Day Seventy-Seven

    ****NAMES CHANGED TO PROTECT PORTLAND'S STREET KIDS*****

In the morning my migraine hasn't subsided even the smallest bit. I eat breakfast then go to the library. Kitten Lady finds me there and we both feel terrible so we go to the clinic in hopes of seeing a doctor. Our lazy eye lady isn't working but they put me on for a standby appointment for the doctor they have on duty. They give me ice packs and cold compresses for my head. They aren't working but I get a new one every twenty minutes or so so that way I can sleep outside without dying in the heat. I get an hour or two of sleep waiting outside. KL sleeps too and Tweak sleeps in the shade of my shadow.

I'd like to comment on what a good kitten Tweak has become. Most of the other street kids tie their kittens up with shoe laces. Tweak never has to be tied up with a leash, shoe string or yarn. She never wanders off, even when we sleep outside. I think that we are pretty damn good at raising kittens. 

The lady at the front desk continues to check in on me and tries to ensure I get the first time slot that opens up. I think this is really sweet of her, I was kind of snippy with her a few days ago. She says she has never had a migraine but her mother had them a lot and she understands they are excruciating. They finally take me back to an exam room. 

It's over an hour before the doctor comes in. I steal some more of the pokey sticks for my ear while I wait then I try to sleep. The doctor that comes in is a red headed hippie. He talks as if he just finished smoking a blunt. He says he wants to put me on migraine pills that will help the blood vessels in my brain do something that I forgot to listen to. I'm really happy that he is wanting to prescribe something that deals with the cause of my migraines rather than just throwing another narcotic at me. Sometimes I get irritated with doctors for always throwing pain medications at me but never looking at the cause of my pain.  

KL and I go to the grocery store to pick up my medication. On the way I tell her about the doctor saying, "He totally poked some smot before he saw me."

She starts laughing and it takes me a minute or two to figure out what I said. I love my dyslexia sometimes. We laugh the whole way to the store. I take my pill as soon as I get them. I can take another in two hours if the first one doesn't work. We go to the library to mess around on the computers. When the library closes twenty minutes later we go to #2 for dinner. I pass out on the couch. 

I ask the staff if I can stay late to rest. I must look terrible because they let me. I take a second pill when the time comes. This upsets my stomach. I stagger to Whole Foods where I get some ginger soda and pot stickers. I force myself to eat even though I don't want to because I haven't eaten at all which is probably why the pills caused so much nausea. I down the ginger soda. I feel a tiny bit better.

At eight I head toward shelter, not because I want to but because I need to see KL before it's time to go in. We hardly saw each other, and when we did we were sleeping. I find her crossing the street to the benches we sit at. I pick up Tweak and give her love saying, "I missed my baby girl."

"Well fuck you too." KL says to me. I stick my tongue out at her. 

I try to see if shelter will let me up early since I'm feeling so crummy but they won't even bring me down a piece of toast. I wait until it's time to get KL into shelter. Houdini comes by saying he is going with one of the guys to boost bikes and try to make money. "Ooo," I exclaim, "Get me one!" Then I realize what they are doing and I stop myself. I'll steal from corporations but not people. That's not how I want to get a bike. 

I go to McDonalds and eat an ice cream cone hoping it will settle my stomach. It is scientifically proven that ice cream fixes everything. In shelter I take my sleeping pill and lay in bed. I'm asleep before 9:30pm.

--mm