In my last post, I said that Brandon and I were looking forward to a chance to relax during this week of spring break; and fortunately, we have done some of that here and there. Unfortunately, we haven't had an opportunity to do much of it today because even when you are just sitting in a chair waiting for your name to be called, that can get pretty stressful when there are a thousand small, unsupervised children running around and screaming.
Oh, the joys of the county health department!
We were there because we needed to get our vaccinations for India. Brandon had to get four shots and a week's worth of pills. I only had to get the pills. But both of us had to spend our entire morning getting this done.
The first issue was our own fault. We drove to the Health Department office in Delray Beach, where we were told upon sign-in that we were in the wrong location. So we headed back to I-95 and went a few exits farther north to Lake Worth, where we spent several precious minutes (we were now late for our appointment) looking for the hidden health department office, which ended up being directly behind what appeared to be an insane asylum.
Anyway, we got there, we checked in, and we waited 30 minutes. We were surprised when our names were called so quickly; we weren't as surprised when we were simply taken from one waiting room to another. And this time we waited much, much longer. Perhaps we were there an hour, perhaps more. I had a book, but Brandon was stuck watching cartoons with some of those small, unsupervised children I mentioned before! We sat there and sat there and sat there.
Eventually, the nurse came to get us. She was jolly and talkative, but we were not; we just wanted to get the process over with.
Now, I had spent time several days prior researching all of the different vaccinations we needed, and I've also had all of them before. So we went into her office armed with information. I spoke confidently, telling the nurse that I'd lived in India for a year, had had all of my shots fives years prior, and just wanted Brandon to get this, this, this, and that shot. Plus, we needed the pills. All of this was already decided, and I didn't need anymore information. The nurse, however, felt obligated to share with us every piece of information ever recorded about every one of the vaccines we needed. I was sitting there thinking, "Just stick him a few times and let us out of here," as she went on and on and on about this and that.
When I finally thought she might be ready to shut up and stick him (I guess I got my hopes up when she took a breath), I heard her say, "Oh, and are you guys from Chicago?" (I guess she'd noticed Brandon's Bears shirt.)We should have just told her no, that we simply liked the colors, but it was too late. She went on and on and on about when she lived there and how she really prefers it to South Florida, except for the winters, and blah blah blah.
When this monologue was complete, the nurse was finally ready to stick Brandon in the arm a few times. She then gave us a prescription for the pills we needed, walked us to the door, and then stood there with us for 15 minutes as she told us everything we need to take with us to India. Had I not made it clear that I'd lived there for a year? I was so annoyed. But we were almost done.
And then...
We got to the pharmacy inside the Health Department at 12:15 and handed in the prescriptions. "We close for lunch at 12:30, so these won't be ready till 1:30, when we get back," said the pharmacist. We couldn't believe it. But what choice did we have but to wait?
We decided to take ourselves to lunch, and that was a nice reprieve. But, when our lovely lunch was finished, it was back, once more, to the Health Department pharmacy, where we were surprised to find that our pills were actually ready to go. And thus, six hours after we'd left the house that morning, we have returned.
And now we might be able to relax!
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