What's Up, Doc?
Fair warning; if you are looking for a warm and fuzzy inspirational post about Apraxia, this may not be the post to read. Sorry in advance, I am sure if I dug deep I could whip up something. But in all honesty, sharing some inspirational message would not demonstrate what it is actually like being a young adult with a 'funny accent.'
As mentioned previously, anyone can ask or comment on my speech at any given moment. It's not like I can hide it, nor do I want to take a vow of silence, so I just handle the comments when they arise.
Within the past three days, I have had two people ask about my speech. One was at the doctor's office and the other at the gym.
The doctor's office was beyond awkward.
I absolutely hate going to the doctors and I am the biggest twenty-three year old sissy known to man (I usually end up crying over everything there too-shots, blood tests, talking about shots, and looking at needles). You can only imagine how quickly I wanted to finish this appointment. No nonsense, no drama-just a quick trip and I would be free.
Clearly that did not happen, since I am currently blogging about it.
I was asked to do the infamous "pee-in-a-cup" test and return it at the specimen drop off. Easy enough, no shots thankfully, but I could not find this drop-off!
So there I was roaming the halls of a doctor's office with a small plastic container of my urine inside a paper bag. Lovely, I know.
I found and asked a nurse, "Hi, I need to drop this off" and motioned to my small paper bag.
She asked what it was and I responded, "It's a urine test."
She quickly inquired, "A what test?"
Are you serious..I just want to leave! What is a synonym that I can say for, 'urine' -Ah I know!
Then, with some unintentional sass, I loudly said ,"It's my PEE in a cup! Where do I drop it off?"
People in the hall turned their heads to see who shouted the word "PEE." Subtlety clearly is not a skill of mine.
"Oh that!" she exclaimed, while cordially smiling and leading me down the hall to the drop-off.
She casually remarked, "I just do not hear accents often, you know I studied abroad in England back in the day."
I outwardly tried to be cool, calm and collected. She doesn't know any better and frankly, I just want to leave.
I smiled and responded, "Oh I know my accent, I get that often - it's totally fine. You studied in England? How cool! You must have loved it..."
Meanwhile, inwardly frustrated, I was thinking: Lady you seem nice, glad you studied abroad...You know normal people just drop off their pee and would be leaving by now. But no, let's talk about accents and England, while holding my own pee... This is gross... You never even asked me where I'm from. Do not assume I'm from England. Seriously, just take my pee and let me leave
I finally dropped the cup off and left. I did not want to discuss my accent/Apraxia/why I speak the way I do. So I avoided it. The nurse assumed it was an English accent, so I just gave her that one and was happy to leave.
It was such a brief moment about my speech, but similar moments happen all the time. When I just want to quickly finish something and someone remarks about my speech. In fact, it is so common that it seemed silly to blog about. Yet here I am, sharing my urine-in-a-cup experience on the Internet to merely emphasize that Apraxia moments can happen at any given time.
Now, the gym moment, which I will share later, was so much better than my Apraxia moment at the doctor's office. But in all honesty, it may be because anywhere (even the freeway, evening traffic in Downtown Los Angeles) is better than the doctors.
I want to share the truth with you about what it is like on a daily basis with Apraxia and its lasting effects. If you are taking time out of your day to read this, you deserve the truth about what it is like. What better way than to share with you just an average moment of someone remarking on my speech?
As mentioned previously, anyone can ask or comment on my speech at any given moment. It's not like I can hide it, nor do I want to take a vow of silence, so I just handle the comments when they arise.
Within the past three days, I have had two people ask about my speech. One was at the doctor's office and the other at the gym.
The doctor's office was beyond awkward.
I absolutely hate going to the doctors and I am the biggest twenty-three year old sissy known to man (I usually end up crying over everything there too-shots, blood tests, talking about shots, and looking at needles). You can only imagine how quickly I wanted to finish this appointment. No nonsense, no drama-just a quick trip and I would be free.
Clearly that did not happen, since I am currently blogging about it.
I was asked to do the infamous "pee-in-a-cup" test and return it at the specimen drop off. Easy enough, no shots thankfully, but I could not find this drop-off!
So there I was roaming the halls of a doctor's office with a small plastic container of my urine inside a paper bag. Lovely, I know.
I found and asked a nurse, "Hi, I need to drop this off" and motioned to my small paper bag.
She asked what it was and I responded, "It's a urine test."
She quickly inquired, "A what test?"
Are you serious..I just want to leave! What is a synonym that I can say for, 'urine' -Ah I know!
Then, with some unintentional sass, I loudly said ,"It's my PEE in a cup! Where do I drop it off?"
People in the hall turned their heads to see who shouted the word "PEE." Subtlety clearly is not a skill of mine.
"Oh that!" she exclaimed, while cordially smiling and leading me down the hall to the drop-off.
She casually remarked, "I just do not hear accents often, you know I studied abroad in England back in the day."
I outwardly tried to be cool, calm and collected. She doesn't know any better and frankly, I just want to leave.
I smiled and responded, "Oh I know my accent, I get that often - it's totally fine. You studied in England? How cool! You must have loved it..."
Meanwhile, inwardly frustrated, I was thinking: Lady you seem nice, glad you studied abroad...You know normal people just drop off their pee and would be leaving by now. But no, let's talk about accents and England, while holding my own pee... This is gross... You never even asked me where I'm from. Do not assume I'm from England. Seriously, just take my pee and let me leave
I finally dropped the cup off and left. I did not want to discuss my accent/Apraxia/why I speak the way I do. So I avoided it. The nurse assumed it was an English accent, so I just gave her that one and was happy to leave.
It was such a brief moment about my speech, but similar moments happen all the time. When I just want to quickly finish something and someone remarks about my speech. In fact, it is so common that it seemed silly to blog about. Yet here I am, sharing my urine-in-a-cup experience on the Internet to merely emphasize that Apraxia moments can happen at any given time.
Now, the gym moment, which I will share later, was so much better than my Apraxia moment at the doctor's office. But in all honesty, it may be because anywhere (even the freeway, evening traffic in Downtown Los Angeles) is better than the doctors.