Aren’t you busy on Christmas, anyway? Pulling Santa’s ass all over the world with your seven buddies, and maybe Rudolph if the weather’s bad? 
Ah, no. If I’m hauling Santa’s ass around it will be in a high performance fighter craft, not a sleigh with undersized elk. The handle comes from an obscure little book I enjoyed in my youth: Dancer of the Sixth.
Pretty good book …
Thanks for the good wishes, kaylasdad99. I hope all is going better than hoped in your life as well.
This thread prompted me to ask my BB if he had his shingles shots and he told me that he had measles as a kid, so wouldn’t need them. A quick google told me that shingles had nothing to do with measles and that nagging should commence. He’s calling his doctor tomorrow.
I started getting pre-exposure rabies shots 20 years ago. Insurance won’t pay for “optional” vaccines unless you can convince your doctor to write a good letter explaining why you are special and sometimes that doesn’t work. I’d guess that shingles shots for folks my age and no high risk elements would work the same way.
My morning work minion was in a very bad car accident 3 days ago and is still in a coma. He’s an out of state college student, his family was called, but his roommate also called me because he knew minion would want me to know why he didn’t come to work.
After I was called, I went to the hospital to check on him. I didn’t stop at the reception desk because I already knew which ward he would be in, so walked into that ward like I belonged there and asked for him at that desk. After I looked in at him, I asked a medical person how he was and was given an update. At no time did I ever indicate that I had any sort of legal or HIPPPA sanctioned relationship with the kid.
The second day, as I was walking into his ward, someone updated me on his medical condition and worried that the rest of his family wasn’t going to be in time.
Today I got busted. His family is here and while they were happy that someone had been checking on him, let it slip that I wasn’t family.
I was accused by a hospital suit of lying to get protected medical information. That was hours ago and I am still fumming. I could have verbally ripped that stupid suit to pieces if I was somewhere without grieving and worried people to bother.
Sucks about your co-worker, flatlined - I hope all goes well with him, and he makes a full recovery.
Update, 'cuz I know you’re all hanging on the edge of your seats. 
I saw my GP today, more to keep him up to date and to make sure all this was entered into my medical history. He says it’s unlikely that I need to see an ophthalmologist, unless I see any redness in the whites of that eye, or feel pain in the eyeball itself. He did suggest that I not work, but allowed that I should be fine to deal with the public by the next time I was rostered on, on Thursday morning. It’s Monday now, for me. The lesions are all nicely dried up; I don’t recall them leaking any fluid since I first noticed them, in fact. There’s been no real pain, just a bit of tenderness and warmth. It looks like I escaped with about as benign a case as one could hope for.
Total out of pocket - just under 70AUD. I’m now wondering what it would have cost me, if I still lived in the States. Between the ER visit, the seven day’s worth of vaclovir, and the GP visit, I imagine I’d be well into the hundreds out of pocket by now.
Or maybe not - I left before Obamacare, so my health insurance now would probably be at least somewhat useful, albeit more expensive. Goodness knows, my insurance then was pretty much useless.
Good to hear you’re on the mend galen. And yes Og bless Medicare. 
Another physician rant (sorry, I know I rant a lot about medical crap):
Today was my six month check up. Different nephrologist than usual.
Dude.
“That mole looks off, could be cancer”, “You’ve had a cough for a few weeks? Could be cancer”, “You have thyroid nodules? Could be cancer”. FWIW, checked and NO, it’s a cold, and checked and NO.
My donor, at some point, had something that gave him/her the CMV virus. I’ve never had any strains of it, so the normal course of action is 6 months of a fairly strong antiviral med. This is my last week of it. Per the physician, it’s not a matter of IF I contract CMV, but WHEN. Most transplantees I know that have had CMV spent weeks in hospital.
I do like honesty, but damn. Not everything is cancer. I will be continuing one antiviral for the rest of my life, and CMV is checked monthly. Let’s not look for zebras in a barn full of horses.
Those stripes are probably benign… but how 'bout we cut a chunk out of your withers and you can worry for a week while the lab dithers, just to be on the safe side?
Got an automated phone call yesterday from my CPAP supplier. First I had to verify that I was the patient and not some rando answering my home phone. Then they wanted to know if I had been using the machine regularly (x hours a night for at least y nights in the past month). Then they wanted to know if I needed any supplies. I really didn’t, but I figured it’s close to the end of the year and I’ve met my deductible, so why not stock up? * So I said Yes, and the robo-voice says “We’re sorry… According to your insurance, you are not yet eligible to reorder supplies. Goodbye.” And I’m thinking “Well what the fuck did you call me for then?”
- Also the best time of year to load up on penis pills. Those things are expensive!
Broke my tooth over the weekend, it cannot be fixed 
I’ve had bits of a molar crumble off while eating…I have an appointment next month to have something done about it, but it’s my understanding that not much of the tooth is really left (it’s mostly patchy bits of filling material).
