Taking acetaminophen on top of naproxen (see previous entry) is having some effect. It isn’t making the flare go away, nor is it reducing the inflammation. But, to use a metaphor, if my pain was a particularly noisy neighbour, what acetaminophen does is add a layer or two of soundproofing: it doesn’t make the noise go away, but it does make it harder to hear and easier to bear. I’m functional, if nothing else, even though the current flare continues unabated.

I finally got a tetanus vaccine this morning, a mere six years after my doctor asked me to get one. Let me tell you, getting a vaccine is bloody difficult in this province. Doctors don’t administer them in their offices; instead, you’re supposed to go to a CLSC. Except that Shawville doesn’t have a CLSC, because it has a hospital — and the hospital won’t administer a tetanus vaccine unless you’ve gone and done something that requires it now. The nearest CLSCs are in Bryson and Quyon — 15 and 22 kilometres away, respectively — and they only do vaccinations on days when I’m at work. Grumble, frustration. In the end, I got the jab from the nurse at Jennifer’s school. To have the health care system make so difficult something that my doctor has been insisting on for years is downright surreal.