Thank you. My medical clinic is 30 miles away so I don’t know if that will be feasible. But I’ll ask.
There’s a fucking mosquito in my house, and judging by how itchy a spot by my elbow has gotten, she already got her snack.
This is why I allow the occasional spiders to live in the nooks of my bathroom, behind my chair, and in my basement. Have at it, Charlotte.
ETA: googling informs me that the fragile-looking, thin-legged ones I see here in Michigan are some flavor of the cellar spiders.
LOL I do the same. In fact I have discovered a flock of Charlottes having some web spinning fun all over the house. It did become necessary to take some of them down - but I let the spiders remain.
A few weeks ago I was on the phone talking to a friend about a lunch date. I said, “let me check my calendar, shit where is my phone?” and he laughed and said “I think you’re talking on it”.
Ayup. I was arranging something with my son and started looking for my phone. I was getting frustrated, because it was RIGHT THERE just a few minutes ago. Fang politely asked what I was talking to him on.
That’s why I now use the speaker phone in my office.
I think the thing I use my phone for the least is actually talking to people on it. So it surprises me not at all that y’all forget that your phone is, you know, a phone.
In my neighborhood, people occasionally post on NextDoor about not having a ride home from the colonoscopy. There are always several people who offer a ride, people who have been posting a long time and who it’s pretty clear aren’t psycho killers. I wouldn’t hesitate to ask if I needed a ride.
ETA: just saw you post that it’s 30 minutes away. I’m surprised they don’t have names of available driver services.
It’s rural western Pennsylvania lol. Not much operating here.
Well, it’s rural western Pennsylvania; not many Aholes there. Now my state is NJ, and wow, we have Aholes to spare… /s
( Somewhere Senator John Fetterman just smiled )
I’ve heard of people around here using Byer’s Taxi Service in Vandergrift. They do runs to Greater Pittsburgh Airport.
Beautiful website!
Butler area clinic won’t allow taxi or Uber. Has to be someone accompanying you the entire time and taking you home.
Will ask my doctor for recommendations.
Yeah, clinics…
Just found out that I need to be VERY circumspect about which one I visit for a minor issue…
A month ago I took a quick dip in the complex pool where I live for the first time all year. Note I am a very accomplished swimmer, but it’s too short to do any real laps in, so my workouts are on the elliptical there.
I immediately felt the sensation of trapped water in my right ear. All the shaking and pounding of my head didn’t dislodge it, and I was going to be leaving town for a 2,500 mile road trip in 2 days, so the very next morning found a local nurse practictioner, knowing visiting an “official” ER would cost me an arm and a leg. I visited one last year for what felt like a burgeoning cold, she prescribed some HCl spray (which in the past has stopped such infections in their tracks, which it did), was charged a total of c. $400, insurance paid for close to $300.
So this one peered in my ear, managed to clear the block, and prescribed something just in case. No infection set in, I was fine.
I got the bill last week.
$520?!?
Why didn’t my insurance pay for any of that?
I was already planning to call my insurance and complain this morning, when I got my monthly statement.
Oh, it paid for a good chunk of it, all right.
$900 of a $1400 bill.
^%#%$@#^%^%@#.
All done and back home now. He found and removed one little polyp (I think last time there were three) and I’m good for another seven years. Yay!
I ate discussing politics because most people tend to just rant and I have no interest in getting into a pissing contest.
I work with another American teacher and for some reason he was talking politics with a Japanese teacher so he started up with me.
I told him countless times that I just don’t want to talk politics. He’s obviously a Trumper and I just don’t want to go there.
I told him directly that it’s best to not discuss politics. I told him I don’t want to. I told him that little parting comments aren’t cool, but he had something on his mind and he couldn’t fucking let it go.
Finally after I got really agitated, he gave up. Dammit.
Pitting my own digestive system.
I have bile acid diarrhea. Kept under control most of the time with a cholesterol med that works to sequester the excess bile, with the occasional bad day here or there. I can take a higher dose if that happens, or if I anticipate needing it (e.g. taking a long car trip).
And 10 days ago, things just went straight to hell. 3-4-5 RUNS to the bathroom every day and, er, not always making it. Upping the dose did zilch. Friday got bad. Really, really, bad. As in “one more trip, and we are going to the ER”. Fortunately I remember that Imodium was an option. Took a dose, and things slowed down, then eventually stopped. Saturday was okay.
