22 in Summer 2016

It’s Friday.  What are your weekend plans?

Relax.  It’s going to be incredibly hot here this weekend, so I plan to stay inside as much as I can.  When I get hot, my vision gets even worse than it normally is, my balance goes, and I have trouble breathing.

That doesn’t explain why I fell off the bus Tuesday afternoon.  Yes, I fell off the bus.  Umm, yeah, I don’t even know.  I’d gotten off a stop early the last time I went to this barber shop, and had to walk a pretty good ways down  the street.

Going to work on the bus, I noticed there was a stop pretty much right in front of the shopping center where the barber is.  Being Norfolk, there’s not much in the way of hills, but there is one from the street to the sidewalk.  I stepped off the bus onto the grass between the curb and the sidewalk, and down I went.

(And, yes, this is part of the thinking behind yesterday’s entry on pain…)

Thankfully, I did manage to stay on the grass between the street and the sidewalk, but I came down on my left shoulder hard.

The bus driver saw me fall, and got off the bus to see if I was okay.  He, and a passenger waiting for another bus, helped me drag myself into a shady spot where I sat until I’d done enough to make sure I pretty much had full range-of-motion.

Unfortunately, my left shoulder is where I carry my work bag, and it was too sore to let me comfortably do that.  So, bag to the right shoulder, and cane to the left hand, not in use.  I staggered across the parking lot to the barber, got my hair cut, and got a ride home.

Because I got the ride home, I didn’t run a couple of the other errands I’d planned on the way.  (Yes, I was looking for liquor and beer, which you can’t buy in the same store in the Commonwealth of Virginia....my wife hooked me up on the beer, but i still need to trek to the ABC store for the other stuff.)

The ride home cost me eight bucks, but it was worth not having to stagger back to where I’d just fallen, then get on a different bus headed downtown and home.

Yesterday, I went to see my PCP(s) over at EVMS.  There was a new PA there who saw me.  I swear the guy was as increduluous as many of the young residents I’ve seen about my travails over the six years I’ve been going there for treatment.

Yes, guy, my vision really is that bad!

Yes, i’ve lost that much weight since 2009!

No, there’s nothing glass will do to help;  it’s nerve and brain damage.

He examined my shoulder, and was worried I had a break, so he wanted to do an X-ray.  The attending physician came in, talked to me for a few minutes, established that i had full range-of-motion, and told me to come back next week if it was still bothering me.

It’s not as bad as it was the morning after, but it still hurts a lot about the time when the ibuprofen is wearing off.

Most people are very one-sided when it comes to handedness;  I’ve always been a bit odd.  I find myself doing a lot more things with my left side these days.  Not that I could even hope to play baseball, but I almost feel like actually throwing with my left hand would be natural to me these days.

Yes, that’d be weird.  Not that I could ever hope to actually see well enough to hit, or stand well enough to run and field, but....

I’m rambling.  It happens.  Part of this, though, is to get me back in the writing mode.  What tomorrow?  Hmm, I guess I’ll use one of the prompts I’d taken from my old diary, and revisit it.

Back to the prompt, again. What am I going to do this weekend?  Not much.  It’s too hot to do anything, and I really wish I could have some gin and sweet vermouth delivered.  (Yes, I know those don’t go together, but i have bourbon and plenty of dry vermouth.  I am one ingredient short for both martinis and Manhattans....)

Back to tomorrow’s prompt.

For a large number of folks, the change of the millennium was their first major memory.  Where were you, and what were you doing?