I had a pap smear on October 22nd, which I refer to as a "paptastic appointment of sedative-laden doom". The first one I had was in January of 2009. I procrastinated the inevitable as long as I could muster, but the worry of not knowing what's up with my innards caught up with me and overrode the aversion. So I cracked, and decided 'fine, I'm uninsured, but I need to get my hormone levels checked and I need a pap smear. So just, go in, do it, and figure out the cost part of it later.
My hormone levels are higher than they should be, so my doctor reduced my bi-weekly dose from 0.7 mL to 0.5 mL. Then in pap-ville, my doctor slotted our appointment as her first of the day.
Learning from the last time I had this done, she injected me with a massive amount of pregnant lady sedative first thing (I scribbled the name of it down after my appointment, but have no idea where these scribbles are).
She then left the room (leaving behind a hospital gown for me to throw on) and took in another patient while I waited ... my muscles relaxing, go-pap-getter affirmations galore ... increasingly tired, bit by bit, my eyes were closing... time passed... and then, after finishing with her other patient and giving the sedative time to kick in, she returned - tools for the deed in hand. Despite being on planet sedative zot, it still wasn't happening. As I've described before, it's a phenomena very different than anything else I've experienced - akin to a panic attack.
Due to the magic of sedatives and having gone through this whole ordeal before, it was not as bad as it was the first time. I was out of it, it went quicker, and it was less painful. No walk in the park by any means, but improvement nonetheless.
My parents took me and when we left I was feeling fine enough to join them for lunch. By the time we got home a couple hours later, I stumbled a bit on the stairs, then vaguely remember giving my cat a kiss and then waking up around 9pm. I slept the entire day. Staying awake was a challenge, but I was up long enough to get some water, then went back to sleep. Slept through the night, and felt floaty all day Saturday.
A two day vacation on planet sedative zot is definitely worth it.
I'm relieved that it's done and over with and that I have 1-2 years until the next one.
In the end, when wandering in to my polling location, I didn't quite know what to expect. Would I be in their books under my old name? Would it be a big confusing ordeal and spectacle?
I brought the voter registration card I'd received in the mail with the correct info on it, my ID, and hoped it would be enough and that I could just vote, no problems.
And it actually almost happened that way! I arrived at my polling location before 5pm, so the wait was short. I was asked for my name and ID. As the volunteer sifted through her book for about a minute, she ended up not finding me. So another volunteer called the registration office which continued to result in a busy signal. Until, about 5 minutes later, she got through and then handed it to me and directed me to confirm that I'm registered, that I'm in their books, and to figure out what was what with what.
It didn't take long to get through, and the voter registration peep on the other end told me, to my relief, that I was registered AND it was under my current name and address! And also, that I should be in their books. So I handed the phone back to the volunteer, and she was directed to just write me in. She did, I signed, and then got to vote, no problem! Yay!
On a separate note, earlier today a fellow student asked me, "Are you growing your beard out or just lazy?" Woot! Which reminds me, I need to photo document. Pronto. I have about 10 more neck beard whiskers to show off!
My hormone levels are higher than they should be, so my doctor reduced my bi-weekly dose from 0.7 mL to 0.5 mL. Then in pap-ville, my doctor slotted our appointment as her first of the day.
Learning from the last time I had this done, she injected me with a massive amount of pregnant lady sedative first thing (I scribbled the name of it down after my appointment, but have no idea where these scribbles are).
She then left the room (leaving behind a hospital gown for me to throw on) and took in another patient while I waited ... my muscles relaxing, go-pap-getter affirmations galore ... increasingly tired, bit by bit, my eyes were closing... time passed... and then, after finishing with her other patient and giving the sedative time to kick in, she returned - tools for the deed in hand. Despite being on planet sedative zot, it still wasn't happening. As I've described before, it's a phenomena very different than anything else I've experienced - akin to a panic attack.
Due to the magic of sedatives and having gone through this whole ordeal before, it was not as bad as it was the first time. I was out of it, it went quicker, and it was less painful. No walk in the park by any means, but improvement nonetheless.
My parents took me and when we left I was feeling fine enough to join them for lunch. By the time we got home a couple hours later, I stumbled a bit on the stairs, then vaguely remember giving my cat a kiss and then waking up around 9pm. I slept the entire day. Staying awake was a challenge, but I was up long enough to get some water, then went back to sleep. Slept through the night, and felt floaty all day Saturday.
A two day vacation on planet sedative zot is definitely worth it.
I'm relieved that it's done and over with and that I have 1-2 years until the next one.
Voting Day
Yesterday I voted, and it was surprisingly painless given my whole name/gender/home change shindig and having to re-register. Just a week prior to elections my online registration still had me listed under my old name and address. Then, when calling in to the registration office, they had me listed under my current name, but my old address. And then, by mail, I received a voter registration card with my correct, current name and address. Huh.In the end, when wandering in to my polling location, I didn't quite know what to expect. Would I be in their books under my old name? Would it be a big confusing ordeal and spectacle?
I brought the voter registration card I'd received in the mail with the correct info on it, my ID, and hoped it would be enough and that I could just vote, no problems.
And it actually almost happened that way! I arrived at my polling location before 5pm, so the wait was short. I was asked for my name and ID. As the volunteer sifted through her book for about a minute, she ended up not finding me. So another volunteer called the registration office which continued to result in a busy signal. Until, about 5 minutes later, she got through and then handed it to me and directed me to confirm that I'm registered, that I'm in their books, and to figure out what was what with what.
It didn't take long to get through, and the voter registration peep on the other end told me, to my relief, that I was registered AND it was under my current name and address! And also, that I should be in their books. So I handed the phone back to the volunteer, and she was directed to just write me in. She did, I signed, and then got to vote, no problem! Yay!
On a separate note, earlier today a fellow student asked me, "Are you growing your beard out or just lazy?" Woot! Which reminds me, I need to photo document. Pronto. I have about 10 more neck beard whiskers to show off!
oh my goodness! voting nightmares! a similar thing happened to me too, but luckily far enough in advance that i got everything taken care of well before the election (i.e a month). but still. there was a period of time, actually, that i was registered in my current county, the county i grew up in, and as an overseas voter... needless to say, i felt that was a bit redundant. it took the fricken' voting office(s) about a year or so to realize that i haven't lived overseas for over a year! but, i voted, which is the important thing.
ReplyDeleteglad your voting experience went well....and that you feel paps are important enough for you to go through the ordeal....take it from me, paps can be a life saver.
ReplyDeleteAsh: That's pretty ridiculous that they didn't realize you were an overseas voter. But yes, despite the hurdles, what matters in the end ='s being able to vote!
ReplyDeleteJude: I know! I'm being good and doing it, despite the strong.strong.strong aversion. Thank you for your eluded-to cautionary tale. ;]
ReplyDelete