Day 59: Wall Street Family Practice

 

I went to my medical appointment that was for my work on my weight loss, and got some encouragement to continue.  I also got to say "Good-bye" to Roxie, who has been there since before the twins were born.  She's almost always taken my file and escorted me to my exam room, always cheerful, always helpful.  She and another team member have another clinic that they are already working at part-time, preparing for when the clinic closes due to Dr. Knapp's retirement in September. There wasn't any other doctor to step in to continue the clinic, so it will be shutting its doors.  I still have no idea where I will be going to after September.

It's sad knowing that this was my last appointment there.  I started going to Wall Street Family Practice, back before my first baby was born, and now the doctor is retiring and the clinic is closing.  The hallway walls are painted with flowers and butterflies and cheerful bugs and birds, and now that's all going to be gone.  The entry area with its second door to enter, the waiting room, the little alcove where the scale is kept and where the library used to be, the exam rooms with the wooden cabinets with white hand written sticker labels for the contents (no two exam rooms were alike), the children's waiting area, the lighting, the feel of the place, the scents will be just memories.

Afterwards, I walked to the library and got some stuff.  Getting stuff from the library when I'm melancholy or otherwise sad is like retail therapy, only I'm not spending any money until the overdue fines come up.

I drove to Miller's Landing, where I did my walk.  I didn't time it, but I'm sure that the mile and a half walk for me is at least half an hour.  Doing the walk is good medicine, but it's less exciting than a visit to the dentist, where at least there's a number of various magazines to flip through, The History Channel to watch, and a sense of accomplishment when through.

No on-line photo available of the clinic's outside or insides.  Bummer.
http://www.wallstreetfamilypractice.com/ 

Here's a Google street view:
https://goo.gl/V9nb12

Not a Day at the Deschutes County Fair

I did walk on Saturday (yesterday).  I just didn't make it a dedicated walk, as I went to the county fair and walked around.

In the exhibits buildings I noticed that 4-H knitting seems to be extinct, examined the cooking and place setting exhibits, studied the "Tom Thumb" flower arrangements (I remember my mom entering hers in the Grant Co. fair when I was a child), and saw an award given for the tallest sunflower.  There were information posters of the Super Bowl, how eggs are made in chickens, and how to identify lice eggs on feathers.  The 4-H sewing award went to the backpack, not the coat.  The decorated cakes and sets of vegetables that followed the fair theme, complete with plastic pigs and cows got the biggest ribbons of rainbow hues and brown, both with gold lettering.

I ate a corn dog while watching a silly magic show ( Vampire oranges suck the juice out of blood oranges.  Hee.).  I was tempted to have a doughnut ice cream sundae, but I passed.

I did not get my photograph taken at the Old Timey Booth, or the one with the giant arm chair, or the $5 for four pics photobooth.  I kinda regret not doing any of them, but given my current state of temporary unemployment, it was probably just as well.

I inhaled sandlewood smoke at the made-in-India out-door vendor stall, admired the colorful clothing and hats, fingered the leadlike necklaces featuring dragons and scorpions and peace symbols pendants. 

OSU's costumed mascot Benny the Beaver was greeting people outside the live stock buildings.  Inside, I studied the eyes of lambs and goats, and checked out the rabbits, where I saw the cutest little bitty bunny rabbit! that looked like it had hopped out of a Japanese anime forest. It had little black ears that were straight and pointed out, like a V, little black round nose, and little black slits of closed eyes.  The rest was a pure white ball of short rabbit fur, paws tucked under where they couldn't be seen, where they wouldn't disturb the perfect symmetry of its round body.

I liked the little nature reserve that is on the grounds.  It was nice and shady and had two ducks floating around in the small pond, and the little stream was musical.

I spotted the Balloon Lady, wearing her big hooped skirt, making her little pieces of art by the vendor building. Inside the vendor building, the Republican booth had a card-board cutout of Donald Trump, standing by itself apart from the table and the posters of the local and state office runners.  I entered the library drawing and got a free notepad and pen for stopping by its booth.  The cookware sales pitch had a nice little crowd, sitting in the folding chairs.  The Tupperware booth had the measuring cups I wanted (with the 2/3 and 3/4 cups), but didn't have prices on them. I got some $30-a-jar aloe stuff rubbed on my arm,

Didn't go on any rides; there wasn't any Ferris wheel but there was a kiddie merry-go-round that was completely empty when I first walked around it.  There was a long line of parents and toddlers waiting to get on the small horses and the one green winged dragon.  I didn't see any live camel rides, but I didn't look very hard for them either.

So I was there for a while, got my hand stamped before I left.  My car was parked at the end of the parking lot. I was careful to look at landmarks before I left, and so had no trouble returning to it.

Nice day, glad I went.  No sunburn!

Days 57, 58 and Not a Day

In April, I sought medical help for my weight, aches and pains, and got a physical.  I also returned to work as a seasonal employee for the parks district.

In my employment, I drive from place to place; wipe down doors, sinks, handrails, walls, toilets.  I restock toilet paper and toilet seat covers, refill soap dispensers.  I sweep floors, mop them, empty the mop water, rinse out the bucket.  There is a lot of lifting, bending, moving.  So I've been getting workouts.  I don't count them as exercise, even though I generally do anywhere from six to eight parks a day. I also washed my rig, carried cases of toilet paper and jugs of cleaning into the stock room and custodial closets, folded towels, carried out garbage, wiped tables. Due to my employment, I lost count of how many days I've walked, but it hasn't been that many.  I forgot details, left them in drafts instead of polishing and posting them.  I think I even forgot to record one or two walks.

Since that appointment in April, I've reduced my sugar intake.  I also got rid of 20 pounds, the ache in my right shoulder, the pain in my left foot that has plagued me for about a decade, and a benign lump--a bit larger than a walnut or a key lime--at the back of my left breast.

I'm now recovering from the breast surgery, and will be returning to work August 12, for about four hours a day for the first week, more if I feel up to it.  Since the surgery, I've walked two days.  It took me 40 minutes to walk 1.5 miles at my Miller's Landing route.  I did a walk at Farewell Bend Park on July 30, for half an hour.

During my recovery, I've slept a lot--a good thing, according to my surgeon--done housework and clearing out boxes, visited with one of my daughters for a few days, went to the Harry Potter midnight book opening at Barnes and Noble, bought some clothing at Macy's.  And I've been on the computer, where I learned a lot about writing and book publishing from an author I respect, and found this handy dandy quote:

"Your appearance is a reflection of the respect you have for yourself."    (https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-figure-out-if-someone-is-secretly-wealthy/answer/Bernie-Klinder) 

I'm missing three weeks of work--my fault for not signing up for AFLAC (missing employment insurance) when it was offered at work.  Right now I'm kicking myself for not doing it.  Of course, if I'd had the mammogram back in, say, February, I wouldn't be missing work. Silly me.  Whining about missing work when I should be shouting out my gratitude that it wasn't cancerous.  Staying inside when I should be out enjoying my summer break.

I'll count those two post-surgery walks as 57 and 58.


Lodestar by Roger Berry at Bond & Reed Market roundabout, from http://www.theoldmill.com/bend-art-studio-galleries/roundabout-art-route/