Midweek Meltdown

I'm not a hearty Minnesotan by any stretch of the imagination. There are days I question why I live here. I know there are many reasons, I just can't remember them right now because my brain is in the deep freeze along with the rest of this state.

One of the reasons I do live here is because we do have excellent physicians and medical care, and frankly I need it. I was a very healthy kid, but as an adult I've been falling apart a little at a time. Which, I suppose, is better than all at once.

This morning I had an appointment with my physiatrist (different than psychiatrist, look it up if you don't know) because I've been having searing hot, poker pain on the right side of my face, jaw, and temple that is not a migraine (but I get those as well) and is not related to a sinus infection. And when I say pain, I mean the type of pain that brings tears to your eyes and ibuprofen can't touch. Now granted, the pain isn't that intense everyday, but it certainly brings life to a grinding halt. I do tend to wait until things reach that critical level before seeking medical attention.

Well, the appointment was at 8:30 and the office is 8.6 miles away from my house. I've been there before for help in dealing with the two ruptured discs in my neck; a nice cervical epidural works most of the time. But I digress. It generally takes no longer than 15 minutes to get there. But today, I left the house 35 minutes before the appointment (you never know with winter weather). Unfortunately, Mother Nature had conspired against me and it took an hour and twenty minutes to get there (yes, that's 1 hour and 20 minutes), making me 40 minutes late, at which point they no longer had time to see me.

I understand, I really do, but when you're in pain, the drive is a bitch, you're stressed about work in general, and you're going to be charged $50.00 because you didn't call 24 hours in advance to say you weren't going to be able to make it because the roads were beyond bad and people were spinning out and crashing, not being able to be seen might just cause a meltdown…

I politely rescheduled and walked out of the office (seething) debating whether to drive the remaining 50 miles to work or drive the 8.6 miles back home. I figured either option was a lose-lose situation (based on weather and traffic). The only bright spot is that my role in the company is very mobile and I can work from anywhere with an internet connection. I chose to drive the 8.6 miles home and not the 50 miles to the plant, but before I did that I left a voicemail for my boss explaining the situation.

Now I don't recall exactly what I said as I explained the situation to him, but he called me back laughing about the voicemail. When I said, "well, I don't remember exactly what I said, I was having a meltdown". He responded by saying…"that's how you have a meltdown? That's funny. I'll have to play it back for you sometime, it's really funny".

On a positive note, it was a productive day. I do tend to get more done at home than at the office (no interruptions), and I was warm.

Here's hoping tomorrow's drive is better…although I am not going to hold my breath.