(no subject)

Today was one of those days... It started out nicely, as I'd gone two whole days with eight(ish) hours of sleep and woke up refreshed each morning. These instances are rare and I really enjoy those days. Bossman left the car at home so I had wheels for the day (I could take his truck any other time but I hate driving that behemoth. Except to and from camping trips when it is worth its weight in gold) so I did chores after breakfast and left the house after the three-hour window of time called "the lunch hour" so I could hit up the base pharmacy for my prescriptions and then run all sorts of errands, as the mood should strike.

Well. About that. There was a line waiting to enter the pharmacy. That was new. I spent 20 minutes in that line and then got in, did the computer check-in thingy which generates an assigned letter category & waiting number on a slip of paper. It is all sorted out; "E" patients are folks who are picking up new prescriptions, which is a two-step time wasting process, "C" people are there to get called-in renewals (those get taken care of very quickly), and "D" folks are active-duty personnel who have their own category for head of the line privileges. Ther are a couple other categories but those are rare. For this visit, I was an "E" patient. I had waited in the "E" line last week to drop off a paper copy of a new prescription and was told that it would be ready in three working days (that is normal), so returned today to get it and to "activate" a second script. That one had been sent electronically to the pharmacy but like all new ones would not be filled until I personally showed up and requested activation for it. And then I'd have to wait three business days before I could go back to get it*. Yes, this is a stupid system. So windows 1-3 are the first stop for any "E" person once their ticket number is called for the first time. There our ID is checked again, our ticket number confirmed, our age double-checked, and the prescription is confirmed to exist in the pharmacy's system and has been approved by the military medical insurance. When all of that is done, we go back into the waiting area before we can be called to one of the windows 5-7. (#4 is only for "D" paper holders). So my afternoon was:
Drive to the base and show my military ID card to the guard at the gate. Stick it in my shirt pocket because why bother putting it back in my wallet?
Wait 20 minutes for a parking space to clear.
Don a mask, grab my folding stool from the back of the car, and get in the outside line headed by a guard.
Show my ID and confirm that I have not travelled out of area or had/been exposed to any Covid risks.
Enter the pharmacy and stand in line to use the check-in computer.
Use the computer to scan my ID and sort my customer category, get the dreaded "E" slip, and find a place to set up my folding stool since all chairs were full.
Wait 58 minutes before being called to window #2. Go through all the confirmation steps and get sent back to the waiting area. (I've used my ID four times by now.)
Inside the building there is a jammer for phone signals but free (and intermittent) internet. There are just too many people using it.
I wished I had brought my book. Solitaire games on my phone were getting boring.
One hour and five minutes later my number was called for the second time.
Walked to window #5, showed my ID, confirmed my name and birthdate, got told that while my toothpaste prescription was in the computer, the actual tubes could not be found, and there was a problem with the second prescription as it was for "lotion" rather than "cream", which they should have caught at window #2, and as the lotion was not in the military system the clinic would have to send a new script. But hey! The clerk actually said she'd call the clinic and explain it to them and get a replacement prescription sent in. I got the impression that I was going to get the second prescription that day - weird but fabulous! So I waited at that window.
20 minutes later I walked out with both prescriptions after showing my slip of paper and ID card again and signing two signature pads.
Total time: 183 minutes.

Yes, three hours for a package of cream and some souped-up toothpaste. The process is the same for any medication. The good part is that there are no costs to me as a dependent of a retired military service person (that was in our military contracts back in the days when my spouse and I were active-duty.) No co-pay for prescriptions is a fabulous benefit when one is getting old and body parts don't work as well as they once did. But geez, did it blow my day. By the time I'd fought my way through the traffic to get off base (afternoon rush hour) and put gas in the car it was already time for an early dinner. Or in my case, for a late lunch. Which I bought via a drive through and brought home. Fish and chips for the win.

My husband worked a long day today and we got home at the same time, both of us frustrated with rude people we'd encountered in person or on the road. I think folks in the area went a little crazy because the weather was so very mild (65 degrees f) and sunny - everyone was out, it seemed, and yet in a self-focused bubble so just were not aware of who, or what, was near them. or in front of them. Or beside them. Or taking up the space they decided they needed to be in... I eschewed any further errands and came home to cower in safe solitude.