Sunday was… not. 4 hours in the ER. Bloodwork. “Samples” provided. A CT scan. With “whoops, I peed my pants” contrast (hint, you do NOT pee your pants, it just feels like it). Consensus: enterocolitis. 2 liters of IV saline had me actually needing to pee. Sent home with prescription antidiarrheal (which of course I could not get filled, being Sunday night, so I took another Imodium when we got home). Samples turned up no pathogens, but the PA at the gastro’s office today said that the bloodwork showed some numbers that suggested it WAS some kind of infection. Oh well. I guess we’ll never know.
I figured maybe things had, er, passed. Tonight proved me wrong. I think I’ll keep using the store-brand Depends for a couple more days. I haven’t taken any meds for it, as I want to see if things are really resolved (versus “resolved as long as you take this stuff”) - and the doc wants to know that too.
Saturday, I thought to check my reservation for a train trip I have planned for the weekend after next. I’ve got a sleeper. Yep, it’s upstairs. With 10 roomettes sharing 1 bathroom. That could have been bad. Fortunately when I called Amtrak, I found that they did have a lower-level room available (6 roomettes, 3 bathrooms).
You don’t WANT one.
You might NEED one (ask the doc if you’re a candidate for Cologuard).
Hah - that’s me!
Well, mine are so frequent now that I would actually use more than the 2, if I can only find the box the next year.
This past weekend, of course, it would have been overkill. I was tempted to call the gastro and say “hey, got any cancellations today? 'cuz I’m ALL SET”.
My husband injured our car last month (which is a minirant on its own - he backed into another car across the street from our AirBnB).
While our car was being repaired, we were all relegated to using our older car - also a Honda CRV, but nearly 18 years old.
I got into it, and started looking around for the the button to start the engine. It took me a minute or so to realize "oh yeah. There’s an ignition slot - gotta actually PUT THE KEY IN. I r a dumbass.
Two possible responses: 1) “I AM dressed for church. But the local law enforcement frowns on public nudity, so I had to put something on over my skin”. or 2) “La! La! Cthulhu fhtagn!!”.
My across-the-street neighbour has the annoying habit of taking his car out of his driveway and parking it in front of his house. No apparent reason, but no problem there, except I’m trying to navigate my giant Chevy SUV out of my driveway, and I am dreadfully worried of hitting his car. Add to that the neighbours on my side of the street love to park so close to my driveway that the only way I can get out is to back-and-forth, back-and-forth, rinse, lather and repeat, until I can actually drive away.
I don’t dare complain, though, as he shovels my snow in winter, and asks nothing in return.
When we lived in a townhouse, there was one resident who used to park his car along the curb directly behind our parking space. Note that this curb was a NO PARKING zone, so it wasn’t even legal for him to do so. I actually did ding his car once. I of course let him know, but pointed out that it was illegally parked. Never heard anything more about it.
The car my husband hit was perfectly legal - husband just had a brain blip or something. He scratched the paint a bit on the victim’s car - did a fair bit more damage to ours (and we have a 1K deductible, so double ouch).
When on the phone with our insurer, they were I think hoping for an excuse to blame the other car.“Are you sure you were at fault?”. “The car was parked and unnoccupied. I’m not sure in WHAT universe they could have been at fault!”.
I saw a t-shirt for sale - “Don’t piss off old people, ‘Life sentence’ doesn’t mean as much to us.”
There a dent in my car, at the front of the rear quarter panel. Someone must have backed into it somewhere & drove off. 
Mr. brown’s ceiling fan in his bedroom started to tick and click at night, which drives him crazy. He has now ordered, installed, taken down and returned four different types of ceiling fans. Every one of them ticks and clicks when running, even at the lowest setting.
My ceiling fan, on the other hand, is dead quiet. It was made before the manufacture of fans was transferred overseas and the fans got tacky and cheaper.
Mr. brown is driving me nuts with his hunting online and constant talking about other types of fans he’s going to try out. When he installs them, I have to assist, and he’s terrible to work with. I get snapped and snarled at. I want this to stop.