Yesterday morning when I wrote I had anxiety and depression. That followed a happy day celebrating my birthday with a good friend and Junior’s cheesecake. I spent my birthday going to the gastroenterologist and the anxiety and depression are gone. No, the GI doc didn’t fix my psyche. Therapy did. I now look back and can’t believe at the nonsense that was bothering me. Sometimes the brain has a mind of its own. I’m wrapping my thoughts around that trying to figure out what it means if anything. I sometimes fall into recursive holes. I don’t mind that, they are better than rollercoasters.
It’s a bit of a pain getting to the doctor, two buses. I almost got into a fight on the BX12. It was standing room only. I went to my usual standing spot, the joint between the segments of the articulated bus. The guy facing me had his mask below his nose. I did what I always do, I just pointed at my mask over my nose. That’s usually enough to get the person to cover their nose. He didn’t seem to notice so I said, “Excuse me, cover your nose please.” He said, “It doesn’t make a difference.” I came back with, “If you breathe through your nose it does.” He then exploded and told me to keep my [expletive] privileged mouth shut. That was just the opening salvo of his tirade. He then insisted that I turn around and not face him. That was difficult because of the way I was holding the poll. If I turned around my elbow would have been come too close to him. He then moved inches from me and threatened violence if I didn’t. My first reaction was to extend my frill and puff up to appear larger. I said, “You’re going to him me and get arrested?” He said that everybody would be on his side. I then came to my senses and realized it was more important to avoid a fight than to deny him a victory. I looked for someplace else to stand and discovered that the woman sitting near me had gotten up. She probably didn’t want to be next to a fight. People were looking at us his tirade was loud. I sat down and ignored him. The irony of the situation was that he kept calling me privileged when he was the one acting privileged. He didn’t think the law applied to him. In NYC mask wearing is mandatory on public transit. He was exercising aggressive male privilege.
I was a little concerned with my walk from the bus to the doctor as I forgot to wear a hat. I never go out without a hat. I don’t know how that happened. My bald spot was exposed to the sun for the first time. I was afraid of getting a sunburn. I didn’t.
I love my doctor and the Montefiore health system. I had a short wait to see him. I didn’t need to fill out a COVID-19 symptoms form as I have been vaccinated and it was right there on my record. I have been having intestinal symptoms of late in ways I haven’t experienced before. It’s why I made the appointment. I’m used to Crohn’s disease, but I go to the doctor when there are changed to my condition. He was a bit concerned for the same reason I am, the order my symptoms appear reversed, and it doesn’t seem to make sense. He palpated my intestines and is sending me for an MRI. The colonoscope results looked good. The last MRI looked good, but there is some reason I’m having symptoms. My sister Sue called in the morning to wish me a happy birthday and we discussed my doctor’s appointment. I said, He probably won’t do anything but do blood tests and then we’ll talk about music. We did talk about music. I love having a relationship with my doctor that isn’t just professional. I’m also back on meds that her prescribed before last year’s MRI and stopped after it. When I woke up this morning I popped nine pills in my mouth, four for mental health, vitamin D, and allergy pill, and the three of the Crohn’s med. I take three Prozac too so it’s only five types of pills.
After the doctor I went to Stop & Shop and bought necessities and some birthday treats, mocha chip ice cream and whipped cream. I know how to self-care. As for my weight, a year of living under COVID-19 restrictions led to me losing five pounds. I’m guessing that’s largely because of my increased exercise the last few months. After I got home and put the ice cream in the freezer I went out again to collect my free drink from Starbucks. I had a Grande Java Chip Frappuccino. I take advantage of all the birthday giveaways. I still have something free coming to me from Checkers.
When I got home I forgot that there was a Mets game! It was a great game with three comebacks that saw them Mets win 15-11 in 11 innings. I was delighted to see that Michael Conforto who has been in a terrible slump broke out with two home runs. One good week has brought his wRC+ up to 108, that means 8% better than the average hitter. He leads Mets position player in Wins Above Replacement since 2017 but many fans don’t appreciate him.
I have live music planned for three days this week. Tonight, I’m seeing the Kennedys in Rye, On Thursday it’s Isle of Klezbos in the East Village, and Friday Miss Tess under the arch under the Manhattan Bridge. I’m living my life.
Wise Madness 