T Minus 63: Needles

I still felt horrible when I woke up. I got lots of sleep again, thanks to the Nyquil - gotta love that stuff! - but whatever evil virus I picked up still hadn't loosened its grip on me. I made tea and resigned myself to doing as little as possible today.

I texted with The Hubby and asked what he thought about seeing a doctor. He suggested that if I thought I might not feel better by the next time I was scheduled to work that I needed to get to a doctor. He and I researched a few urgent care places nearby and I promised to go to one later in the day.

The air was thick, very humid and muggy feeling. I checked the forecast and, sure enough, the forecast called for rain. Of course, the app on my phone said it was already raining in Lahaina - it wasn't. Weathermen, weather channels, weather sites, weather apps - they're all BS.

I knew I would never make it walking to the clinic. The clinic I picked, the closest to the condo, was up on the mauka side of the highway in the same shopping area as the DMV. I felt way too weak to even attempt that walk, so I pulled out the bus schedules and started studying.

I finally got dressed and headed out. I had to take one bus down to the Wharf Cinema Center and then wait a half hour for a different bus to take me up the hill. I killed the half hour by finding a store and buying a box of much-needed tissues. The second bus never leaves Lahaina, like most of the busses do, and follows a route that runs primarily through the Lahainaluna neighborhood.

My friend Jeska lives in Lahainaluna, or as she calls it, Little Manila. Hawaii has a fairly large Filipino population. I might have to find a good Filipino restaurant! I never learned Tagalog even though I had a lot of Filipino friends back in Vegas. Mmmmm, Adobo.

After a dozen stops along the way, the bus finally reached the Lahaina Gateway shopping area and I set off to find the urgent care clinic. When I walked in, I was surprised to see nobody in the waiting room. I made it through the paperwork, nurse, and doctor in about 20 minutes. After a large steroid shot in my arse - "Which cheek do you like less today?" - I headed to Walgreens with prescriptions in hand. My jokester surfer-dude doctor 10 years my junior thought my sinuses looked like they had been attacked by a carrot peeler.

After picking up a Z-pack and some vicodin-laced decongestant syrup, I hopped on the bus for the ride back to harbor town. Along the route, I saw numerous signs that reminded me tonight was the Night On The Town party. Walking home from the bus stop, away from town, while everyone else was walking towards town and the festivities left me wishing I was well enough to walk down and get dinner from the food truck. I'd just have to wait until next month.

Adding to my feelings of sadness at being sick and not being able to go do anything - even work would be better than sitting around sick - my phone had died on the bus ride home. It died in mid-conversation with The Hubby which always makes me sad. It hurts to not be able to say goodnight and sent my XOXO text. Tomorrow (today, by the time you all read this) is our 17th wedding anniversary. This is the first year we've not been together on our anniversary. I'm dismayed. I've been dismayed for over a month, ever since I realized this would be a factor of the plans we put in place to get us to Maui. Only about 2 months left!

Tomorrow, a day I'd normally work, I get to stay home. One of my coworkers needed to switch days this week, so I get one more day to try and recover from this sinus infection. I was supposed to get delivery of a new clothes dryer tomorrow but the landlord called and said it wouldn't be until Monday now - island time. I want so badly to wash these sheets. It's been 2 weeks. Gross. I can't hang-dry the sheets because there's no place to do so. Besides, if it takes over one full day for a small pair of underwear to air dry, how long is it going to take a bed sheet?

The rain finally reached Lahaina a few moments ago. I like hearing the rain hitting the leaves just outside the window.

Saturday, I work the closing shift at Ka'anapali again. Yesterday, while waiting for Devon to come in and take over my shift, I spoke with Jeska about my situation of trying to get home after work when the bus isn't running. I mentioned that I was thinking about taking a bus up on my day off and walking home to see if the path along the beach was an option. She didn't think much of that idea.

In fact, she was dead set against it. She told me the path is not lit at night and that she thought the area was pretty sketchy at night. She said Maureen was fully prepared to keep helping me get home when needed until my Jeep arrived on the island. She went on about how she and Maureen felt that I was the perfect fit for this job and how they were willing to do whatever to make it work and keep me. I complained that I didn't like feeling like a charity case. She assured me that they didn't feel that way. It still feels funny to me, though, when they won't even take gas money when I offer it.

I finished up the first season of Freaks & Geeks earlier. Tonight, I believe I am going to check out the show Weeds and see if it can hold my interest.

Aloha!