10 February, 2009

At least I wasn't stark naked!

Since this anthrax has been lingering on for so long I spent the weekend considering the merits of a blood test. I was feeling incrementally better, but figured it might not be bad to rule out anemia or something else that could possibly be dragging me down. Eventually decided against it-- the validation of hearing that, yes, I'm still sick, wouldn't be worth the exposure I'd get to 10 other sick people in the doctor's waiting room.

Monday morning came and when the kids left for school I took the dog out for a short walk. After about 250 meters my legs started feeling rubbery and my head started spinning. And I got angry! Stormed home, sent the dog into the house, hopped into the car and drove straight to the doctor's office. Checked in and went and sat in the waiting room, all the while seething with indignation and dizziness.

Let me tell you something about German doctors' waiting rooms: they're cold. They keep the windows open, probably assuming that the air circulation will help cut down on the germs pirouetting through the air. So I was sitting there for about 45 minutes with my jacket on, brooding, when suddenly I realized:

Underneath my jacket? I'm. still. wearing. my. pajamas.

!!!!

Yes, people, I actually went into town wearing baggy sweatpants, a tattered Band Aid T-shirt, and no bra. I hadn't brushed my teeth or my hair. Wasn't even sure if I'd gotten all the mascara off of my eyes the evening before-- for all I knew I was sporting the raccoon-look on top of everything else.

Welcome to my nightmare...

7 comments:

G in Berlin said...

Where is the rest of this post- what happened then?
Although, what you are describing sounds very much like my nightmare where I am in school without my pants and have forgotten my locker combination...

Anonymous said...

Perfectly understandable, and I'm sure the doctor's seen this before. What was the verdict?

Astrid said...

Oh nooo, I really hope you'll feel better soon! Blame it all on whatever it is that's not right and then after a while
(if not already) you can laugh at this incident :) Like I just did!

Goofball said...

Sweatpants and a T-shirt are very casual but are not pyama's? And no make-up and wrinkled hair only match with that. I would not have given that too much thought.

I would have closed that window though.


So did the doctor help you?

GL'sD said...

Window open in the Doctor's Office? Bad Bad wouldn't that also cause a DRAFT and wouldn't that also cause that terrible condition with German kidneys.

anno said...

Substitute a flannel shirt for the Band Aid T-shirt, and you'd have my wintertime uniform. Doesn't sound so bad to me, and I'm sure the doctor has seen worse.

But now... like G in Berlin, I feel like something is missing here: like the rest of the story! Or did the good dr. perhaps give you a potent elixir that knocked you out just at your closing ..., and guaranteed to have you feeling better by morning? I sure hope so.

Betsy said...

Hi everyone! Thanks for your kind comments!

I didn't continue on with the post because the rest of the visit (aside from my anxiety at the thought of disrobing) wasn't very eventful.

The doctor didn't even ask me to remove my jacket. He just smiled patronizingly and told me he's heard the same story over and over from many different patients. That the flu strain going around this year is particularly nasty.

It also sounded like my case might be dragging on so long because it never peaked with a high fever the way it did for S and B.

I'll get the results of the blood tests back this afternoon, but don't expect there to be any revelations in there.

Am feeling better every day, though, and expect to be back to my old self very soon...

(And yes, Astrid, I did have a laugh about this after I got back home-- it was just so absurd! :-))