Monday, June 6, 2011

BYU Poster Child AKA My Trip to the Doctor

So even though it is summer, today's trip to the doctor had me in BYU mode so I figured I had to share.  (Plus I really miss blogging but there really isn't much to report down here.)

As some of you may or may not know, I have been pretty sick since last Thursday.  I mean throwing up, stomachache (hehehe, Everybody Loves Raymond xD) and headache (hehehe, again, same episode of Everybody Loves Raymond).  I talked to my mom this morning and she and my dad told me I had to go to the walk in clinic to figure out what was wrong with me.  Now, in all of my life, I honestly cannot remember a time that I ever went to the doctor when I was sick.  Sure I went when I hyperextended my knee and for other injuries and for yearly check-ups, shots, physicals but never for actually being sick.  So, I was shocked.  But, if either of my parents had actually been here, I think they would have played doctor and I would not have spent $75 for a 5 minute check-up to tell me things that I already knew. But let's continue with this amazing story...

I managed to drag myself out of bed and into the shower, a huge accomplishment for me (seriously.  It is.  I was reading my journal from the last semester and a half of school and it seemed like almost every entry mentioned the fact that I took a shower.  I guess I want my posterity to know that I was a concerned about my cleanliness? Or it could be that it was a goal that I had every day that I actually accomplished.  Maybe I want my posterity to see that I was good at setting and achieving goals.)  Anyways, after I hopped out of the shower I exchanged my gross, sick cut-off sweats for a pair of much nicer, clean cut off sweats.  Yes, I felt very dressed up.  I also grabbed a BYU T-shirt to put on.  Of course that wouldn't be because I need to do laundry...it was because I love my school and just have so much school spirit! Yeah, that's it.  And it was the shirt on the top of my pile. After managing to put my contacts in without poking my eye out and brushing my teeth without getting toothpaste down the front of my shirt,  it was time to tackle my hair.  It was still wet from my refreshing shower and I didn't want to take time to blow dry it.  So, up in a messy bun it went followed by being covered by a hat.  The hat I happened to grab had a giant Y on it.  Yay for school spirit! Go Cougs!  Lastly, as I grabbed my flip-flops and wallet to head out the door I went back to my room to grab my sunglasses.  Of course I couldn't find my nice, cute, pink aviators so I grabbed my other pair: a cheap, plastic pair with "Cougars" written down one side.  Ah, yes.  I was a walking advertisement for Brigham Young University.
The hat.

The shades

I am looking really unattractive right now so I had no desire to take a picture of myself wearing my BYU shirt.  Also, it would be too much effort for me to take off my shirt to take a picture of it so my face wouldn't be in it.  You'll just have to use your imagination. 


*Please note that normally, I do not wear every piece of BYU clothing I own at one time (doing that is saved for special occasions like sporting events because everyone knows that if you are all decked out in school attire, it helps your team win. It really does.  I promise). Usually I try to spread  my school spirit throughout the week*

After missing my turn a time or two, I finally ended up at the walk in clinic that was at the end of a strip mall next to a chiropractor and some sketchy pizza and chinese restaurants.

9:26 am: I check in at the front desk and am given the standard mountain of paperwork to fill out.  After 15 minutes of checking if I was allergic to this medication or that and filling out all of my phone numbers and addresses (I was quite proud of myself with that actually.  After living here for 7 weeks, I finally have my address, zip code and phone number memorized.  I felt like I should get a gold star or something.) I was told to sit and wait. I started to people watch the other patients who were sitting in the waiting room with me.  None of them seemed too contagious, but I sat in the far corner, just in case.  There were quite the group of people there.  And I was the youngest by a good 40 years.  I started to feel better about my choice of clothing because it seemed like everyone else had a "theme" when they got dressed this morning too.  There was the lady who looked like a giant easter egg with fish painted all over her; the guy who was going for the "tourist" look with shorts that were higher than the knee, a Hawaiian shirt that looks like it came out of my father's closet (my dad's love for Hawaiian shirts deserves a post of its own someday) and of course, the white tube socks with the mandals.  One lady was celebrating the 4th of July a month early in her red, white and blue attire and there was the cat lady.  She literally had hundreds of cats on her pants alone.  Then with the matching shirt? Whoah, I was surprised that there weren't a bunch of dogs around her ready to attack.  After people watching for what seemed like forever I finally got called to the doctor's office.

10:17 am: I meet with the nurse who took my vitals and asked me a bunch of questions: Do you drink alcohol? Do you smoke? Have you had any previous addictions? Well, let's see.  I'm a good little Mormon girl.  Couldn't you tell with the giant "Y"s plastered all over me today? YOU answer those questions (no I didn't actually say any of those things but I sure was thinking them). She then took me to the exam room. There I met the doctor.  I told him of my throwing up and huge headaches and stomach pains that I have been experiencing these last few days. He asked if I was pregnant or if there was any chance that I could be.  With a flat out "No" from me, I sort of saw him deflate a little bit.  I think he was sure that I just had a really bad case of morning sickness.  Again, I'm a Mormon in case you couldn't tell by my love for BYU and it's clothing.  After about 4 minutes of questioning, he told me to go back to the waiting area and he would print my prescriptions for some nausea medication and some headache pills.

10:22 am: Back to the waiting room I go where I wait another 10 minutes for my prescriptions to be printed.  By this time there was no one in the waiting area.  I still don't have any idea why it took so long, other than the fact that I think there is a law somewhere that says the time you spend waiting should be exponentially longer than the time you actually spend with the doctor.

After getting my prescriptions from Carol, we became pretty good buddies, I headed over to Target just up the street to fill my prescriptions.  As I got there, Kathryn, another friend I made today, said that it would be at least 30 minutes before I could pick up.  I said that was fine but I really shouldn't be left to wander Target unsupervised.  By the time I picked up my meds I had a cardigan that I found for $4.50 that will be PERFECT this fall at the Y as well as a pair of leather boots that were $50 that I got for $12. As I made these purchases, I couldn't help but think how excited I am to go back to school.  If not for my amazingly fun class schedule this upcoming semester and my amazing roommates I am going to have, it is definitely for the new clothes that I bought ;)
My new friends :)



As I was leaving Target I realized that my lips hurt real bad *to be read with a Napoleon Dynamite voice* so I dug around in my purse to find not only one, but TWO tubes of BYU chapstick.


I've got spirit! Yes I do! I've got spirit! How 'bout you?


So I know that this entry doesn't really sound like me.  It really has a much different tone than most of my writing.  I think it is because I have been reading this blog and her style of writing is rubbing off on me.  :)