My past couple weeks...

Over two weeks ago, I got my annual flu shot on a Monday afternoon, to protect myself and Mom at the nursing home.  Have done so for years, with no issues.  By Monday night I felt funny, my arm ached and I went to bed early,  Come Tuesday I had muscle aches everywhere and a 102 degree fever.  Stayed in bed all day.  Late Tuesday night I started coughing.  And it got really bad.  With cough drops I managed to stifle the worst of it during nursing home visits, and kept up business as usual, coughing and feeling badly for the rest of the week, hoping it would improve.  

That next Saturday morning I had an appointment to fly in an old propeller-driven warplane.  I'd  been looking forward to doing this for some time, and didn't plan to miss it for any reason.  Interestingly, when we first got to the plane, the girl in charge  "miss-identified" me...probably because my first name's that of a girl nowadays, and my outfit was at best androgynous, or more appropriately, outright feminine  (dark gray stirrup pants over pantyhose, ballet flats, and a long black turtleneck tunic under a women's black knit sweater. with my mom's necklace on the outside of my tunic, plainly visible in the sweater's V-neckline) and my purse.  But a carefully-dropped "my husband" from my wife nipped that in the bud - and it was a bit of an unusual response from her.  Oh, well.  I was having so much fun that I didn't give the issue a second thought.  (Even so, I subsequently got compliments from the girl about my nails...no reaction from my wife, and she DID hear, but no comment.)  

Once the pilot and I were both strapped in and taxiing for takeoff, the pilot wanted to know what I expected from our time aloft.  I made it clear - no aerobatics.  He was fine with that.  And I wondered if I might fly it a bit, since I have an ancient pilot's license.  We flew around the Chesapeake Bay area, and he gave me the controls for a while...I got to try my hand at flying a plane with a joystick instead of a yoke.  It was fun...

Sitting under a canopy surrounds you with 360 degrees of beauty!

From a plane, you can see how flat the Delmarva is...and how much water there is, too.   The pilot had offered to let me land it, but with the crosswinds...I know my limits.    Rather than risking a crash and ending up front page news in the Washington Post, I declined...    But I had a fabulous time...my wife got some good pix from the tarmac, and so did I, from the air.  I will go again...

Eating cough drops like candy, kept my cough minimal in the air.  But my ride was over before I knew it, and unfortunately, by the time we got home, I was coughing again.  Hard.  And I noticed strange things going on inside my left eye, strange enough to alarm me.  Soon, we were off to the ER.  Where the triage nurse promptly "miss-identified" me, asking me questions from the female list (fortunately not in front of my wife.)  The notables: "When was your last period?" "Are you pregnant?"

Oops - looks like name issues again. Guess they didn't check my records from the last time I was there...  (Or maybe they did, but could the records have showed female? Perhaps...)  At least my driver's license was correct, but they didn't seem to care about that, even though I presented it at registration.  So,  I answered honestly - "Don't know" to the first and "No" to the second.  Subsequently, the doctor saw me, didn't use a gender-specific greeting, and didn't think it was a detached or torn retina, but wanted me to see an opthalmologist to confirm, on Sunday.  They made the arrangements. 

At noon Sunday, instead of enjoying the planned early Thanksgiving dinner with Mom at the nursing home, we were at the eye doctor, who opened up specially for me (and she knew me.)  My vision in that eye was getting foggy.  She also didn't think it was a torn or detached retina.  But after hearing about the cough, she sent me to a retina specialist an hour and a half away.  They opened the office for me that Sunday, didn't "miss-identify" me, and prepared to do whatever they had to.   But it turned out to be an easy task..not a torn or detached retina.  The problem was diagnosed as PVD - Posterior Vitreous Detachment, typically seen in "old folks with nearsightedness."  My situation was a bit unusual as a blood vessel tore in there, thus the "eye fog." 

I could still see fine out of one eye, and the bad one still had 20/25 vision, though cloudy.  I was able to drive us home ...and we started waiting for the doctor's prediction (50 percent clear in a week, 80 percent in a month, 90 percent in 2 months, some loss may take longer to clear - or be permanent to take effect.)   So far, results seem to be following roughly that scenario...  And I trotted off to my physician to get something for the cough.  The nurse there called my coughing and symptoms a "mild reaction to the flu shot."  If this was mild, I'd hate to see severe.  Their prescriptions seem to be working. albeit slowly.

With the specialist also chalking my eye problem up to the cough from the flu shot...hard coughing shaking the vitreous membrane loose...for me the bottom line probably will be:  that was my last flu shot.  And I don't think any doctor will argue too hard with me.  I don't need more eye problems.  Plus, I'll see the doctor more quickly for future coughs...typically I've tried to ride them out to keep from taking pills (which often have side effects on me, and I hate to participate in antibiotic over-use.) 

At the nail salon recently, where I got a pedicure, a guy (typical-looking middle age male) walked in between 2 younger gals (Wife and girlfriend?  Two girlfriends?), and the gals said loudly "we all want manicures today...even the man."  So generically, the tech told everyone to pick a color...and though I couldn't hear much due to where I was sitting, it seems he wanted "just clear."    Since his gals were getting fills, techs put his hands on to soak while they worked on them.  And by that point the guy, with his hands stuck in the soaking bowls, had the look of terror on his face, as if he was about to be devoured by a pack of hungry female wolves...

At that point, my tech had finished with me, and I was ready to go.  I walked out of the spa chair area, past the guy at a manicure table.  He didn't so much as glance at me as I approached.  I paid my bill, and said, "So long, girls!" in my still-hoarse voice (the antibiotics hadn't started their work after only a couple days.)  The guy looked around, probably expecting to see another guy in the shop.  Instead, he did a double take, first at me, then my androgynous outfit,  down to my ballet flats, and for some reason he turned more than a little red.  My tech said "Bye Miss Mandy" as I walked out.  I glanced back in and waved, but by now the guy (who had turned to gawk as I left) seemed even more confused. Was I was feminine enough that he hadn't noticed anything unusual about me when they walked in, but he was regretting that failure now?  Or was he simply embarrassed at being "caught" by another man while getting his nails done?

So, I have no clue what went on after I left...   Unanswered questions: Was I his first encounter with a transgender girl?  Did he or the gals "clock" me initially?  Didn't he realize girls can get hoarse from a cold or flu, too?  Or maybe he caught heck from his gal pals for blatantly staring at me?  (We can hope that happened!)   Perhaps I'll find out from the techs one day...

Till Next Time...

Mandy