Time wasted and irritation

I don’t like going to the doctor, but who does. When I go, I have to psych myself up and feel like there is a real reason to do so. After all the bee and hornet stings, I was concerned that though my reaction to date has only been a headache, swelling, and subsequent itching, that a worse reaction could occur as allergies sometimes develop later in life. I have always reacted to insect bites and stings more than hubby. And I realized I was out of date of a routine screening that required his signature for scheduling and have recently developed a discomfort in one of my hips, so I scheduled an appointment.

Upon arriving, I was given a packet of 15 pages to fill out asking a medical history that they already had, with absolutely no questions regarding whether I smoked, drank alcohol, used drugs, or regularly exercised. Most of that packet I was told to hand to the doctor which I did. He had not read any of the nurses notes where I explained that I had not scheduled for a Medicare Wellness check, but to address my concerns. He did not even glance at the packet I had been asked to fill out. When I raised my concerns, he basically dismissed them telling me that if I have a reaction to stings to call 911. It is a volunteer organization and would not arrive fast enough if I had a bad reaction, and we live 20-25 minutes at least from either of the local hospitals. I asked about taking liquid Benedryl and what dose, which he did answer. The hip discomfort was dismissed as probably arthritis. The routine screening, I had managed to schedule on my own for them to send him the form to sign. Basically, the visit was a waste of my time, an unnecessary cost to Medicare and my supplemental insurance, and I really have no answers.

I am fortunate to have Medicare and a supplemental insurance, but it is no good if you don’t get answers. Perhaps it is time to look elsewhere.

On our walk today, I spotted this fungi covered log beside the trail. It fascinated the old Biology teacher in me and so I returned after the walk with my spindle to take a photo of it for the monthy challenge. The white patches are dappled sunlight that look like patches of snow on this 90 degree day.

Rural living

Our farm of about 30 acres sits in a hollow (holler up here) on the side of a 4000+ foot mountain. There is a large holding running cattle to the west, open hay and corn fields to the east with a home in a wooded lot between part of it and us. Wooded lots to the south, and a home in a wooded lot to the north. Our farm is mostly open, former grazing land and now hayfields maintained by local men who run cattle on other properties.

For the most part, everyone is respectful of other people’s land, asking permission to cross or look for an animal they wounded but not killed while hunting. Once in a while, there is total disrespect. Trash strewn along the gravel road that passes north of us, recently, a broken recliner dumped at the top of our property down a hillside to the creek. When we purchased this land, the sink hole near the top was full of appliances, glass, cans, tires, and part of a vehicle. With a neighbor’s help, we removed the large stuff and hubby and I spent many hours removing cans, more than 100 tires, and unbroken glass, leaving what we couldn’t get to be covered by composting leaves.

The first autumn I was in the house, alone for a weekend, I heard dogs, shouting, and gunfire entirely too close to the house late at night. Hunting raccoons, I guess, but rather unnerving. Last night, there were gunshots, some too close to the house, some farther off in the woods to the south, but they didn’t all sound like rifle shots, followed by a flashlight moving across in front of our house. It was probably coyote hunters, but we don’t allow hunting on our property after an incident a few years ago, not an accident, just disrespecting our rules. There is no way to know who it was to speak to them, but it is still alarming to have middle of the night gunshots near the house and seeing someone in your front yard.

Decorum

Today is election day and thankfully will end for a while, the barrage of negative campaign spots on television and hopefully in the mail. Politicians don’t campaign on their merit, their agenda, etc., they work on a smear campaign using information that is usually unfounded against the other candidate. Unfortunately, this works with people who don’t take the time or don’t have the education/skills to check out the true facts. Arguing that candidate A will do X, when the office lacks the power to deal with that issue regardless of who wins.

It doesn’t stop with television and print media. So much misinformation is spread via those sources and social media about other societal issues as well. With the misinformation comes the name calling and other inappropriate responses to the original presenter or poster.

Our society, government, and world are not perfect, but civility and decorum seem to have been lost. There is no respect. Disagreement is met with vulgarity and violence.

Every day the news is filled with shootings, with violence against service workers, with abusive and disruptive behaviors that endanger the person they are accosting and anyone nearby.

The negativity in society has become overwhelming to the point that the news causes constant stress.

Today there is an article about two neighboring high school football teams in a game that ended 106 to 0. Why, what adult coach would allow that to happen? Instead of trying to make it a game, he had his team go for a 2 point conversion when they already had over 100 points. What happened to sportsmanship? Another failed lesson in respect for others.

I am currently overwhelmed with all the negativity. I want to focus on being thankful for a while.