I had a doctor's appointment yesterday morning, Monday, in Merritt Island, Florida.
Interstate 95 is a pretty potent death trap. I have driven the 10 miles or so of it between home and work many times, and have seen the aftermath of several auto accidents.
Yesterday morning, there was an accident in the northbound lane right where I needed to exit.
You can ask Lovely Wife, taking alternate routes to anywhere is not my strong suit.
My modus operandi is to learn the shortest/easiest/fastest path to any destination and then I DO NOT DEVIATE FROM THE KNOWN PATHWAY.
But, with the wreck there slowing the off-ramp traffic to a standstill, I thought I'd go north one more exit, just a couple of miles, and circle back through town to US 1 from which I could get back on my original road.
Alas, there was a wreck blocking the southbound exit onto US 1 where I needed to go! The cops were waving people past, and I had no choice.
(By the way, the paramedics were working on a man laying spread eagle on the road next to his motorcycle. I've never seen a fresh motorcycle accident like that, it was quite disturbing.)
The added horror was that I was now on my own in a strange location far from known roads. both of my know pathways to this doctor's office were blocked.
What's a guy to do?
After submitting myself to the fear of the unknown for a few seconds, I called the doctor's office to tell them I'd probably be a few minutes late.
Then I thought I'd just find the biggest road that would take me back south from my present location, and after a while, actually found my way to the doctor's office, but it was definitely touch and go there for a little while. Way out of my comfort zone as they say.
That's one good thing about totally flat terrain like here in Florida, most roads run pretty much north and south, east and west, because there are no hills to necessitate winding roads.
I saw the doctor and got some prescriptions.
They made three upcoming appointments for some shots in my lower back to hopefully lessen the pain in my left leg, starting Wednesday. That's "tomorrow" Wednesday, for the first shot. I've got scar tissue from four back surgeries down there so they usually end up having to work the needles around a bit to get them into the location they want to release the injection. Yes. That feels just about as bad as it sounds too.
But. If the overall effect is pain relief, then it will be worth it. I don't sleep well much any more, mostly because of leg pain.
And I keep picturing the guy from the motorcycle laying on the side of the road, and was glad I was driving a mini van.
Then I went to work.
Well, I didn't say it was an EXCITING mini van adventure now did I?
3 comments:
I'm with you on the route deviation thing. I once had to call my father, long distance, after he'd moved away, to talk me through finding my way back to a main road while driving downtown in a city I'd lived most of my life.
Then when I moved to Maine, I was here less than 4 weeks and the state changed all of the exit numbers on the turnpike and I-295, so they didn't match my maps or mapquest or directions the locals would give me.
I can do OK with the deviation in certain areas, but down town, not so much. I can't handle bad traffic. I freak out when I KNOW where I am going, because I worry that I am doing it wrong, lol. I don't go to work every day, so I don't have the familiarity of a routine.
I'll pray for your injections to work. I get leg pain that shows up when I am laying down, and I can't sleep through it. I am glad Vicodin works for me, so I can't imagine what you are going through.
All I can say is ouch.
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