Mono Monday : : Relaxing

Today was anything but relaxing as I had to go to the dermatology clinic for an appointment which I postponed back in March. I was sure everything was going to be back to 'normal' by July when I did that but everything is actually far worse now. Back in March wild horses couldn't have dragged me in there even if they had been open, which they weren't. By today an angry looking lesion had developed on my leg, I felt like I couldn't postpone it any longer and I've gotten used resigned to limited functioning services, mask wearing distancing and rules.... 

I stopped by Trail House on my way for a coffee at a picnic table in the parking lot. There were no fewer than eight  pages of messages, warnings and diagrams taped to the windows allowing them to serve beer and a limited menu outside.   The coffee was delicious and I met Gail there and traded a mask for some pipe cleaners. We don't use money anymore. The few things I buy are purchased with a credit card.I've had the same $20 bill in my purse for months....

At the clinic I stopped at a table by the driveway where I confirmed my name rank and serial number and  had my temperature taken without getting out of my car. I was handed the number of the parking space I was to park in and told to wait in my car until somebody came to get me. I waited less than five minutes, was led through a deserted waiting room to an exam room. Then more rules...the doctor found five 'suspicious' spots she wanted to biopsy in addition to the one I knew was not even suspicious. She agreed . More rules....She could only do three biopsies at once and it is two weeks before I could get an appointment to get the other three done. It will be two weeks before I get the results of the first three and then I will have to go back to have the other three biopsied.  A week later she will excise the one we both know is a squamous cell carcinoma and the week after that the whole process will start all over again. It is dispiriting and exhausting and certainly not relaxing.

Tomorrow we get to go get our second shingles shot...oh joy....

Looking at the shadows of the arbutus tree on the patio outside our office was very relaxing. I took a cup of tea out there and stared into space for awhile. I'm channeling a mountain top in the Canadian Rockies