Had a follow-up appointment with the nurse practitioner from hell on Monday. I was not looking forward to it, and had geared myself up to do everything I could to get my Adderall refilled and me out of there as fast as possible. But I think nurse-lady got the message that I considered her (cursory, spurious, and uninformed*) assessment to be bogglingly off-base. A couple days after my May appointment I dropped her a note letting her know that I was discontinuing the Celexa she'd bullied me into starting and why I didn't feel the need to be on an antidepressant. I was cordial and non-confrontational. Honest!
I never got a reply and didn't think about it beyond wondering whether she'd read it. But as soon I got through the door, nurse-lady does a little song-and-dance of "another practitioner departed, my workload increased, for future follow-ups you'll need to see either doctor so-and-so or such-and-such" and hands over my Adderall refill prescription. Since she didn't mention refilling the Celexa, I'm assuming she did indeed read my missive.
Man, she wanted me out of there quick-like. If I hadn't asked her to repeat the doctors' names, I wouldn't have said a single word to her. Irony there. She babbled about her situation to me. But that suited me fine. I wasn't exactly gagging to have a tête-à-tête with her.
And I've decided not to make a follow-up with a pdoc. I'll check to see if either my GP or my Rheumatologist, whom I see on a regular basis to keep tabs on my Lupus/MCTD anyway, can refill my Adderall. I'd like not to have to shell out a co-pay just to have a pdoc scribble out a refill. It's one thing if my emotional equilibrium is totally off kilter and I need the services of a mental health professional, but it's not, and I don't.
Also got a call from
DiL is fully expected to recover from this latest hospital adventure, and we're prepping for our trip north.
*What, me still incensed? Naaah.
Writing Stuff
"Souls of Living Wood" in Modern Magic got some nice comments from Elizabeth A. Allen in her Tangent review:
"Foster juggles the hilarious personalities of the obstreperous customers well with the genteel voice of the house in a story that’s surprisingly gentle"
New Words/Editing:
- 5K on the Swan Lake story (now titled "Black Swan, White Swan") bringing it to zero draft. I foisted it upon fosteronfilm to first reader and did a pair of editing passes to get it to first draft. Loaded it to Critters.org this morning.
Such a relief and release to finish a fiction piece. This one was an experiment in present tense, a style I typically eschew as I think past is a better storytelling vehicle. Present is rarely done effectively and often has the undesirable effect of pulling the reader out instead of immersing them. But I thought this story, because of the rapid fire POV hops into my main character's head, lended itself to present. I found myself writing all her internal dialogue in present--past tense threw the pacing off, lacking the off-balance quickness I was going for--so it made sense to have the rest of the story match. Curious to see how it'll be received.
Matthew liked it well enough, although I think he would've said anything to get me not to play "Ave Maria" one more time. I assembled a playlist soundtrack/mix for this story--I was quite put out to discover that we don't have Tchaikovsky's complete Swan Lake suite on CD--which I ran on repeat while I was writing to keep me grounded in the mood. I gate out auditory input extremely readily, so didn't notice how many times it looped. But he can't disregard sound like I can.
The mix is 45 minutes long. I estimate it played somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 times in just the last few days.
Poor Matthew.
Received:
- Payment for my last freelance gig and specs for my next.
Club 100 For Writers
44
500/day
54