ER in the ER and Sucky Customer Service

It's certainly been an...interesting weekend here. Lump #2 was painful enough that I couldn't even wear sneakers comfortably, so I called the doctor. Unfortunately neither she nor the same-day clinic had any openings, so you know what that means. Yes, I went to the ER for the first time.

I have to admit I talked to some pretty cool people during my three hour wait - AnkleExpress, who ended up having sprained and possibly fractured her ankle in a spill down the stairs and was waiting in a wheelchair, CrazyGrandma, who had bandages from her feet to above the knees and despite being the most injured waited the longest, and NoPants, a nice-but-not-the-brightest-crayon-in-the-box type whose girlfriend had come in with a siezure.

I was finally called in and explained the whole story to the PA, who like the three doctors before her was baffled. She ended up writing a prescription for a different, broader spectrum antibiotic and instructed me to come back on Sunday to have it rechecked.

I pretty much took it easy the rest of the weekend, soaking my feet and watching television. My hair was driving me insane on Saturday, so I called a random salon on Newbury ST and begged for an appointment that day. I managed to get one with Giovanni, who did right by my hair. After the slaughter seven months ago I was very afraid but he did a great job.

Saturday night my personal laptop refused to boot up in anything but Safe Mode after a reboot for a Norton update. I decided to rectify this problem by finally making the switch to Mac. (My laptop is over five years old anyway.)

I went to the Apple store today and loitered around the laptops and desktops for HALF AN HOUR with no one saying as much as "I'll be with you in a minute." Now, I understand that it's Sunday and you're all busy, but I watched as people looking at $15 accessories were helped when I was looking to put down FIFTEEN Gs on a NEW COMPUTER. I finally left in disgust.

I then went back to the ER since I was already halfway there. It was really bizarre because the television in the waiting room was set to NBC, which played two back to back episodes of "ER." I only waited about 90 minutes this time and was taken back. I was put in the "splint room" for some reason. It was a two-bed room, with a car-accident victim in the other bed.

The PA reviewed my file and I explained that the antibiotics weren't helping. He took an x-ray and said there wasn't any infection in the joints, which is good. Unfortunately this means Doc #5 struck out too. He told me to finish the antibiotics, start using Lamisil in case it's fungal, and make an appointment with Podiatry because "They look at this kind of stuff all day." He told me to make sure to mention I was in the ER twice with this so that they would try to get me in sooner. Unfortunately he couldn't give me an ETA of their wait for appointments.

As I was getting my stuff together, I heard the Doctor Lecture going on behind the curtain. Seems that this kid (More ink than brains) was not wearing his seatbelt, but somehow miraculously had no more than some bumps, bruises, and strained muscles. The doctor likened the impact to falling from a four-storey building. Is it wrong that I think it would have been good if he had, maybe not nasty internal injuries, but some nice orthopedic injury to make him learn a lesson - say, a broken tib/fib or fractured ankle? I only say this because the kid was totally, "Uh...whatever, man" during the lecture. I really have a hard time believing that he's gonna start wearing a seatbelt.

So, yeah. Do I know how to party it up on the weekend or what?