What the ...?

One word to sum up my life lately: BUSY. Work has been insanely busy, with getting all my books and paperwork in order for an audit and corporate tax filing and also taking on HR duties to hire more employees since our company suddenly got slammed with business. Yesterday I had a doctor’s appointment right in the middle of my work day (more about that later), and last night we attended small group.

So while the Northeast is buried under a pile of snow, we’re having a heat wave here in Central Florida. Whatever little bit of “winter” we had has disappeared. It’s been in the 80s for the past couple of days and muggy. Ick. We succumbed last night to turning on the air in the house and felt much better.

Yesterday was the first time since we moved that I’ve needed to see a doctor, besides my Ob/Gyn. For the past two weeks, I’ve been having symptoms that made me suspect I have another UTI (urinary tract infection). I’ve had them on and off for the past ten years, with varying degrees of severity. Anyway, my appointment was at 12pm with Dr. Grover. If you’re imagining a lovable fuzzy, blue muppet think again. It was a small petite, youngish looking Indian woman who made me wait half an hour to see her. Gripe: why do doctors always make you wait forever and waste your time??

Okay, so she finally comes into the examination room and I explain my symptoms to her. Upon hearing that I have tenderness and pressure in my back, she asks if my job involves sitting at a computer for most of the day. I said yes. She does a half-hearted examination of my back, asking me where I feel the pain. Then she orders a urinalysis and a pregnancy test. The results come back: negative on the pregnancy, positive on the UTI. I have to say, I was slightly disappointed that the pregnancy test was negative. But it’s not like we were trying or anything, and I really didn’t think it would be positive considering I started my period on the 15th.

So, I am prescribed some antibiotics and medication for the back pain. Huh? The antibiotics I get, but any back pain I’ve ever experienced has always coincided with a UTI. The pressure I feel there comes from my kidneys, I was told the first time I was diagnosed with this wonderful infection. I give my paperwork to the receptionist who schedules me for a follow-up appointment in two weeks and for lab work. They want to draw my blood and check my cholesterol, which seems a little excessive but whatever. It means taking more time off from work, which I’m not crazy about and I know my boss won’t be thrilled either. I feel like they just cranked me through their patient factory. Once again, I’m underwhelmed by the medical profession.

I went straight from the doctor’s office to Walmart to have my prescriptions filled and indulged in a McDonald’s value meal at the food court while I waited. I finally made it back to work around 2:30. The silver lining to all of this is that at my appointment I discovered I am at my ideal weight. Yay! So that was awesome. And my prescriptions only cost me a whopping $4, thanks to our insurance.

Things at church are still… Frustrating. Discouraging. Unsettling. I feel like we’re on a sinking ship. Morale amongst staff is at an all-time low and the interim pastor just doesn’t seem to grasp the enormity of the problems that have surfaced in recent months. We’re not really sure what he’s doing. He’s just sort of there. Gregg said that while staff is running around all over campus, feeling overwhelmed, he’s walking the halls shaking people’s hands like a politician. He actually told Gregg that email has destroyed society’s communication because nobody writes letters anymore. Um yeah, that’s a great boost for the tech ministry.

We’re both so disappointed with the session’s choice to appoint him as interim pastor. There are some real deep-seated issues going on here that are much bigger than just the whole youth pastor firing drama. And they’re not going to be fixed with a band-aid.