Thursday, October 10, 2013

ACK! I’VE BEEN SHOT!

Twice!  A short while ago a good friend (Hi, Boyd!) suggested that if I had not yet had it, I should get a shingles shot. I know that if one has had chicken pox, one is in danger of getting shingles, and I had had chicken pox as a kid.

I knew that my semi-annual visit to the Veterans Administration was coming soon, so I called VA to ask if they give the shingles vaccine. Yes, they do. 

Yesterday I had the appointment with my VA doctor, and I had several issues to ask about. So I added shingles shot to the list. Now for you non-vet readers, here is the procedure:  I check in to let them know I’m there. They direct me to the waiting room where a nurse finds me. She takes me back where I’m weighed, she takes my blood pressure and temperature, and then asks if I have any unusual areas of pain. 

Then she asked, “Do you want your annual flu shot?”
“Yeah, sure.” Then she really startled me.
“And you want a shingles shot.”
“How did you know that?”
“I heard your son mention it.  I’ve got big ears.”
(Actually she is a rather attractive young lady, with very nice ears).

She went out to get the flu vaccine, and when she returned she said, “You don’t need the shingles vaccine because you had it the last time you were in.  I looked it up on the computer”

I had not remembered that.

So she gave me the flu shot, and I’m set for the year.
Two shots -- one yesterday, and one six months ago.

Humor --

I asked the same nurse if she had time for a joke. Sure. Always time for a joke, so this is the one I told her --

Part of this story is true. Picabo Street won a skiing gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics. That is the true part. Here is the humor part:  Someone suggested that if Picabo Street ever went to work at a hospital in the intensive care unit, she could answer the phone, Picabo, ICU.

Then the nurse asked if she could tell me one. Sure!

A moth goes to a podiatrist, and says, “Doc, I’m having a bad time. My wife left me; I lost my job; I feel like nobody likes me; ...

“Wait, wait,” says the podiatrist. “You need to talk to a psychiatrist. Why did you come here?”

“Your light was on.”


4 comments:

  1. The NHS is finally offering Shingles vaccines to the over 70s, but it's timed so that a neighbor who is just a tad older than his 71 year old wife won't get his until he's 79 even though she qualifies for hers this autumn.

    BTW, I laughed at a late-night joke I just read today. Q: Why shouldn't you ever trust an atom? A: Because they make up everything.

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  2. @LynnM: and they have tempers--they totally go nuclear on you.

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  3. @AlisonH: And who wants to face that kind of meltdown!

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  4. I knew that would get a reactor out of you!

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