First world mini-rant, but…
Being in middle management is about 60% getting screamed at
30% reading and/or writing status reports to send to people more important than you
10% pretending to be strategic but never actually being strategic.
And underlying the entire role is serving as parent/babysitter to employees and pretending like I’m “letting them fail so they can grow” when in reality I’m doing part of their jobs because if they “grow through failure,” I am the failure in the minds of those in control of my salary. Also, I don’t get the benefit of the golden parachute if people under me fuck up.
Ah, the paradox of middle management.
I now have bandaids and burn gel on two of the fingers on my right hand, all thanks to a cat that suddenly decided, for the first time in the almost 3 years I’ve owned him, that he had to be UNDER MY FEET while I was cooking.
Naturally, I stepped on him, and his yowl was enough to startle me into moving too fast, losing my balance, and putting my hands on the stove top. Which was still hot even though it was cooling down from the 5 minutes ago that I’d turned if off at. Two of my fingertips landed on the burner.
So now I have one cat I want to kill to shut him up, and the other I want to skin because damnit my fingers HURT. And I make my living as a tech writer, so having the fingertips damaged is not a good thing.
I should probably be in the workplace thread, but I started it here…
My work minion who was a really smart, clever and funny young college student has severe brain and spinal damage. Even if he does wake up, he’s probably never going to be the same.
The fucking drunk who hit him head on ended up with a broken arm. The drunk had a suspended license and no insurance. Currently the drunk is in jail and because of his past record, will probably be there for a few months and then court ordered to go to rehab. Fat lot of good it does my minion or his family.
I cleaned his desk out for his family today. They seemed to want all of his random stuff, and I was going to have to do it anyhow. I’ve also put him on unpaid leave until the end of the year. As a part timer, he wasn’t insured, but this way he will be eligible for the part timer Christmas bonus, which will be 250 bucks.
I am extremely angry about this. I’m also a bitch with a rich husband who not only loves to indulge me, but has a bored lawyer on retainer. Heinous fuckery is going to fall on the drunk’s head because I want him charged with voluntary manslaughter and have the resources and contacts to make it happen.
In other news, Karen the housekeeper and Missy the Feline Decorator are having their yearly disagreement over holiday decorations. Even though cats can’t see colors, Missy does Not want red hand towels in the kitchen. They belong in the living room, right in front of the door. Karen disagrees and has loud discussions with Missy as to why she shouldn’t do this 5 or 6 times a day. We could remind Karen to use different colors, but this is a yearly tradition and very entertaining.
To my coworkers who share my cubicle walls:
Look, I get it. We can hear each other’s conversations. We eavesdrop without meaning or wanting to eavesdrop. It cannot be helped, and I’m not blaming anyone.
But can you at least try to create the illusion that I have some privacy?
If I’m talking to someone about something and your ear catches a question in the conversation that you think you can help with, by all means chime in. But please only chime in when you have good reason to believe you understand the big picture that’s being discussed. There’s nothing more irritating than having a person butt into a conversation that’s focused on Topic A, but they think the conversation is about Topic B since they heard you say a word that is semi-relevant to Topic B. So instead of my conversational partner and me getting matters straightened out for Topic A in an efficient manner, now we have to waste time explaining to you what we’re talking about and how it isn’t tied to Topic B. Your lack of knowledge about Topic A is why you weren’t a member of the conversation in the first place. I understand that it can be hard listening to an interesting conversation that you haven’t been invited to participate in, but there’s a way to be brought into the loop without being a disruptive presence.
Another thing: Don’t assume I’m listening to your conversations. There’s a difference between being able to just hear your voice and and actually following your conversation. So if you’re talking to someone on the other side of my cubicle and you suddenly say, "What do you think about that, monstro?, I’m always going to ask you what you’re talking about (while inwardly rolling my eyes). I’m over here working, not being a spy.
For the first time in 15 years I have a cold. And it’s a doozy. I forgot how miserable colds make people feel, and my age and health issues only compound that. If this becomes pneumonia, I’m a dead man; I feel like one already.
The Xerox printer at work munched on a lock of my hair! I didn’t lose much or I’d be going Office Space on that fucker right now.
Well, fuck.
Guess who has CMV? They’re quadrupling the anti-viral for three weeks. The side effects are numerous and miserable. It’s presenting as low grade mono, which I attributed to the cold I’ve been unable to shake and seasonal depression.
I’ve always heard that bread sticks are to Olive Garden like cheddar Bay biscuits are to Red Lobster. I got to sample the fabled bread sticks today… they were tough, stale, cold, and covered in something vaguely salty that stuck to my teeth.
Also, the catering crew forgot to bring cups.
I’m sorry and hope your pocket shark bites the driver hard.