This is a post about today.
About measles shots. The UW requires that I have a certain verifiable immunity against measles. Consequently, I had to go to the health clinic and get a booster. Which got me thinking about health care in general and health care facilities in particular.
I sincerely respect all of those in the health care profession. They do tremendous and valuable work. But doctors' offices scare me. They have a powerful effect upon my psyche. They provoke profound, hypochondriac introspection.
I may walk into a health center feeling like I am the definition of vibrancy. I may see my reflection in a window and, upon observing my chiseled and disease-free features, think "my, aren't I a fine specimen of youthful vigor! I bet Bill Clinton wishes he could be me!" I may be convinced that I, in fact, will never die.
As soon as I sit down in a waiting room, all of this changes.
I can feel my temperature rising. The virus which invaded my body unbeknownst to me 10 days ago has chosen this very moment to manifest its symptoms. I am sure of it. What else could explain my sudden shortness of breath? I try to convince myself that it's just nerves, but no, I cannot calm myself down. Truly, something is wrong. My heart beat becomes very loud and very tentative. I can hear it and, then, I hear it stop. That's it; I'm going into cardiac arrest. I knew this was going to happen. Oh, wait, there it goes again. And that strange pain in my abdomen: stomach cancer. Definitely stomach cancer. All along I thought it was going to be lung cancer. Why is this happening to me? What did I do?
And then the nurse calls my name. "Any food allergies?" "Any medications?" "Any shots in the last 30 days?" Stick in the arm and I'm back outside and its really quite a beautiful day in Seattle.
In other news:
I am not very computer savvy, so it's going to take me some time to get used to the technical aspects of all of this. So if links, etc. don't work quite right, please be patient.
I've been reading a lot and Capria's been looking for a job. We had our phone turned on but they still haven't hooked it up. I'll get everyone the number at some point.
That's about all I have to say, right now.
Posted by pjaussen at September 14, 2004 02:12 PM