Rant #3,420: All Strung Out

I was not supposed to be here today--

But circumstances beyond my control have allowed me to put off my treatment, and as a result, take care of other business.

Let me tell you what happened.

I was all prepared to go through with this prostate thing as scheduled for today.

I have all the medicine, and my mindset was a go.

But on Friday night, I had one of the scares of my life.

I was watching TV in our living room with my son after a great birthday dinner we had for him at a local restaurant.

I fell asleep on the couch at about 9 p.m., maybe even earlier, and I woke up at about 11:15 p.m. or so.

I got up from the couch, shut off the living room air conditioner, and went over to the front window in the kitchen to open it and let some fresh air in.

I then crawled into my bed, and slept until about 1:30 a.m.

I woke up, went to the bathroom, and then decided to go into the kitchen ...

Half asleep, with one eye open, I looked out the window--

And my car was gone.

Yes, gone.

I yelped, and my wife and son woke up, and that was literally the beginning of an about three-hour panic attack that I had, as I went about trying to find where my car was.

To make a long story short, I finally located the car at an auto body shop a few towns away from where we live.

My family and I enjoy where we live, but there are a bushel of negatives, one being that the parking situation here is terrible.

Every family that lives here is eligible for a single parking pass, whether they have zero cars or five cars, so since my family and I have two cars, one can "legally" park anywhere on the premises, while the other car can only "legally" park in Visitors parking here.

There are very few "Visitors" spaces spotted around the development, and I looked, and could not find any of these spaces that were open near our apartment, so I had the audacity to park in what was a non-legal space for my car--

And my car was towed away, probably between 9 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. or so.

(Suffice it to say that I have had to do this before, and never had a problem--and yes, 99 percent of the time, I park in a "Visitors" space.)

I was able to find out what towing company did the job, called them probably around 2 a.m., and got what was called "the answering service," which I later found out was not a separate service, but part of the towing company.

They told me that I would have to "make an appointment" to pick up my car if they, in fact, had it, a point that they never made clear to me.

The person also told me that the business was closed for the weekend.

I told them that I needed the car, not on Monday, but on Saturday, as I prepared for this Monday morning medical procedure.

They could not guarantee anything, and they still had not told me about having the car or not ...

But why would they engage with me like this if they didn't?

Clearly frustrated, my wife and son somehow went back to sleep, but I couldn't... or at least I couldn't until about 4:30 a.m., when somehow, I conked out in spite of myself.

I slept about two hours, shaved, showered and got dressed, and I called the company back at about 7 a.m.

Again the "answering service" went back and forth with me, but using my skills as an interviewer, I was able to weasel out of them thst they did, in fact, have my car, and I later found out through Facebook--don't ask--thst someone would call me at about 8 a.m. to arrange for pickup--

They did at about 8:15 a.m., my wife took me over there, and I had my car--

After paying $260 in cash, which included the towing fee and "overnight" storage fee--and yes, to demonstrate how sleazy this was, they would only take cash.

How this impacted what I was supposed to partake in today is that I was nervous enough about having this procedure done, and this new incident pushed me over the edge.

I canceled the procedure for this morning, because I believe in omens.

I believe this car thing was God's way of telling me to hold off on this procedure, which was elective to begin with.

I have been told that all the prior tests I have taken have shown nothing amiss with my prostate, so I am sure that this extra test is not needed, at least not right now--

A thought bolstered by the fact that I have another blood test scheduled with my regular doctor in about two weeks ... we will see what my numbers related to my prostate are then, and will act accordingly if they are, once again, of concern.

I know, this sounds like a "dog eating my homework" scenario, but my stomach and psyche continue to be in tight knots--

And this is not the right time to do this procedure ... and based on the numbers, we will see if I need to reschedule that test.

My regular doctor even told me to hold off on seeing the urologist in the first place, and so, my rush to get this over with helped put me into this pickle I found myself in.

So it is all on me, at least until.mid-September.

And again, I have not told you the full story, which is much worse--if it possibly can be--than the one I described.

I will use my now-free Monday to speak to management here where my family and i live about what i went through.

Call me chicken, call me negligent, call me a procrastinator or what you like, but under these horrid circumstances, I believe I am doing exactly the right thing.

I am just too stressed out right now to have this procedure done today.

And my prostate, my car, and my head agree with me entirely.