On the down side, a few minutes ago I felt like I was going to
burst into tears for no good reason, while simultaneously feeling
twitchy and anxious. It took me a few seconds of sitting there to
realize the cause was simple but extreme exhaustion.
On the plus side, the reason I'm exhausted is that I made it
out to the podiatrist a ways north (still south of North Ave), and
to the pharmacy in the clinic I usually go to. So since I was able
to get out of the house and accomplish things, this is by definition
a better day than yesterday or the day before or Christmas was.
The visit to the podiatrist took awfully long because the folks
there had to untangle red tape -- after bumping questions up the
chain of expertise and back down again, and a lot of time on the
phone to other places, they told me, "we think the state will pay
for it but we're not sure, and we'll eat the cost if they don't,
so that you can be seen today." This was apparently because someone
at my regular doctor's office missed a step or filled out a form
wrong or something. (The person who handled most of the paperwork
and attempted the unscrambling thereof remarked, with a scowl, that
she really thought the state's poor-people-health-insurance ought
to cover a lot more than it does. Only very recently have they
started paying for glucometer test strips.) There was also a rather
long discussion afterward about my upcoming orthopedist appointment
at the same location, which will not be covered by the state
insurance but will be on a sliding scale -- there was a lot to
cover about how to get everything lined up ahead of time (sort
of), and how I need to get my primary doctor to write a referral
for an X-ray (otherwise all that will happen if I go in in February
without X-ray film in hand will be that the orthopedist will say,
"you need to get pictures taken, see you in March"),
and an unsuccessful attempt to figure out some vague idea of how
much my out-of-pocket expense will actually wind up being. At
least the staff there were pleasant to talk to.
(By the way, is it too early to start asking for a ride at 9:00
AM on Friday, 1 February 2008?)
The time with the doctor was actually pretty short and the
least stressful part of the day: my feet are basically fine, I
should use lotion on them, and I need to put fungicide on my
toenails, keep my blood sugar under control, and come back in a
year to (we hope) hear that my feet are still fine. And he ground
down rough spots on my heels and nails with a power tool that
tickled but was a lot faster than the foam block with abrasives
on it that I'd been using at home. The news about the state of
my feet was about what I'd expected (except for the nail fungus);
I've been paying attention to how my feet feel, and this was just
a "patients in category D get sent to the podiatrist every so
often just in case" visit. The only problems I've been having
with my feet (other than rough skin catching on the bedsheets)
have been slicing off the tip of a toe a while ago (it grew back)
and my toes feeling cold lately (which I figure is because my
house is a bit chilly -- they warm up after I get in bed).
I'd really hoped to a) pick up some groceries this evening,
and/or b) go visit my mother to make up for missing the family
Christmas gathering, but given how shaky I feel, I think I'm
pretty much done for the day. Let's see whether tomorrow is a
step backwards because of pushing too hard today, or a fresh
chance to try to tackle things I didn't get to tonight.
Anyhow, I have to agree with the pharmacist's observation
that the fact that I was well enough to get out of the house
is a big improvement over the past few days.
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