Monday

Ok, so I'll consider today a win. Dr. Texas's office made an obvious effort to fit me in and expedite required tests and contacted the necessary people in order to make sure this trip out is worthwhile. I really appreciate it and would thus far recommend him. A had a few more x-rays (eesh, I'm going to be glowing by the time I'm 60) and a helpful introduction to Dr. Texas and his staff.

As an aside, I get a little worried with each xray and CT scan as I get older (and it's not just being a radiation-phobe as a nurse). It adds up. Tests are helpful and sometimes essential, but it's still radiation. Radiation is not benign. So for whatever it's worth, please keep this in mind people. Always push the envelope to see if you can go by scans you already have and wear the heavy apron/thyroid cover. Yes, I know there are types of exposures higher than xrays in daily life, but CT scans are still quite high in radiation (anywhere from 30 to 440 times the radiation of a simple xray). Why would you bother to put on sunscreen if you don't bother to ask if you can reasonably pass on medical radiation?

But Dr. Texas has been good about minimizing exposure. About him- I like him! His personality is a particular kind that I struggle with. Not in a bad way, I just struggle with the interactions because they feel awkward and stilted on my part. It's one where you let him do his thing and talk while you keep your questions until he's done. Then he's great about addressing them. He's thorough, intelligent, and clearly dedicated to his patients. I'll take it. "It" being the four part surgery I mentioned in the previous post. It's always comforting when two people do separate exams and come to the same conclusion. Gotta say, it's a first for my knees.

So I think I'll find out tomorrow for sure, but it sounds like they'll probably straighten me out on Monday. Monday at the earliest, anyway. As long as the dogs aren't causing problems with anybody and I can keep costs to a minimum while I'm away, Peleke and I have agreed it's ok. Thank goodness for Southwest Airline's free ticket exchange- my mom doesn't have to come down and kill time with me (until I'm chopped all apart anyway)! So here's to hoping it's on Monday.

I wanted to travel down to see my sister, but the nurse put the kibosh on that since she's getting over the hump of one of those lovely bugs her students feel so compelled to share. The last thing I want is to have to cancel for a stupid virus. So for the next few days, I'll be barricaded in a room somewhere nearby slathered in alcohol sanitizer and drinking orange juice like nobody's business. Anybody got a wii and want to play Mario Kart with me online this week?

Unrelated, I'd like to put this out for people to see. Mercy Ships was doing a screening in Freetown, Sierra Leone (where they go through hundreds of people to pick out ones they can most likely help) when the crowd got out of control and stormed the gates of the stadium. It's heartbreaking because we wish we could help each and every person, but of course it's not possible. How humbling for hundreds of people to have such faith and trust in Mercy Ships that they were so desperate to get in. But how tragic that people were injured and one person even killed. It brings home the reality of their desperation. Please pray for the ship's crew and people of Sierra Leone.