August 12th, 2020

Don't be alarmed.  This is just the aftermath of "routine bloodwork".  The sort that has to be done prior to an annual physical.  Seriously.  No biggie.

On the other hand, while I have had this exact bloodwork done countless times before in my life, this is the first time I've had it done during a pandemic. And of course, everything is different now.

And this will be the tale of two perspectives.  First the story from my point of view.

Roughly one year ago, I had my annual physical at the end of which I set up the appointment for my physical this year.  They handed me my appointment card and an order for the bloodwork to be done a week or so prior to that appointment.  I put the paperwork in my calendar on the appropriate week (as a reminder to me) and went on with my life.

When I turned  the page in my calendar from July to August, there was the paperwork doing it's job of reminding me to set up the appointment.  So I went online and went through the necessary steps and voila, appointment made. I did not have to deal with a single actual human being.  Once the appointment was made, the system automatically sent an email to my cellphone with a new doodah attached.  

The attached dooddah was a click-through that I was supposed to enact when I arrived (15 minutes early) for the labwork appointment.  Supposedly  this would alert the desk that I had in fact, arrived.  So as soon as I parked the car, I pulled out my cellphone and clicked the button.  It popped up a little window to type in my cell phone number. So that's exactly what  I did.  It then sent me a further message that I was confirmed and that I would receive a text when the lab was ready for me.  I would be allowed in, masked of course, at that time as long as I also had my lab order, (check) photo ID (check), Insurance Card (check) and credit card for any co-pay (check).  While I sat in the car, I gathered all of what they wanted.  I glanced at the time.  It was 7:38.  

About five minutes later I got a phone call (not a text) from the lab telling me that I could come in.  I walked in.  They asked for my lab order.  I handed it to them.  Then I was lead to the blood draw chair in the next room. All of the rest of the stuff I had ready for them was not requested so I stuffed it into my pocket with my phone.  The phlebotomist was pleasant but with a very soft voice and a pretty accent.  Between her mask, my mask, her soft voice and accent, I had to ask multiple times for repeats to answer her questions.  She was patient with me and didn't seem to be perturbed about it, which I appreciated.

As she was tying that oh my gawd so tight band around my arm just prior to the stick, my cell phone rang.  I glanced toward my pocket and saw that it was a call from home.  What?  Why would Tim be calling me?  He knows where I am.  Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. I will call him back afterwards.  

While I was glancing at my phone, the nice lab lady had already filled one vial and was working on the second.  Dang she's quick.    Soon she was slapping a wad of gauze on my arm and taping it in place nearly as tightly as the original  band.  Mercy!  I paused in the lobby to ask if they needed anything more from me, one hand in my pocket ready to retrieve ID, insurance card or credit card but nope, I was free to go.  Hmmmm.

As soon as I got to the car I called the house to find out why Tim called me.

Now the story from Tim's perspective:

It's fairly early in the morning and he has not even had his coffee yet when the house phone rings.  That in itself is unusual. We don't get many  calls on the house phone. But the caller ID says "LabCorp" and he knows that is where I am.  There is a moment of, at the very least, concern.  Why would they be calling?

Well, they were calling, wondering where I was, because I had an appointment at 8:00 and of course I was supposed to be there 15 minutes early and basically where the heck was I?

Now Tim is wondering where the heck I am as well.  He knows that I already left for that appointment. He also knows that, even with me driving (slow poke that I am), it's not more than a 5-7 minute drive.   If I'm not at home and I'm not at the lab, where am I?  What could possibly have happened?  Was I in an accident?  Did I finally truly lose my mind and get lost? Did I run away from home?  Was I kidnapped by aliens?

I was so sorry that he was unnecessarily worried. I am baffled as to why the lab people first of all were calling my house when I had already checked in with my cell phone as their little app requested of me.  And further, why they were using the house phone number instead of my cell phone number?  ARGH!

It's moments like this when I remember, way back in computers were a brand new idea that many folks were, frankly, very dubious about.  But we were all won over by the promise of how much easier it was going to make our lives.  Humph!

Oh and totally unrelated subject but still something I observed this morning:  I am rarely on the roads at 7:30 am but I was not at all surprised to see the volume of folks out walking their dogs or jogging at that hour.  Of course. It makes perfect sense. Even now in hothothot August, at 7:30 am it's absolutely fabulous outside So that I anticipated.  However,  I did not expect the small child driving down the street (literally the street) in her little pink battery powered pretend car with her father? grandfather? uncle?  walking behind her.  In The Freakin' Street!  Nor did I expect to see as many people as I did walking in the road when there is a perfectly good sidewalk right there parallel to the road.  Here is a tip.  The side WALK is for walking! Get the heck outta the road!

Ok I'm done now.  Hope you have a perfectly lovely day!