Once in bed, I wanted to call Yvette. My phone was at hand. Only one problem, the image on the screen was moving, and I couldn’t read it. I didn’t know Yvette’s number by heart. I had just set up my medical alert button, and I thought, I may have to use it.
But then the screen cleared. I texted Yvette. There was no immediate response. I needed someone to take care of Elsa, so I dialed her number. She answered immediately. She came up, fed Elsa, and took her for a walk.
While she was out, I called the Kaiser advice line again. Fortunately, it works 24/7. The first set of questions were designed to determine if I had had a stroke. Well, if I had, this dizziness was the result, and it was done. The nurse called a doctor for a consultation. While my question had been if this could be a side effect of the vaccine, the only thing he addressed was my vertigo.
He said it usually lasts only a few minutes. Given it had gone on for over half an hour, he suggested that I go to an emergency room. I asked if an urgent care facility would suffice. He said no, an emergency room would be better.
When Yvette came in, and I gave her the news. She said she was good. She had canceled all her massage appointments for the day so she could address my needs. I told her I was hungry as well as nauseous. She made me a piece of toast with butter.
She also told me that she has her ring tone shut off when she is in bed except for my number and Josh’s. While she heard my text beep, she didn’t feel a need to respond with urgency. I called shortly after. She said to always do that if I need help.
She went downstairs to shower before our planned trip to the emergency room. In my experience, even with a simple problem, it is half a day commitment when visiting an ER. Most annoying. I know I’m not a doctor, but I was pretty sure by this point that the problem was coming from my back and neck, something the emergency room physician was unequipped to deal with.
Yvette had an emergency room run a few years ago. She had a flu that left her so dehydrate she could get herself off the floor. Josh, her husband, carried her to the car and took her there. She said they took some samples from her nose and mouth, confirmed that she had the flu, and sent her home. Knowing she was dehydrated, she asked them to rehydrate her intravenously. They said she didn’t need it.
The total bill was $1300. It only cost her $180 with insurance coverage. She said it costs $800 just to sign-in. A friend recently went to an emergency room without insurance coverage. The total bill was something on the order of $5000. There was a facility fee and a doctor’s fee. She could get them to drop the facility fee because she had never been told what the cost was when she signed in.
The thought of a trip to the emergency room didn’t thrill me. Yvette brought me warm clothes I could wear, sweatshirt and sweatpants. I also told her to get a few plastic garbage bags, so I could use them instead of the upholstery in her car if I needed to. However, I felt so lousy that the thought of riding in a car nauseous was enough for me just to stay put. If it turned out to be something serious, so be it. I had a doctor once say that nausea is the worst, worse than outright pain.
Yvette went back downstairs. I kept her posted on how I was doing. I progressed enough to complain of boredom. She recommended NPR. Yes,! My Saturday shows. I had missed two already. I asked her to bring the radio to the bedroom. I still wasn’t feeling well enough to trust myself carrying it from the kitchen to the bedroom.
At some point in the afternoon, I got a call from someone responding to my Craig’s list post about the salvageable Pergo. I told him it was still available. He said he was at Costco, five miles away, and would be there in 15 minutes. I told him it was out front under the eve of the house, and I wasn’t feeling well. He should just take it. Wonderful! Something else that doesn’t wind up in the town garbage with no place to go.
I called John Zimmerman to tell him that I nearly had to use the medical alert button today when I couldn’t read the phone screen because it was moving so much. He was the one who originally suggested I get one. I wear it at home during the day. It only works within 600 ft of the box.
I got up at one point and sat in a chair and worked on the blog. That lasted only so long. Then it was back to bed. I was still bothered by slight dizziness and slight nausea. I still wasn’t interested in eating any chocolate. That was a clear sign of trouble.
I had spoken to Jean earlier in the day. A few days ago, she told me to expect a package from her, some item she bought for me and Mike and had been planning to give us when she came out for her usual winter visit. That visit was canceled because of her health problems. She said she had been using the item in the meantime, liked it, and hoped I enjoyed it. I asked her to check the tracking number. She hung up, checked, and called back. She said I was to expect it on the 8th. She called back again around 5:30 pm my time, which is 11:30 pm her time, to check on me. Around 6 pm, I also got a call from John to check on me. Yvette has been sending me text messages all day.
I texted Yvette to ask her to walk Elsa. While I was feeling much better but not quite up to walking her out in the street. Yvette texted me that she wasn’t feeling well herself. She was battling a fever: two down, one to go.
I tried to get Elsa to go in the backyard, but no go. It had been raining; the ground was wet. I decided on Campbell’s chicken soup with rice for dinner. Then it occurred to me that I hadn’t fed Elsa. Got her dinner ready too. Then the firecrackers went off.
I rushed the two of us into the library. That’s where we had spent New Year’s Eve, the books acting as acoustical insulation.
_____-_____-____
Musings:
On the Moth Radio Hour, a woman told a story about her relationship with her father. Her parents had divorced when she was two. She saw him periodically, but it was clear from the stories she told that he was not a stable person or had a stable job. People made her think that he wasn’t an okay dad.
When she was nine, he died in a rafting accident, complicating matters even further. When she was an adult, she went to visit his grave with members of his family. She finally came to a satisfying conclusion: it didn’t matter if he was an okay dad or not; he was her dad. Her words were, “He was my dad.”
At some point in our marriage, I started saying to Mike, “Do you know the best thing about you?” He would nod, and I would say, “That you’re mine.” It had nothing to do with possession; it had to do with relationship, belonging. It wasn’t only that he was mine, but I also was his. We belonged to each other. The only other person that brings that strong a feeling out in me is my sister. Unfortunately, our relationship is not all it could be.
When Mike and I lived in Princeton, all holidays and many birthdays were celebrate in our house with ‘the usual suspects.’ It was so nice to have a set of usual suspects.
No comments:
Post a Comment