Holding Blues

I am typing this out while on hold for the clinic.
"All of our representatives are busy assisting other callers. Please continue to hold."
My mistake?
Calling at 7:32.
The lines open at 7:30am.
Poo!
I am hoping to get in to see Bridgette's (and my) primary care doctor. She is a hot commodity. It was SO FORTUNATE that we got her as our primary care. She quit taking new patients shortly after we moved here. We got her on a fluke. We didn't know her from Adam. She is THE BEST! Everyone loves her.
I want to see her today.
She leaves her mornings open for call-ins.
She schedules her appointments for afternoons.
It's 7:39.
I'm nervous.
Bridgette's tough, like me...so she thinks nothing of being sick. And I think nothing of her being sick.
Her normal temp is 96.8...like me. We're cold blooded...
A week ago she had a 99 temp. Today it's 97.1...not a big deal for most people, but it's a low grade fever for us.
She's had a sore throat for a few weeks now (she tells me today!).
Hope it's not strep.
She has had a raspy cough...but sporadically. And coughing up phlegm.
Gross, right?
She coughed up a big gob this morning in the sink (oh, Bridge, must you???)
and told me "It's green...and orange!"
Orange?
Uh...that would be RED!!!!
Blood!!!
I called nurse triage, because nothing was open at 6:20am.
Because I was still wondering whether to take her in...
I know...I know...
I always question myself...
I wonder if I'm making a big deal out of nothing.
I think that stems back to me as a kid.
I was a hypochondriac.
My sisters tell the story of when I was about 5 and I was limping on my left leg, and they informed me that I hurt my other leg...so I started limping on my right leg.
In an effort not to be that sort of person, as an adult I've reformed into the opposite of a hypochondriac. (A hyperchondriac?)
A person who doesn't see a doctor until her leg falls off.
It hasn't served me well.
My doctor knows me as "the patient with the unusually high pain tolerance."
When I had a huge cyst rupture on my ovary, I came in when I was in shock for 10 hours (because I waited for an appointment to see my primary care doctor...I didn't want to see another doctor), and the blood was all the way back near my liver. Not good. Peritonitis. Weeks of healing.
That earned me a special place on the list, so when I call to make an appointment, and try to wait to call for one of those morning appointments I wrote about (because I like my primary care doctor and no other), they evaluate if I need to see a doctor and not wait for my primary care doctor to have an opening. I've been "blacklisted." That's what happened when I had MS. I called and said I couldn't feel one side of my body and the appointment desk heard my name, listened to my symptoms, put me on hold and talked me into seeing another doctor sooner. Sneaky...
Bridgette's kind of like that...both she and I don't really act sick when we're sick...
except for now...
she's back in bed!!!!
And now I'm anxious to get in this morning
7:44
I hope she's not too sick!
And I'm still listening to the easy listening station between
"All of our representatives are assisting other callers. Please continue to hold."
Oh - wait!!!
"Hudson Physicians..."
*****
Yaaayy! We see our Dr. this morning!
We got an appointment!!!! With our primary care doctor!
S-U-C-C-E-S-S That's the way we spell Success!!!!
It's going to be a good day!