February 4, 2006
Had the pleasure of aquaintainting myself with Kaiser Permanente's After Hours Care last night. No worries, friends, I am okay (we think.) A few weeks ago, during a notorious running episode, I felt as though I had pulled something around where I had surgery last September. So, I took it easy (thanks in part to the rain) for a while, but the dull achy-ness never went away. Yesterday I thought it might be a good idea to schedule an appointment to see my PCP. The nurse thought it might be a good idea to go to After Hours Care and see someone immediately. Oops.
I checked in approximately 6:15 pm. These are the events that took place between 6:15 pm and 12:30 am on February 3-4, 2006.
6:15 Stand behind the sign so that a man we shall affectionately call "Cell Phone Cedric" has his right to privacy while giving the receptionist his Kaiser card, photo ID, and flirting shamelessly with her.
6:20 Cell Phone Cedric still flirting.
6:23 Mandy gets to present Kaiser card, photo ID and pay co-pay.
6:24 Mandy completes check-in process and waits.
6:24-7:20 Waiting continues while Cell Phone Cedric procedees to pawn his wrecked car off on any and all unsuspecting "friends" whose number he had. Conversation went something like this: "I am thinking of selling my car. Hey, you give me $2,000 and I will fix it all up for you. Then, you just take over the payments, and it's all yours!" Wow, what a deal. Of course, he doesn't mention that it is piece-of-junk-scrap-metal at this point in time.
7:20 Called back for vitals to be taken. Mad that I wore heavy shoes for weigh-in. Have low-blood pressure, low pulse and slightly high temp. All signs point to normal.
7:26 Back to waiting room. What? Yes, that's correct. No open exam room yet.
8:17 Called back for real. To sit for awhile in the exam room. Guess who is in the exam room next to mine? Cell Phone Cedric. Still trying to sell that car. Shocked there are no takers.
8:39 Meet doctor. He prods. I talk. He looks sincere. He orders blood work. I freak (only on the inside. I mean, I'm a professional spy, for goodness sake.)
8:43 Go downstairs to lab. They move way too fast down here. I mean, SLOW DOWN people. Take some lessons from the upstairs folks. Gosh. The nice vampire talks to me through the whole process. She thought I had my appendix taken out in Rome, Italy. It is a much cooler story than Rome, GA, so I think I will let people think that if they want.
9:00 Survived blood work. They tell me to go back upstairs to wait for results.
9:47 They call Gary back. Thought for a brief moment maybe they meant Mary (my alias for medical appointments.) Got excited and immediately crushed when Gary stood up.
10:00 Still waiting. Last one there. Sole Survivor. Haven't been presented with a million dollars.
10:11 Called back. Found out that in addition to low blood pressure and low pulse, I have low potassium levels. Have to take more meds for that. No reason for side to hurt, though. Could just be scar tissue from laproscopy. They will let me know more tomorrow or Monday. Humph.
10:22 Doctor asks if I needed anything else. I say, "Just something to eat." I think for a brief moment he may have thought I wanted him to ask me out. Ewwww! He was old! Needless to say, I exited pretty quickly.
10:30 Left Kaiser at Cumberland heading for Rafferty's at Barrett Parkway. Kitchen closes at 11:00. Can we make it???
10:46 Rafferty's hostess desk. Ask to be seated. They agree.
11:02 Receive Fried Chicken Fingers Salad. LOVE.
11:16 Leave Rafferty's. Drive back to Rome. Listening to Black Eyed Peas Pump It the whole way (hey, gotta stay awake!)
12:30 Arrive home. With a mental note to never call the advice nurse again. (Not really)
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