*And even more fun, the military pharmacy system only allows for 90 days' worth of any prescription, many of which will be dispensed in 30-day amounts, so you must call and activate a refill every month separately for each prescription. Every three months, your physician will have to send in a prescription for the same medications, which will then be "new", and you will have to do the E-category activate/wait three days/pick up thing all over again. The two months when we are "C" patients are golden. We're usually in and out in 15 minutes.

So how was your day?

(no subject)

After writing my complaining post (see somewhere below in your newsfeed) and reading all the posts I'd missed, I realised that I hadn't written about how much I am loving this Dexcom 6 glucometer that I now use. There is a little monitor/transmitter which sits inside a sticky pad somewhere on one's body and transmits a person's glucose level to a phone or separate handheld monitor every three minutes. They can't get more than about 20 feet away from each other without the hand-held one going bat-shit crazy, but this is still a cool system.

Anyway.

I was here at my desk, sort of half-craving a taste of Aplets and Cotlets which I can occasionally indulge in, when I checked my monitor. Nope. Blood sugar is too high. And the craving subsided. I love this. I get instant reads on how the levels are doing and never have to go find the test kit. Oh man, and in the middle of my sleep cycle, if I wake up sweaty and shaky and confused, instead of struggling out of bed to careen my way into the kitchen where the finger-prick test kit is located (which energy outlay can dangerously drain one's glucose if it is already low), now I just press a button on the hand-held monitor and I know right then if I need to eat some sort of sugary thing*. It is so convenient. And acts as a secondary conscience, too, keeping me from indulging most of the time. Not all of the time yet, but I've only been using it for a little over one month. And I have to say that there is something satisfying about using the longer readout graph function to see how the levels fluctuate over the course of (up to) a day. I have no idea if it is significant, but I'll be letting my Endocrinologist know that I've learned that I digest food very, very slowly thanks to that graphing. It might make a difference in how I am supposed to pace out my food intake each day.

I did the "you're old now" thing and took myself to a dermatologist for a checkup. No suspicious moles or freckles but there is a rough patch of skin at the point of one elbow and it turned out that it is psoriasis, so now I have steroid cream to use on it as well as an appointment with an arthritis clinic. I suppose I should have thought of that anyway - it runs in the spindle side of my family and as a crafter it is something that will impact my retirement activities. Since the appointment I've discovered a bump on the joint of my little finger on the right hand. I'd never noticed it before. I guess arthritis just sneaks up on one. It will be interesting to see how much I have of it, and especially interesting to learn if there is anything I can do about it. It's not something I've thought about until now.

My SCA Kingdom hosted a weekend of classes (University of Atlantia) last weekend. I spent seven hours in Zoom meetings on Saturday and only one on Sunday since an instructor bailed on the second Sunday class. (I hope they are okay.) Most of the day was focused on medieval Mongolian life - clothing, history, personae, and cuisine. I have a list of book titles to consider purchasing. Normally I would say "check out from the library, probably via ILL" but now that my spouse is concentrating on SCA archery, he is more interested in "going Mongol" and he can't read books at the speed I do until he retires from work. I'm the research-y member of the family so to purchase or not is mostly my decision. It is really nice to see his interest in the SCA's activities growing again. He was pretty lost when he had to give up all forms of fighting, and he's burnt out in the service field, so this new enthusiasm heartens me.

*"Sugary thing" has evolved from a snack box of raisins (absorbed too slow) to a commercially produced glucose gel (one of the nastiest things I have put in my mouth in decades) to... Smarties. Yes, those hard little sugar wafers/tablets/candies which used to show up so often in my trick or treat bag. Folks on he diabetic support group say that they are just as good as glucose tablets for instant sugar delivery and taste better than any glucose tablet around. And they are hella cheaper than commercial glucose tablets. Unlike raisins, they don't go stale in a drawer in a nightstand, either.