I spent the majority of the day jumping through rings in order to get a common prescription...
Okay. I am dumb. I knew for sometime (like over a year) that my health card was missing. Since I no longer have a doctor in my hometown, I managed to make it this far by only going to the walk-in clinic in the city where I grew up, and to the hospital here, for what turned out to be a concussion. In both instances, I only had to sign a consent form where the clinic/hospital would send on to the Ministry of Health to verify.
But, oh no, that's not the way things worked out for me today.
I set off for the hospital this morning with Kole in tow, and was immediately disheartened to see the longest line evah for the emergency ward. Faced with probable flu victims, minor household and outdoor accidents, not to mention many cases of earaches and throat infections, I knew that it would be useless to get in line. Even the hungover guy with a sprained ankle who got wheeled in by his dormmates was going to get ahead of me based on the intake 'order based on severity of issue' rule. I figured that I had a UTI, or was on the verge of one. My substitute, and childhood doctor, only had appointments available for late next week, but I didn't want it to get worse.
So, we hopped on the bus again, and went to my parents' place where I started phoning around for open clinics. The day clinic was open, and they were able to see me at 4:20, and I was told to bring my health card. I mentioned that I misplaced it, figuring on only signing the consent form. Not good enough. Instead, they directed me to the Ministry of Natural Resources, which had a temporary Ministry of Health office housed there, in order to process lame requests like mine.
I got my picture taken after filing the paperwork, heard a lot of sob stories during the process, and vowed not to be so lax in returning things. Turns out, I was sent a letter stating that my health card had expired over 2 1/2 years ago. They weren't even going to give me a temporary one, but for the fact that I had been living at my current address for more than 6 years.
Not only did I have to do that to get my appointment (or else pay 52 bucks outright), I also had to provide many liquid samples, and fork out close to thirteen bucks for a doctor's note, that I swear can be reproduced by my child using MS word. It's a useless peice of paper that my suckass job demands anytime that I take off work or else face the possibility of termination. Bastards.
By 5:40 pm I had my bloody antibiotic, but had just got through so damned much that I was even more sick. Sick with vile, dark thoughts and a burning sensation different from what prompted me to set out this morning.