Otherwise

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Another milestone happened yesterday. I took my shoes off to go walking on the sidewalk in front of the stores at the strip mall because the gout in my feet has been acting up and it is uncomfortable to walk with my shoes on. From behind me I heard a voice that i knew was addressed to me say, "Sir... sir, are you okay? Do you need any help?"

I turned to face my rescuer and it was a young woman who might have been a nursing student or even a nurse. She was looking at me investigatively, and asked again, "Do you know where you are? Do you need some help?" I must have looked at her for a moment like she was crazy, but then I realized she thought that because I wasn't wearing shoes out in public that something must be wrong.

My explanation about the gout hurting my feet didn't quite satisfy her, so I nervously asked, "Have you ever had arthritic problems?" That seem to do the trick. She backed off and answered "No, and I hope I never do.", to which I answered, "Me too. I hope you never do.", and she and her friend entered the nearest store. I suppose I should have been grateful for her asking. Some old people do get lost and need help.

This must be some routine they teach people in medical training. I was over at the VA Hospital to get some blood work done before I kept a doctor's appointment, and unfortunately for me the blood lab was training some students to take blood. This young woman was going through the motions of sticking me several times, but finally the regular nurse had to take over.

She stepped back an pick up her pad and looked at me like I was dead and asked, "What's your social, sir" I told her the last four numbers of my SS number which all any of the people at the VA ever ask, but that wasn't good enough for this harridan.

She looked at me weird and stated authoritatively, "No, I need to know your entire social security number." So, although I knew she was testing me per her classroom training to see if I'd lost my memory yet, I answered her correctly, and she giggled in delight to have displayed her training. Everybody there thought she was being rude, but that went right over her head.

Another milestone or benchmark I remember well happened at a franchise hamburger place. I waited in line for the cute teenager to get to me, and when it was my turn she looked up blankly at me and asked, "Do you get the senior citizen discount sir?" She didn't smile or lead me to believe she had any sort of emotional exchange with me. She was all business, I knew my days of flirting my way through life was over. I was in my early fifties thinking I looked thirty-five. Why am I always the last to know.

I had to give up on my ideas about seeing if I could help my situation by using supplements to offset any dietary misconceptions I'd acted under. I started taking the methotrexate again this morning. It was a very sad event for me and I got fairly depressed. I had to sing for over an hour to get back into a mood to cope with my situation.

Entering my dotage has been a rather rude affair. I don't like having to give up habits that have served me positively for a long time. Cigarette smoking was one of the hardest. Sex has been on the way out for a couple of decades. Its not easy to get people who find me sexually uninteresting to go out of their way to do little things for me they otherwise wouldn't do. It's alway otherwise now. What a drag, man.
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