The day began with an omen and just got worse from there. I got up, went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth at the sink, looked down to see a new freckle on my thigh. Wait, it's... black! Peered at it and then scratched it with my fingernail. It didn't come off immediately but I did get it and dropped it on the white counter. Just a tiny black spot… I had to get my reading glasses and a magnifying glass to determine that it was in fact a tick… Yup, a live deer tick. And it had been feeding.
No panic, everyone knows that one doxycycline dose will take care of it. Except that this was Saturday, all doctors offices are closed. I got connected to the after hours nurse who seemed unable to find the doctor on call, and she herself wasn't authorized to write prescriptions. She did insist that I seek a prophylactic prescription within 24 hours. OK, but where? No one's available! An Urgent Care clinic, said she. Where will I find one? No idea, she's in Houston or Toledo or Kansas City, not local.
So I use my Google fingers and guess what? There are about 9 in my general area, all but one closed for the weekend. The open one, a 45 minute drive away, has a wait time of an hour and a half. Well no wonder, if everything else in a 100-mile radius is closed!
It was then that I decided to contact my doctor. You should know that I have the world's best doctor and I made him promise never to leave the state of Maine until after I'm dead. I texted him with a summary of the problem; within a few minutes he replied that he would make that call for me, just needed my pharmacy and birth date. Told me to stand by because they are sometimes hard to reach on weekends. About a half hour later he texted back that the deed was done. I never had to leave my chair!
About an hour later I got a text from the pharmacy that my prescription was ready. By now it was already about 1:30 so I hopped in the car only to find that the pharmacy was closed. WHAT? But you just texted me! No no, the pharmacist is on lunch break, come back at 2. So I stepped over to the Chinese restaurant, ordered the $5 lunch, boxed up half to take home, came back and picked up my Doxy. $2.18 to save my life!
And that was most of my day... gone.
I hope your Saturday was not something to write about... except in a nice way!