Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Kathy and the no good, very bad day

I had my appointment in Fond du Lac for my annual surgeon's appointment and he isn't keen on refilling my anti-cancer drug, aromasin, as no one knows the long-term effects of it.  So he will be calling my oncologist and go with his advice.  I imagine I'll get the refill as my oncologist seems quite certain my cancer could eventually return because of the specifics of it.  Aromasin was in trial when I was in chemo so no one knows when the good effects become bad or neutral effects.

So I was a bit bummed as I walked to the parking lot only to find a flat tire.  I tried to use the flat tire in a can stuff which did nothing at all and the nearest gas station didn't have free air (known from past experience) so I decided to put the spare tire on.  Not an easy feat for a 57 year old, out of shape, lady in her brand new fairy t-shirt.  Getting the spare out of the trunk was near-Herculean as the actuator won't hold the trunk up so you have to hold it up while getting stuff out or putting stuff in.  Removing a spare tire and jack one-handed is an art-form.  But I managed it along with the instructions for removing said flat tire.  I managed to make some progress when an older gentleman insisted on helping me.  I tried to make excuses as he was doing it wrong and while he offered to call a garage for assistance, I got my phone out and pretended to call my son to pick me up.

After he was out of sight I went back to work in it and put the jack in the right place (found by touch...the car sits very low to the ground) and managed to jack it up enough to loosen the lug nuts before bringing it up off the pavement.  I had the old tire off and was jacking the car up to put the new one on, when another older gentleman (I did have one very nice looking younger guy offer to help but as I was making good progress, I didn't want to stop) walked past and helped me put the tire on.  He also tightened the lug nuts for me and I was on my merry way, hoping to find a gas station with air so I could air up the back tire and the former spare.  It was Waupan before I found a station.

So I stopped at Wendy's in Beaver Dam because by that time I was shaking pretty hard, not having had any breakfast (I'm just not an early morning eater) but not because I was hungry.  I only ate half of my sandwich but had a great conversation with the boys who work there about Harry Potter (I was reading Goblet of Fire) and Eragon.  We were just starting on Dragonriders of Pern when they got a customer and had to leave.  Pathetic that my only friends are crewmembers at a fast food restaurant.

So I managed to finish up the shopping I had to do before going home and when I reached the car in the parking lot discovered that the left brake light was on and had been the whole time I was gone.  Tapping the brakes helped but for a while I didn't have any cruise control at all.  Good thing I'm going shopping for a newer car this week.

So I'm giving up and going to bed.  Immediately.  Everyone can fend for themselves for supper.  There is enough chili left for Tom's supper and plenty of cornbread since no one else ate any.

I must say I did have a great experience last night before going to sleep (before I was woke up by Tom before he went to bed).  I finished up the last season of Doctor Who.  I had had A Good Man Goes to War on dvr since it last aired but couldn't bring myself to watch it because I knew we would find out who River Song was and I was dreading it.  I was totally blown away because I was so far off base.  I think.  At any rate, it was sheer genius and it's been the one thing keeping my spirits from ending up in the landfill.

So now I am off to make up the bed before 6 p.m. and turning the lights off and watching tv.  I might knit and I might not knit.  Depends on whether I stay awake or not.

TTFN

4 comments:

G.A. said...

Wow..what a harrowing day! We have me clutching my blue blankie and sucking my thumb.

Hope you can get a more reliable, safer car soon.

Kathy said...

I think we'll look around this weekend for a newer one. It's hard to find reliable for what we can afford though. Still, we could have done worse. The car has really made many, many trips to Zach's college and dr visits and such.

Anonymous said...

Sorry you had such a crappy day. I would have taken help from anyone because I'm lazy and all.

Kathy said...

Thanks, DM. At that stage I was just so focused on what I was doing that I would have gotten it done come hell or high water and the first guy was going to end up causing more damage than a flat tire when the car fell off the jack as he tried to loosen the lug nuts. I'm going car shopping this week and see what I can find.