Friday I took a Sick Leave day to accompany Judd. Physicians where I work are "day employees" i.e. not hourly, so to take time to go to the doctor or dentist, you are docked an entire day. So heck, I'll take the entire day for family medical leave.
We had time for Judd to stop at the J'ville Barber on Main Street for a hair and beard trim. He comes to discover that the barber is a section hiker such as himself and the barber's books on hiking in southern Oregon and the Pacific Coast Trail are for sale in the shop. They chat through the entire cut while I play my five different "Words with Friends"-Scrabble on line games--four of which are with Carol. This is about the only time when I get a ping that she is playing in real time. It usually takes a day or two to bridge the 3 hour time zone gap. We generally play asynchronously, usually days apart. It was almost like being there.
The appointment for Judd was his second eye date in two days. On our Hot Springs-Crater Lake hike last weekend, he developed sudden onset floaters in his left eye. I poo-poohed it as I've had a gnat-size floater in one eye for a few years. Yeah, I say, it sucks to get old. But he describes his floater as a crescent moon taking up a quarter of his visual field. Of course Monday was a holiday, so by the time he calls his PCP Tuesday and gets an eye appointment, now I'm freaked he'll be blind from a retinal detachment. Indeed, it turned out he had a retinal tear which needed to be laser-ed to prevent the 50% chance that it would detach. The retinal specialist fits him in saying to come back at noon. We had 28 minutes to run and get lunch and the closet place was a Dairy Queen. We haven't done that in about 20 years but there we were with grill and chill. We had greasy chicken nuggets and a wrap and they gave us an unsolicited "fudge sundae." Apparently no one buys ice cream there anymore and they have to give it away.
The laser-ing only took about 5 minutes. I drove home, Judd's eyes mostly uncomfortable from being dilated for 3 hours and the sun shining brightly. He did require a big nap when we got home and when he woke up feeling better, we spontaneously decided to go to the opening night of Singing in the Rain at our local Randall Theater. It was very well done and I made a point of getting every actor to sign my playbill. I always like the joy it seems to bring them when I ask for their autograph, even though I come home and throw the playbill in paper recycling. The managing artistic director, and in this case, the lead actor, is a Downward (brother to Randall Joseph Downward for whom the theater is named. Another Downward topped the cast, Deborah, but not sure her connection. It's a great family theater with many talented actors. It's pretty convenient that it's a 10 min walk home from the theater.
And still, we had time to start our protest posters for the Jan 20 march.......
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