Road Trip Part III

(one good thing about it is I don’t have to keep thinking of Subject lines, LOL!)

I set the alarm an hour early before going to bed Thursday night. But, that proved to be stupid. It’s true I had to leave the house at 7:00 AM, but since I was NPO from midnight, I couldn’t eat breakfast, take my pills or even have a cup of coffee. So, why get up in time to do all those things? I just wasn’t thinking.

Anyway, I did leave about 7:10 AM and headed for the “D” to get my MRI. I had talked with my brother Joe (after checking with Carl to see if Joe was home or on yet another cruise and he was home). He had agreed to meet me at St. John’s for my STAT MRI.

Luckily, the protesters hadn’t woken up yet and I got there about 7:45 AM. I sat in the lobby until Joe showed up a few minutes later.

I had to fill out the usual medical information forms (who in the hell my age can tell you what medications they take daily much less the date of every surgery they ever had?) I was assigned a very competent nurse who had a magic touch with starting an IV. I can’t remember that last time somebody used a big needle and got it done so quickly! So, I was ready by 9:00 AM but it was 9:40 before the Anesthesiologist finally showed. You always have to wait for them as they are “very important and needed elsewhere first.”

So, she went through her routine of questions. “No, I am not allergic to any medications or latex. I’ve answered that like six times and each person wrote it down, as you just did. Why don’t you read it instead of asking?”

[Sidebar: That was the answer I said in my head, not out loud. I never smart off to nurses or doctors – they have needles and scalpels!]

So, they put me to sleep once I was comfy (lol) on the hard plastic table. I woke up and the nurse said I did fine, except I snored so loud they had to turn the speaker down (there’s a microphone in the tunnel so you can call for help).  I apologized. She gave me  warm apple juice and those cheese crackers with peanut butter from a vending machine to regain my strength. They tasted great! She recommended eating something light at lunch, like a soup and sandwich.

Joe suggested coming to his house for a bit before I tried driving home and offered lunch. He stopped at a popular deli (I didn’t catch the name) near his house to pick up soup Kathy had ordered (clam chowder for Joe and lobster bisque for me).

The soup was excellent! Kathy fixed me a tuna fish sandwich with lettuce on white bread (just as I ordered, LOL). There was something added I couldn’t place. Kathy cleared it up later: it was horseradish! Nice touch and one I will remember. Thanks you both for your assistance today! As I was leaving, she gave me the fresh baked roll that came with my soup.

Joe drove me back to St. John’s and I drove home. I got there about 12:30 PM and drank a large glass of water (they told me to drink a lot for the rest of the day) and finally took my morning pills.

I don’t know if it was the Versed or the Propofal, (the anesthetics they used) but I was wiped out. I changed clothes after treating the cats and took a nap. I woke up at 4:30. I drank another big glass of water and saw I had a voicemail.

I checked and it was from Dr. Khatib. He said he had viewed the MRI and there was NO inclination of inflammation or infection. He said all the cultures were negative and my blood work was fine. He said I could call next week and discuss it, but he felt the pain was probably from developing scar tissue.

It’s like Carl had commented: “sounds like one of my checkups...everything is beautiful, "Then why do I hurt?"

Still, I felt good. Maybe a little stupid. But, I had to check and if there was something going on, stop it at the start. Rather than let it go as long as I did the last time…

It was supposed to snow 1-3 inches starting at 4:00 PM today, but I didn’t see any sign of it. Dinner was Marie Callender’s Swedish meatballs. I don’t know if I mentioned these before, but I apparently had bought two when I got them. So, I knew up front they sorta sucked. That roll from the deli, however, was excellent!

I had some trouble getting the Netflix working. Jake sent me a text to do a shutdown when I asked for help, so I did. That fixed it (thanks!) and I watched another Poirot episode.

I checked outside and it had rained (or something) because the patio was wet, but still no storm. Carl called at 7:00 PM to see how I was doing.

I watched a Brian De Palma film, “The Untouchables” with Kevin Costner and, in what I think was one of his better roles, Sean Connery.

I finished my TV watching with Rock Center on NBC. When that ended at 11:00 PM, I went to bed. I checked outside one last time and it looked like it had drizzled here, but still no snow yet.