A post in which it is a great day

I was excited about today, but I woke up feeling like shit.  That crap is back down in my lungs again.  I was coughing and it hurt to cough.  I decided not to wait for Monday.  I had shit to do, and no time to spend another weekend on the sofa.  I called the doctor's office, and asked them to call me something in.  This turned into an odyssey. 

The doctor's office called back, but they didn't want to just call something in.  They wanted me to go to the after-hours office for a chest x-ray.  $$Chu-ching$$.  But since the doc wanted to do that last time, I figured I would go on in.  They wouldn't call me anything in without another exam.  They gave me the website for this office, and I was on my own. 

Using my trusty GPS, I went to the address of the office.  It was a construction area.  It wasn't that I was at the wrong building - there were no buildings.  I called the office, and they told me to go back to the main road.  I did.  Still no buildings.  A big sign telling me that there would be buildings in the future.  But no buildings.  Plus I was out of gas, hadn't eaten anything, and my blood sugar was dropping.  I stopped and filled up, asking the guy at the station if he knew where this office was.  No dice.  Apparently the place was only visible to unicorns or something.

After another call to the office, they finally got me there.  I told the story, and they went for the doc.  A chest x-ray was dutifully performed and found to be clear.  The doctor seemed to think that everyone was over-reacting, and called in another antibiotic.  Sigh.  No telling what this little fandango is going to cost me.

I went to Publix to get the script filled because Eve told me they did free antibiotics there.  Although the pharmacist told me this one wasn't on the free list, it rang up as free, so she gave it to me.  Sweet.  The only downside was that I had to wait in line almost as long as at CVS.  There were a lot of people waiting to get scripts filled, and of course several of them had problems involving calls to the insurance company, etc etc.  Of course there was only one pharmacist on duty.  Eventually though, I emerged triumphant.

I went home, took the new pills, and had a lie down.  When I woke up I was feeling somewhat better, which was good.  Tonight was an important night. 

I had set up tonight as the night that I would burn the chemo shirts.  RBL had agreed to a temporary respite from the ongoing hootenanny that is their lives to spend a little time with just me to do this.  We went to Sonny's Real Pit Bar-b-q for supper, and I indulged in a celebratory plate of chicken wings.  That's how I celebrated when I got out of treatment, and it may become a tradition.  They were delicious.  We all enjoyed supper, and then headed back to the house.

Marshall and John were coming for the weekend, but John was off doing a tattoo (long story).  Marshall knows all about rituals and rites though, so he was actually the perfect person to be there for this.   After some initial problems getting the wood to start (it had been raining all day and everything was damp), I said a few words and burnt the shirts.  It felt good, and I felt empowered. 

But I didn't last long.  I am still sick (again).  I went home to turn in.  It had been a good day, and I was glad I felt well enough to do something that had been important to me, but it was time to rest.