Once again, for the third time in two weeks, we await a major Nor’easter here in New England. This one’s name is Skylar, and it promises to dump at least 8 more inches on Central Massachusetts today, more on Boston. In the meantime, at least half of the 16-plus inches we got last Wednesday has melted. And by the weekend, it’s supposed to hit the 50s, thank goodness!
In preparation, I ran around for a couple of hours on Monday to complete errands before the storm. And did a lot of waiting. First, I had to wait a half hour to see my ENT, a follow-up visit after he had removed my ear tubes last month, post HBO therapy, to be sure everything had healed. Indeed, my eardrums are back to normal, which he confirmed in a five minute check-up. We commiserated about the approaching weather (his home had just regained power from the last storm) and I went on my way.
Next stop was Home Depot for a quick errand. I had to wander around to find someone who could direct me to the right aisle, but at least I had picked the proper section of the superstore and was able to get out of there in about 15 minutes.
Then I headed to the bank to make a deposit. Plenty of cars in the parking lot and another wait in line, as everyone else seemed to be on a mission ahead of bad weather. (Yes, I’m one of those people who do not trust taking a picture of my check on my smartphone and sending it electronically to the bank—not interested in expanding my digital footprint in that way.) The teller and I wished each other a safe day on Tuesday.
On to CVS to pick up some prescriptions. The clerk had trouble finding the second order, finally located it, then noted that our insurance hadn’t covered it. This required some follow-up (we’ve had a recent change in our insurance) and everything was straightened out, after more waiting. And waiting for the updated receipt to be checked into their system. All of this took about a half hour.
Finally, my last stop: blood work at the clinic near our home. I have to have a liver function test done monthly for one of my medications. I’ve been on this drug for many years and never (thank goodness) had a negative test. It seems like a huge waste of time and money. Even my rheumatologist thinks it’s ridiculous. But it’s required. Fortunately, I got right in. The phlebotomist wondered aloud if they would have to come in during the storm. “You’d be amazed how upset people get if their doctor’s appointment is cancelled,” she said, “even if it’s not safe to drive.”
Over the course of my two hours of running around, the sky changed from blue with bright sunshine amidst puffy white clouds to silvery gray. You can feel it in the air that snow is coming. Mother Nature has a way of forcing us to hurry up in order to slow down. Just enough time to take care of my to-dos before Skylar’s arrival. Then I’ll hunker down and simply watch the flakes fall.
Evelyn Herwitz blogs weekly about living fully with chronic disease, the inside of baseballs, turtles and frogs, J.S. Bach, the meaning of life and whatever else she happens to be thinking about at livingwithscleroderma.com.
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