There’s Something About Mary…

Yesterday I travelled back to Regina from Saskatoon after having spent the night recovering from my eye injections on Monday afternoon. As is my usual habit, I spent Tuesday morning attending some work-related meetings from my hotel room and part of my afternoon dealing with the closure of an office location in Saskatoon. The result is that I got home much later last night than I normally would have. And interestingly enough, My Monday/Tuesday was a bit more interesting than my typical visit to the hospital and evening in the pub. And here’s where you het to hear about it…

I arrived in the city around lunchtime and headed straight for the hotel. I’m almost always a few hours early for check-in and I do this to ensure I can accommodate any unexpected delays, such as construction, road closure, a flat tire, etc… It’s never happened but I know that the one time I leave so that I arrive on the hour, I’ll have some issue come up. I used to wander one of the local malls or stores to get closer to check-in but I stopped doing that when I realized the hotel would allow me to check in early, provided there was a room available.

My check-in and walk to the hospital went off without a hitch, despite the cold winds and slightly lower temperatures than we’ve been getting lately. I arrived at the hospital about thirty minutes before my injection appointment. This is always by design as well, because they have to dilate my pupils and take surface photos of my eyes before I get to see the doc for the injections themselves. I’ll usually try to get through all of that prior to my scheduled appointment so that I can be on time. I can’t help but feel that if everyone did this, there would rarely be any hold ups. But I digress…

I got through the vision exam, dilation and photos without issue. Then, the wait began… Amazingly, the doc could be seen floating from one room to the other as he usually does. It seemed as though they were on the mark but everyone had been waiting well beyond their scheduled appointment. As any of you who may have read some of my previous posts would know, I’m not a big fan of being kept waiting; especially when I intentionally take steps to prevent keeping others from waiting. I was getting a little frustrated at the wait (it was already 15 minutes past my scheduled appointment) when one of the nurses came into the waiting room and called for a “Mary.”

One of the ladies stood and said she was called Mary but when the nurse checked her name tag, her first name was actually “Cora,” with a middle name of “Mary.” This was not the lady they were looking for (cue Sir Alec Guinness’ voice, here). I made a passing joke about how I should have piped up and said that I went by Mary so that I could slip in earlier. The whole room got a laugh and it alleviated some of the tension that everyone was feeling, which was a good thing. I finally got in to have my injections more than a full hour after my scheduled appointment.

I could get angry and frustrated about the extended wait I experienced. After all, what if I needed to get back to work? What if I had to pick up children or had other obligations? Being made to wait for that period of time is inappropriate in any setting. Unfortunately, this has become the norm in the Canadian health care system and I’ve learned to roll with it and be sure that I can accommodate the added wait. So as much as I dislike waiting, I was prepared for it and knew it could happen. And here we are. I staggered back to the hotel room for a brief nap to let the dilation wear off prior to going to dinner.

My evening started at about 6 pm, where I made my way down to Finn’s Irish pub on the ground floor of my hotel. I love Finn’s on a Monday night. Never much of one for clubs or bars, it allows me the pleasure of relaxing in a pub environment without the crowds or business that comes with being in such locations. As you can see from the photo above, I indulged well beyond what I would usually consume at ANY meal. between the beer and the “Irish nachos,” I was looking at almost 90 grams of carbohydrates. I can feel my insulin pump having a panic attack just looking at that photo.

I was in the midst of enjoying my meal, sipping my beer and watching Disney+ on my phone while sitting quietly in a dark corner, when I could hear yelling and swearing around the corner. Although I’m no longer in law enforcement, self-preservation is a natural instinct and I’m still naturally inclined to help others who may not be able to help themselves. I took a subtle stroll to the washroom so I could see what was happening. It appeared as though a couple were arguing at the bar and the bar staff were trying to kick them out of the bar. Since there appeared to be no physical violence, I kept walking.

About fifteen minutes later, a tall security guard comes in and all hell breaks loose. Likely told they had to leave, the couple decided to get nuts and this one security guard somehow managed to arrest and remove them both. I’ll admit I was a bit impressed. Unless there were police around the corner where I couldn’t see, it was pretty ballsy (and unsafe) to try and arrest two people by oneself. I never would have attempted it. I decided my evening was over after this and crashed quite early, which had me with my eyes open early as fuck, the following morning.

The moral of the story is that I didn’t stick around beyond that first beer so despite the fact my pump got an olympic-level workout throughout the night to bring my blood sugars down, I got a reasonable night’s sleep despite being away from home. But even in the quietest of environments, the potential for violence and danger is always present. It’s important not to allow paranoia to prevent you from enjoying life. The distinction is to be vigilant, not paranoid. If only I’d had told the nurse I went by “Mary,” I could have gotten though sooner and maybe missed all the action… Who knows? ☯️