A new day!

Well I have made it to after noon today and nothing much has happened.  On the other hand I could choose several adjectives to describe yesterday: horrible, aweful, nightmare, bad...you get the picture.  It wasn't my worst day ever, but I would put it up there in the top ten. 

To start off the day I have to back up to this weekend where on Sunday I went with the boys to the Forest Service horse barn to feed Dustin's work horses and let Austin play while Dustin unpacked some gear from his pack trip.  Instead of putting on shoes I just slipped on a pair of sandals and thought nothing of it.  We got over there and Austin was enjoying playing in the horse trailer and I was standing by there keeping an eye on him.  I saw there was an ant hill not far from the trailer, but I wasn't standing right by it, so not to concerned.  Then all of sudden I got that intense burning sensation on the bottom of my left foot and sure enough, a red fire ant bit me right in the middle of the bottom of my foot.  I was in bad pain so we went home where I iced it and put cortisone cream on it. Monday it was crazy itchy all day and I continued to ice/cream it.  Yesterday I woke up a little when I heard Dustin start his truck.  He left early because he was going to take the horses out to pack out some of his co-workers.  Normally I would just happily dose back off, but in my half awakened state I scratched the ant bite with the toe nails of my right foot and got it all inflamed and itchy again, so no going back to sleep.  Then Austin woke up early too so we were off and running.

Then I realize that I forgot to move over Austin's car seat from Dustin's truck so I can transport all three boys to the Learning Center.  Since we were up early this was ok so we load up and run over the horse barn, grab the car seat and head home.  We got the boys and I delivered everyone to the Learning Center and headed to work.  In all the busy-ness though I never took the time to eat breakfast, so all I had until lunch time was a snack sized bag of peanut M&M's out of the Tribal Chairman's candy dish at work.

I scheduled a dermatologist appointment for around lunch time so I checked out and headed to Page which is about 75 miles+.  I planned out my drive to give me 15 minutes of flex time, figuring that they like you to get there a little early anyway to fill out paperwork.  On my way I got stopped at a road construction site and I waited, and I waited, and I waited...for 30 stinkin' minutes!!!  I can understand them holding up traffic for 10-15 minutes, but seriously 30 minutes!  So now I'm 15 minutes late for sure and in a dash to get there. 

So at this point I have to give a little more background, I looked up this dermatologist on my insurance providers website and did a 100 mile radius search knowing there would not be one here.  It pulled up this doctor and gave an address in Page that I knew roughly was in the vicinity of the hospital which is where the two other clinics are and an opthomology practice.  I called the number listed with the address and made the appointment, and to my surprise they had more than one doctor.  (in hind sight I should have seen this as a red flag) I asked if this was at the clinic and she said their address which was on Turquoise Drive instead of Navajo Drive like the website said.  So I Mapquested it and it generally came up with how to get to Turquoise Drive, in PAGE, but did not list the specific address, which is actually common around here because of the remoteness, our home address does not register on Mapquest either.  So I find this Turquoise Drive in Page and it's about a two block stretch in the middle of a trailer park.  In a panick, and already 15 minutes late, I took a spin around the hospital/clinic vicinity thinking maybe there was another leg of Turquoise and came up with nothing.  I stopped in at the Urgent Care Clinic to see if they knew where it might be and she didn't have a clue.  I showed her the phone number and she said "Oh, that's a Flagstaff number".  She said once in a great while a dermatologist visits Page, but they would see patients at the hospital which was the Navajo address. 

So now totally frustrated I head out realizing this trip was a total waste.  I was heading back down the hill out of Page and I hear a noise like something hitting the frame of my car and then hear a thunking noise and realize my car is leaning to the right.  I pull off and find that my right front tire is flat as a pancake.  I also failed to mention previously that over the weekend I misplaced my cell phone and looked for it a little, but hadn't yet found it.  So here I am stuck in Page, no cell phone, it's well in the 90's, I know no one there, and even if I had a phone, Dustin was out in the wilderness with the horses=no cell reception either.  I dig out the owner's manual and start trying to teach myself how to change a flat tire.   I made it as far and getting the jack and tools out and lowered the spare tire.  I could not figure out how to release the tire and of course was completely stressed, frazzled, hungry, itchy foot and hot.

Then my guardian angel showed up.  This nice young Navajo man in a minivan pulls up and gets out.  He is wearing a business shirt and slacks, so I was surprised that he stopped.  He told me to go ahead and ease it up into the parking lot into the flattest place possible, did I mention that I was driving down a hill when this happened?, while he changed into jeans and a t-shirt.  He came over and went right to work on putting my spare tire on.  I chatted with him and found out that he came to Page from Phoenix, depending on where at in Phoenix it would be nearly 300 miles, that day for a job interview at the power plant on the other side of town which he just finished and decided to drive around town to see the sights before heading home.  He used to work in a tire shop before getting laid off and totally knew what he was doing.  When he finished he even followed me over to the Walmart Tire Center to make sure I made it safely.  I had $21 on me and offered that I could write him a check for more.  He said he would not take it, that I should pay it forward.  When he left me off at Walmart I again offered to buy him lunch and he refused, what a compassionate person!!!  So in addition to helping someone else in the near future, I have been praying for Ron that he gets the job that he was applying for.

I leave my car at the tire center and go get lunch and do some shopping.  When I went back to check on it he said he found the puncture and it was way too damaged to repair, so I would need a new tire.  Since they were $132 a pop, and I figured I should replace two of them instead of just the one, I asked him if he thought my spare would make it the 75 miles home.  We had a real tire for a spare and he said it was in great condition and would be fine, but if some other road hazard damaged one of my tires I would be stuck in the desert without a spare or a cell phone.  I decided to give it a try since I wanted Dustin to make the call.  I headed home and made it back just in time for 30 minutes of work and then time to pick up Austin. 

I got home and told Dustin about my day and busted into tears.  I was actually proud of myself for holding out for so long and staying strong through the adversity.  He took us out to dinner so I didn't have to cook and was so sympathetic and sweet.  He felt bad that he wasn't there for me, or that we never thought to have me learn to replace a tire before. 

I did the insurance provider search again today and if you expand it to 200 miles this doctor comes up listed in Flagstaff with that same phone number.  I keep thinking about whether or not to call and let them know, or to call the insurance provider and complain, or was it completely my fault.  It seems like to me if they list a phone number it should be given with the corresponding address and if there is an alternate site, they should note that you have to call their primary office to make the appointment.   But then again, this is probably a rare occurrence, so would they care anyway.  When I got home they had not called to leave a message, so I don't know if they will go ahead and charge me for the appointment or not.  On top of everything else I'm disappointed that I did not get my skin cancer screening either. 

I usually go to bed at 10:30-11pm, but last night I was ready for bed at 9:00pm.  I slept until 6:00am and woke up feeling refreshed.  I hope this little gray cloud I have had over my head the last few weeks goes away soon!