravated. There isn't much for it as the pain is gone almost immediately. Undoubtedly, it may return again because as soon as one kind of pain appears, it disappears and is replaced by another. Some days, especially Fridays, I seem to be in a sea of pain, and then I remember the Lord on the cross and don't complain, but offer it for the poor souls in purgatory.

If it is 1 am, it must be time for a fire truck to whizz down the avenue to another housing complex, and then an aid car or ambulance passes through with its mournful siren and disappears into the night. The poor beast cries out pitifully, and I ponder on someone's misery, another soul in distress, and pray for them.

Such is a slice of my life. Nothing momentous, but things happen and you don't know why and it does no good to wonder why. If it is not you being loaded into an aid car to go to the hospital, be grateful for the mercy of God, and try to be a part of His mercy is you can.