Why Are You Wearing That...?

 It's been another week of doctor stuff. I had to visit my Primary, get lab work done, go to my last (for now) PT session and have a long talk with the therapist about how to maintain in the interim before rescheduling that consultation with a shoulder surgeon. Later this week I was in the hospital for an endoscopy to try to answer questions about the why behind some of the side effects I'm having. It was scheduled the same day/time as the surgery consult, so that got cancelled and will be redone. If I can't even get my fall flu and (newest) covid shots right now, no way I'm getting surgery.

I woke up from that endoscopy procedure with a very runny, sneezy nose. It continued, and still does. I went to a pharmacy next day to check out what kind of cold medications OTC will be OK with my diagnosis. The obvious answer was expected, though I had to be sure I wasn't overlooking anything: avoid any having NSAIDS on the ingredients list. He didn't bat an eyelash at my conjecture that the NSAIDS were the primary culprit for my pancreatitis. I expect he's heard that before. (The doctors all concentrate on my alcohol use. Have they never met a teetotaler before?)

Just in case, I wore one of my old covid masks into the pharmacy. One doesn't get a cold from a medical procedure, especially not as quickly as waking up out of a lovely "nap" from propofol, otherwise known as "milk of amnesia". Exposure was likely two to three days earlier, meaning it was at my primary doc's office. PT operates off the same lobby. I hadn't been anywhere else in the time frame. I haven't even been working.

From there I drove to our community mailroom, parking outside the door, saving myself a longer walk from the house. I popped the mask back on that I'd removed while driving. We're all seniors here and who knows what other issues my neighbors might have? As I left my car, one woman exited the mailroom with a piece of mail, and her tiny dog on a leash.

"Why are you wearing that mask?" I was startled, not just at the question I've never heard from anyone  before, but from detecting a bit of hostility in her tone. I first assumed she was one of those die-hard MAGA folks who are suspicious of all kinds of common sense, medically based practices that came out of the pandemic. I chose not to get into that with her. Too little energy.

I figured she likely couldn't catch the hint of a smile on my face as I chose my answer. It didn't deter me.

"I picked up something. I didn't want to share it. I'm selfish."

She aimed a quick up/down look at me, then said, "Good. You keep that mask on!" It came as an order.

I didn't crowd her as she strode past and down the street. I had been thinking about a quick offer of a petting to her dog as we met in passing, but decided to leave her dog unfriended. I'll probably not recognize her next time we meet, but I'll likely know the dog... and remember. There was no "How are you doing?" No "Are you OK?" No "I hope you get better soon."

Meanwhile the fastest moving thing in the house these last days has been my nose. I refer to myself as Drippy, Runny, and Sneezy, three of the Seven Dwarfs. I don't have the energy to add Sleepy and Dopey in there, even as they occur to me now. The tissues are running low, but we have a huge pack of rolls of those paper towels that tear at the half size and soak up a whole lot. I can even set one aside while I fill the next and go back later to find the first usable again.

Meanwhile about two weeks wait for results on the biopsies they took.