I actually really enjoy puzzles. Crosswords, Sudoku, jigsaw, escape rooms – I like
taking small pieces of information, connecting them to other information, and
determining the outcome.
So, I had a sort of real life application of it this week,
and I’m pretty stoked. In a mildly “ewwww” kind
of way. You’ve been warned.
Last weekend, I felt sort of vague and gross and cranky and under
the weather. I knew it was partially the
junk food I had been shoveling down my throat all week. But I slept a lot and tried to recharge.
This week, I slept better at night, sort of. I started waking up at least twice a night to
pee. Which, you know – is a lot. And when twice turned into three times, I
blamed constipation, because of a vague stomachache. And then, I started wondering, well hell, do I
have diabetes? I let that sit in the
back of my mind for a while, but it didn’t make sense. I just had my biometric screening for work
and my blood sugar was fine. It has
never been elevated – a fact which I’m sure irritates my primary care physician
because it’s not ammo she can use. But I
doubted I had just suddenly become diabetic overnight.
I finally got the missing puzzle piece yesterday
afternoon.
Cloudy urine with some mild burning.
AHA!!!!! UTI (urinary
tract infection). Suddenly, everything
made sense and fell into place. The
symptoms all made sense and fit together.
The ache, the crankiness, the fatigue, the excessive peeing…
So, at that point, I was leaving work for the day, and I
wanted to get home. I didn’t want to go
to an Urgent Care center. Or my doctor’s
office – they have walk-in care from 5-8PM.
But I was whipped, and I needed to let the dog out, and I knew I had
Project Runway with my friend Rosie at 7:45.
So I decided I’d find a clinic that opened at 7AM to TCB this morning.
And that’s when I learned about something so fabulous, I’m
sharing it here.
One of our local hospitals, St. Thomas, has a Virtual Urgent Care on Demand option. Basically medical attention for minor stuff over the phone/Skype, etc. Pink eye, Rashes, Strep, Fevers…and UTIs.
Basically, you have to be a state of TN resident and willing
to pay $50. It’s not covered by
insurance. But they do a quick pre-screen – and if they determine you need to
be seen in person, you pay nothing. If
they can help you, they will. Well, that seemed completely fair to me, so I
typed in some info into their registration screen, and 13 minutes later, I got
a call from a Nurse Practitioner in Seattle.
He asked me some questions, I told him my symptoms and then he had me
tap on my kidneys and abdomen. He agreed
with my diagnosis, and called in a prescription for Macrobid (doesn’t that sound
like a massive online auction site?), recommended some AZO, warned me that the
latter would turn my pee orange, and we were on our way.
Here’s the thing. I
am a decent diagnostician. My mother is
a nurse, my father did medical support on ambulances. So, I can speak the lingo. I can also research my ailment and speak to
it effectively. The other thing is, I’m
looking for antibiotics. Pills that, by
their nature, make you feel terrible to make you feel better. So, I wasn’t drug seeking for recreation.
And here’s the thing.
If I don’t feel better, then I can go see my PCP.
But so far, I feel better.
I mean, I feel UTI better. I feel
antibiotic yucky, but that happens. Also,
that AZO, totally turns your wizz orange.
Which is freaky, but whatever –
it seems to be working. I’m just glad he told me that, or else I’d be
having a freakout at the office.
Almost exactly. |
So, I’m guessing this type of service exists in a lot of cities.
Also, if you haven't seen The Campaign - the movie quoted and shown above, you really, really need to give it a look-see. It is so funny.
ae
Comments
Probably not, but it's something to think about now that I've got Spinal Tap's "All The Way Home" stuck in my head.