Thursday, August 15, 2013

Ain't Got Time to Die...Sing With Me

I had almost forgotten how to drive in rain but it's like riding a bike and it all came back to me last night.  Thankful for the HOV lane that's for sure.  This morning I'm enjoying the overcast skies because even though I know it is hot outside, it helps me imagine the cooler days that are farther down the road.  Come October, come.

Yesterday, I experienced the Med Center in the afternoon.  I pretty much schedule appointments toward mid morning.  It was a long afternoon but it was bookended with relatively fast valet parking.  No long line when dropping off and I barely had time to get my Diet Coke before seeing Sequisha coming down the ramp when I was leaving.  Side note: how come the term 'ramp up' is over used, but hardly ever if never have I heard the term 'ramp down' used in a descriptive way?  The waiting room wasn't as packed as in the morning but I noticed the few who had signed in before me had 3:00 appointments.  Good night, who wants to sit for hours in a boring old waiting room?  Even the receptionist said to several people as they signed in after me, you know your appointment isn't till 3:30 don't you?  One thing that did not change, I was the youngest patient sitting there and I ain't no spring chicken.  You know you are in good hands when your doctor is the one teaching and speaking on his specialty to others in the medical field.  He was running late from his speaking engagement and I was the first one in our waiting room crew to be called back behind the golden door.  My appointment had been an early afternoon one and I have no clue what time those who had the 3:00-3:30 ever got to go home.  Some were still sitting there when I left at 4:30.  I had brought my birthday card from Anthropology for 15% off my purchase and had dreams of spending time looking through all the cute non clothes items, cause that's what I shop for in Anthropology.  Instead, after my appointment, I drove downtown and picked up Roy.  We had a lovely dinner at Buffalo Grill and then drove home in the heavy downpour but we were thrilled to see the rain. 

The gracious hand of the Lord was so evident to me yesterday at the doctor office.  Once you get behind the golden door, there is a bit of a process before you see the doctor.  First, they go over all kinds of stuff in your charts.  My file is rather thick.  My blood pressure was rockin it and when I say rockin, I mean it was so good.  Then another nurse brings in the EKG, hooks you up and takes the reading.  And then you wait....this was the first time I hadn't been in a room with a view of Rice University, I had no windows to help pass the time.  Fortunately, I had my Nook and if I had so desired I could have read ancient history from People magazine circa 2008.   Or even a ton of heart pamphlets.  I amused myself by reading a mystery and texting.  I could hear the doctor's voice in the hallway so I knew I would be on the clock soon.  We had a great visit and appointment.  I told him about my ortho appointment last week and the time map Dr. Smith has for my knees which also involves using an anti-inflammatory.  Then I kind of blank out on the next portion cause it all revolved around math and I would nod and say uh huh at the appropriate times but the bottom line is, my medium to high risk of having a stroke.  That does not include don't have a cow, man!  Thus, I can take care of my knees, he took me off blood thinner medicine and I take two baby aspirins a day.  I love chewable orange.  Then the last week of August he is going to put a internal loop recorder in my chest.  It's a relatively minor procedure but friends look forward to one of those after anesthesia phone calls.  And the day they scheduled me, Roy just happened to have scheduled to be off.  Ah, the gracious hand of the Lord.  Jokingly I asked if the government could track me or would it be more like being micro-chipped like  cats and dogs for identity?  Because if so, I am a rather boring person who rarely goes anyplace interesting.  Or maybe a tracking device for our church because we attend The Loop campus, get it, internal loop recorder....OK, so it's not that good or funny. 

So, this is where you find me this morning, in the proceed mode.  The implant kind of threw me...dare I say it????....for a loop...  I never knew there was such a thing and I thought I would be walking out of that office saying, see ya in a year.  I will say this, at the end of appointments with my therapist, I always looked forward to those words of encouragement and affirming my progress while she hugged me.  Yesterday, as I walked toward the golden door to leave, as the doc was going into another room, he called out my name.  I turned and he gave me a thumbs up and said, you've done so good!  You've worked hard, you've hurt hard but you always came in with a smile and humor.  Most probably you should have died or had a life changing stroke but your attitude and outlook was the difference between you and most.  Keep it up!  Wow!  That totally took me by surprise and it made my steps a little lighter and put a song in my heart.  Wait, when I have the internal loop recorder will it be able to record the song in my heart?  Hope so....

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