Yes, I Had Fun At the Hospital!

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Once a year the local VA hospital has a women veterans' open house. Today was that day! I had to go to the emergency room because of some persistent pain in my abdomen. Given there's a strong family history of kidney stones (I remember, when I was 11 or 12, sneaking into the hospital to see my aunt, and when we got to her room she was crawling around on the floor from the pain of passing a kidney stone ), I thought I needed to get that checked. But first...the women veterans' open house! There were lots of freebies: a cool tote bag (I think I now have enough tote bags to take the entire block shopping and never use a store bag ), lots of pens, lots of information, free breakfast and lunch (nothing fancy: fruit and bagels for breakfast, turkey sandwiches and pasta salad for lunch), the opportunity to sign up for the Million Veterans Program (which I did, and got a backpack for my trouble), flu shots (I'm allergic to eggs so I never get one), informative presentations (things that are specific to women, like post-menopausal issues and dealing with military sexual abuse), and even massages and yoga!!! I got a massage. It was a "chair massage," and it seemed to last for an hour. (That's one of the good things about meditation: it helps you stay "in the moment" instead of not enjoying what's going on because you're worried about when it's going to end or what you're going to have for dinner next Tuesday.) Oh, did it feel great. I also participated in some "chair yoga," which was basically gentle stretches of the six different ways your spine moves. After lunch I ran up to the emergency room to get the abdominal pain checked out. The urine test came back perfect, no signs of any issues related to a kidney stone. I have broken a rib before from excessive coughing and sneezing, or it may just be a pulled muscle. At any rate, it's not anything serious!! (And certainly nothing I haven't experienced before.) After that side trip, which lasted about 90 minutes (amazing!!!!), I went back to check to see if my name was on the list of door prize winners. (Stealing a line from Homer & Jethro, I told them I wanted to win a door. ) They had drawings every 15 minutes, so they'd thrown away a number of the sheets with winners' names on it. "Oh, okay," I said. "I've been up in the ER and had to miss about an hour." The lady at the desk said, "Since we've thrown names away and re-drawn...." She then reached for a huge basket overflowing with things. "...And since you had to go to the ER," she continued as she handed me the basket. Wowza. I could smell scents right away that I knew wouldn't agree with me. So the first thing I did was go out into the courtyard and set the basket down. I called over other veterans who were walking by, saying, "Hey, guys" (and remember, this is an all-women's event ), anyone wanna share the wealth?" Between the ladies on the courtyard, my sister-in-law, and a couple of neighbors, I was able to get rid of the bounty that I couldn't use. So yes, I actually had fun at the VA hospital today!!! Here's a semi-appropriate song. There's a women veteran garden near the entrance where everything was set up, with a plaque that says, "She served, too." So you can love a woman in a uniform, too!