Hat Trick Thursday

 I had three medical or medical-adjacent appointments today. Usually I wouldn't set it up that way, but I've had a few issues scheduling my flu and covid shots. The first time I wrote the day and time in my calendar but forgot to write the location. The second time I realized that I had made the appointment on a Tuesday after two previous Tuesdays having unpleasant appointments on them and I didn't want to feel crappy for my long work day on Wednesday. THEN I made the appointment for the third time and accidentally made it for a location that was way farther away from my home than it needed to be.

Finally I made the appointment for 1:30 today, and then got a call from my doctor's office to make an appointment for a medication review which I made for 11:30. And then my massage therapist asked if I could come in today at 3:30, and she's amazing and books up really fast so I said yes.

THEN I got a confirmation email from my doctor's office saying my appointment was actually for 1:30. I called and confirmed that this was right (I am CERTAIN the receptionist on the phone said 11:30, but whatever). I ranted and railed in one of my group chats and my friends were appropriately consoling, and then I went online and easily changed the shots appointment to 11:30, so it was completely fine.

I went to the Independent Grocery Store about ten minutes away for my shots. There was a woman who had walked in filling out forms when I got there, and sometimes they're not the greatest at keeping appointment times at this place, which is not a huge deal, but I was grateful when they took me right away. The gentleman who did my injections was very cheerful and kind, and I was all ready to say that I was going to shop for groceries for the fifteen minutes I was supposed to wait after my shots but he didn't even ask me, DO YOU NOT CARE ABOUT MY HEALTH AND SAFETY AT ALL CHARUBAN?

I had initially thought I might go home between my shots and my doctor's appointment, but realized that would make Lucy lose her mind, so I packed a lunch and got some groceries and then went to Indigo to pick up the rest of a store pick-up order I had placed of Christmas presents - pretty much everyone is getting books or whatever else I can get at Indigo this year. Then I drove the fifteen minutes to my doctor's office, got a couple more things at the grocery store there and was just in time for my appointment.

My doctor initially said that she knew it was annoying to have to come in, but she wanted to make sure we were considering any drug interactions and keeping on top of any issues. We talked about the fibromyalgia possibility and what kind of painkillers are okay for me to take (my dad has idiopathic kidney failure), and the fact that I keep getting taken down hard by viruses. She laid out two pyramid plans (I take Gabapentin at night for restless legs, she's adding lower doses for the morning and afternoon for pain, then suggested Tylenol as a base before Advil; then using my steroid inhaler morning and night during virus season to calm the inflammation and maybe make catching a virus less severe). I actually got a bit emotional at the fact that this stuff was being looked at more carefully and cohesively than usual and said I really appreciated the proactive level of care, which made her a little emotional, and it was all slightly weird and also awesome. 

I came home and walked Lucy and then went for my massage. Collette (HI COLLETTE) recommended this amazing massage therapist named Ruth, who has been more helpful than anyone I've seen up until now for my stubborn neck pain. We had a great conversation about camping and bears and raccoons and film making and I could mostly ignore that she was digging her strong strong fingers into my extremely tight muscles.

So now my arms hurt from vaccines and my muscles hurt from Ruthlessness (Ruthness?) and my head hurts because I didn't end up eating my packed lunch until two o'clock, but Matt and I went to Costco to get the tree after work yesterday, and on our way home we drove through the lit-up town center, and tonight he put the tree together in about fifteen seconds, and every time I walk out into the living room I feel blissfully happy.