Being Thankful

 A few days ago the text I picked out from the lectionary and saved for my contemplation was “In all circumstances, give thanks.”  Yesterday I had an opportunity to do so!

Monday night I started having muscle spasms in my back.  I looked it up in my 2024 weekly calendar and it was exactly the same pain in the same place as over a year ago—November 2024.  I put a message on my Penn Medicine portal asking Sylvia, the nurse practitioner that I saw then, if she could just call in a prescription for the same muscle relaxer.  I did not hear from her and the day was moving on.  I dreaded another night of pain with very little sleep. So I called our primary care—Montgomery Internal Medicine—and went through their endless phone chain twice, deciding on leaving a message for their “clinical staff.”  Someone called me back within 15 minutes and asked how far we were from their office.  Ten minutes!  They said to come right in and I was able to see Sylvia again.  And once again she was very kind and helpful.  We agreed that I didn’t need an x-ray this time.  She called in a prescription and we went to CVS to get it.  Jim was kind enough to wait the 15 minutes it took to get it filled—and we had six others to pick up between the two of us! (He was very pleased that his eye drops were not over $500 as predicted, but a more manageable $140)  Mine were mostly free—with generic and common medications.

I slept much better last night but the pain is not gone.  It took five days and five pills last time so I am trying to be optimistic about that relief.  I told the office receptionist, Stephanie (the aide) , and Sylvia how thankful I was to have a place to call when I was in pain and to have them get right back to me.  I think they said something like “That’s what we are here for.”  

This is one of the blessings of living in a place for six years.  We have people to call when there is pain or when a tooth breaks as has happened to Jim more than once.  I took my second muscle relaxer pill, deciding not to wait until bedtime.  If it makes me drowsy, I’ll take a nap!  I resisted the OxyContin left from my hip surgery which I never took but I was tempted this time. So for now it’s back to the heating pad and a quiet day at home.  We cancelled a dinner date with friends at a new for us Turkish restaurant on Nassau Street.  Jim had a Healthy Choice frozen meal and I found what I think was leftover zucchini stew in the freezer.  Easy enough and tasty enough.  And then a night of post-season baseball on TV.  No Mets and no Phillies, so I guess we are not really invested in any one team at this point.