I took the girlette Racer with me to get my Covid test today.
Have you had the test?
Here's what it was like for me.
The medical staff were all super, super nice. Everyone genuinely seemed to like Racer. Maybe it's nice to see something lighthearted?
The intake person and I got laughing about a list on a white board from before Covid. It was a list of exercise options that included goat yoga.
Goat yoga.
"Don't make me laugh so hard," I said. "I'm spreading germs!"
Of course I was wearing a mask, and the staff were also wearing visors and gloves.
They put me in the examination room, and the doctor called on the room phone to take my info. That way, they don't have to be face-to-face with you for very long.
When the doctor came in, I asked him if they have a test for dolls. He said, "Let's see what we can do."
He seemed willing to listen to Racer with a stethoscope.
I didn't really want to make him spend more time or come any closer to me than he had to, so I just laughed it off and got on the table myself.
"Do you need a letter to get off work?" he asked me.
"Oh, I was going to go to work after this," I said. "Is that okay?"
He looked at me like I was crazy.
"Um," he said, "you're having a test, you know...? [Unspoken: for a deadly disease you might have been exposed to].
"If you can, you should self-isolate until you get the results in two or three days. If you have to go to work, you could...."
No, I don't have to go to work. Are you kidding? We're not even open. It seems we shouldn't open until we know in a day or two if we, the workers, have been exposed through our boss.
The doctor was surprisingly happy to linger and talk.
Among other things, he told me he can't predict who's positive. "Some people I was sure would be, but they weren't," he said. "Other people have no symptoms at all, like you, and they test positive. You just don't know."
I said I wanted to get tested in case I was asymptomatic and spread it to others. "That's great you're thinking that way!" he said.
He also got somber about how terrible the situation is is.
The George Floyd murder and the damage to the store had pushed Covid to the back of my mind. Being around medical personnel brings home to me how wearyingly serious it is.
After the doctor left, the person who does the test came in. She asked me if I've ever gotten chlorinated water up my nose at a swimming pool.
"I have," I said.
"It feels sort of like that," she said.
And it did. Weird!
I was glad I'd brought Racer because I held onto her really, really tightly during the test. They could provide something to squeeze, because after the chlorine sensation, it feels exactly like a swab being rotated inside your designed-by-nature-to-be-inaccessible nasal cavity.
It was certainly bearable, but, I 'm sorry to say, I screamed a little--partly in surprise.
I apologized afterward.
"Oh, I've heard much louder than that!" she said.
Everyone I interacted with, I thanked, including the security guard at the desk by the door. They all responded as if the thanks were welcome, not run of the mill.
I left feeling I had been lovingly cared for.
I didn't expect that. I'd thought everyone would be too fried to be kind or funny. The opposite was the case.
I stopped at the co-op on the way home and got a roast chicken and ice cream. I feel okay. A little sore, a little tender, emotionally and nasally.
Now I will wait.
Have you had the test?
Here's what it was like for me.
The medical staff were all super, super nice. Everyone genuinely seemed to like Racer. Maybe it's nice to see something lighthearted?
The intake person and I got laughing about a list on a white board from before Covid. It was a list of exercise options that included goat yoga.
Goat yoga.
"Don't make me laugh so hard," I said. "I'm spreading germs!"
Of course I was wearing a mask, and the staff were also wearing visors and gloves.
They put me in the examination room, and the doctor called on the room phone to take my info. That way, they don't have to be face-to-face with you for very long.
When the doctor came in, I asked him if they have a test for dolls. He said, "Let's see what we can do."
He seemed willing to listen to Racer with a stethoscope.
I didn't really want to make him spend more time or come any closer to me than he had to, so I just laughed it off and got on the table myself.
"Do you need a letter to get off work?" he asked me.
"Oh, I was going to go to work after this," I said. "Is that okay?"
He looked at me like I was crazy.
"Um," he said, "you're having a test, you know...? [Unspoken: for a deadly disease you might have been exposed to].
"If you can, you should self-isolate until you get the results in two or three days. If you have to go to work, you could...."
No, I don't have to go to work. Are you kidding? We're not even open. It seems we shouldn't open until we know in a day or two if we, the workers, have been exposed through our boss.
The doctor was surprisingly happy to linger and talk.
Among other things, he told me he can't predict who's positive. "Some people I was sure would be, but they weren't," he said. "Other people have no symptoms at all, like you, and they test positive. You just don't know."
I said I wanted to get tested in case I was asymptomatic and spread it to others. "That's great you're thinking that way!" he said.
He also got somber about how terrible the situation is is.
The George Floyd murder and the damage to the store had pushed Covid to the back of my mind. Being around medical personnel brings home to me how wearyingly serious it is.
After the doctor left, the person who does the test came in. She asked me if I've ever gotten chlorinated water up my nose at a swimming pool.
"I have," I said.
"It feels sort of like that," she said.
And it did. Weird!
I was glad I'd brought Racer because I held onto her really, really tightly during the test. They could provide something to squeeze, because after the chlorine sensation, it feels exactly like a swab being rotated inside your designed-by-nature-to-be-inaccessible nasal cavity.
It was certainly bearable, but, I 'm sorry to say, I screamed a little--partly in surprise.
I apologized afterward.
"Oh, I've heard much louder than that!" she said.
Everyone I interacted with, I thanked, including the security guard at the desk by the door. They all responded as if the thanks were welcome, not run of the mill.
I left feeling I had been lovingly cared for.
I didn't expect that. I'd thought everyone would be too fried to be kind or funny. The opposite was the case.
I stopped at the co-op on the way home and got a roast chicken and ice cream. I feel okay. A little sore, a little tender, emotionally and nasally.
Now I will wait.
