I'm worn out

Yesterday late morning I began the rather dull drive through lots of rain to St. Louis for a routine appointment with my rheumatologist.

The drive itself takes – each way – about ninety minutes, sometimes a bit more depending on traffic and construction. Apparently I wasn’t paying attention when I got to St. Louis and so I missed my exit (which I’d not done before). St. Louis is thankfully laid out on roughly a grid and so I easily found my way to St. Louis University Hospital from the next exit without any real difficulty, though I did find numerous one way streets one after another all going the opposite way I needed.

After checking in at the registration desk, I made my way to the waiting room of the doctor’s office and said, “Daren Zehnle, for a 2:30 appointment,” to which the secretary replied, “I have you for a 3:30 appointment.” I wasn’t happy. I must not have written the appointment in the wrong time slot in my calendar. Oops.

Now, I always bring a book with me - in this case Efraim Karsh’s Islamic Imperialism: A History - when I travel in case of times like this, but the prospect of sitting in a doctor’s waiting room for an hour didn’t please me.

I moved to the chairs, sat down, and looked around the waiting room, quite surprised to see how empty it was of people. Ordinarily, the waiting room is at least half-full, but yesterday afternoon I was the only one there; apparently a great number of people canceled their appointments on account of the rain, which I, too, thought about doing.

I opened my book and read no more than three sentences when the door to the office opened and I was called back. The nurse checked my weight and then my blood pressure, which is still higher than it should be but not as high as it was the last time she checked it.

The doctor came in momentarily and checked the movement of my joints, inquired as to any swollenness, stiffness, soreness, fevers, tiredness, etc. and gave me another medicine to take each day because of an antibody I’ve developed that causes dry eyes and mouth (this explains why I simply couldn’t tolerate contact lenses last summer). I’m now up to seven pills a day. Being all of thirty years old, it seems rather excessive but the medicines do seem to do the trick.

After not more than fifteen minutes in the doctor’s office building, I was on my way back to Effingham.

As anyone with arthritis can tell you, there’s nothing quite like spending a good amount of time in car to aggravate arthritis considerably, especially when the driving is done entirely under mist and rain.

Being quite worn out when I arrived back at the rectory I laid down for a nap, which I never do. I woke after an hour, feeling just as bad – if not worse – than before I went to bed. This is nothing new; I’ve never been able to nap, as much as I might like too.

I was a groggy zombie for the rest of the evening and when I went to bed for the night I simply couldn’t sleep because I had messed with my system. Finally around midnight I fell asleep and must have slept through my alarm this morning.

I awoke at 6:05 a.m., giving me just enough time for a quick shower before turning the lights on in the church before too many people would know I overslept. I’m afraid the sisters who come to the 6:30 a.m. Mass were unable to pray their Office in the church before Mass this morning as they normally do. Sorry, Sisters! Nonetheless, Mass started at 6:30 a.m.

After Mass I went over to the office to check my calendar and e-mail, which was a huge mistake. To get from the rectory to the church I do not have to go out of doors, but to get from the rectory or church to the office I do. Something in the air went straight to my joints and sapped what little strength I had left from yesterday.

Thankfully there isn’t much on the calendar today so I’ve cancelled everything except for a meeting tonight which I simply can’t get out of, returned to the rectory where I can stay protected from the elements and stay lying down (which is the only way on days such as this that I feel rather decent and am able to get something done; standing and sitting simply makes the arthritis worse). I don’t intend on stepping foot outside again today until I must leave for my meeting, by which time I hope the weather breaks. Don’t get old; it isn’t worth it. Fortunately, days such as this are rare.

As you might then expect today will be a day for reading and maybe even a bit of writing.