Waiting Room Blues

I got my allergy shots today. Its a thing. I started doing them many years ago after having multiple years when the allergies turned into a sinus infection that turned into bronchitis. Have they helped? On the whole, I’d have to say yes. Doesn’t eliminate the issue but generally makes it manageable and has reduced the occurrence of upper respiratory infections and things.

This year must be super pollen or something because the symptoms have been even worse. I had been trying to stretch the shots to every three weeks – the goal is to get to once a month – but my body had other plans so, after this week, I’m going be to every two weeks. Maybe the pollen will lose its potency and I can try stretching them out again.

After you get the shot, there is the mandatory 15 minute wait just in case your immune system goes into overdrive and it lead to bad things. As I was pulling into the office, I realize I had left my phone at home. This sucks because I’ve got some games that are a perfect time waster and it makes the wait time go by quickly.

And they’ve taken all the magazines out of the waiting room. Figure this is a result of COVID. I mean you can’t very well sanitize a magazine after someone has read it. I mean you could but moisture and paper don’t mix and it would end up a big mess. There was a kiddy book on the kid’s plastic table but I thought it would look odd to walk over and start reading that.

I got to read all the helpful signs that were posted everywhere. I can now tell you that 28% of people wash their hands after handling money. I was even watching my heart rate on the Fitbit just for fun. Mostly it was sitting in silence and waiting for the timer to go off freeing me to go about my day.

But there was good that came of it. Because of the possibility of a severe allergic reaction, we have to bring in children’s Benadryl and our epi-pens to each visit. The benadryl is the first line of defense and I discovered mine was only good through the end of June. So I made a quick trip to the pharmacy after I was released and now I don’t have to worry about that until early in 2024.

Maybe there was a reason I forgot my phone.