"Your car is ready!"

What a welcome phone call that had been this morning! Woohoo!!!

"But I thought the part wasn't even arriving until today?"

Me, too, but Michelle of Rincon Transmission said it must have arrived after hours on Friday. So they went to it first thing this morning! I called Smitty right after her call and he was finishing up at his shop and available to come get me to take me to my Saturn. What great timing!

"Wow."

And when Michelle gave me the invoice, the balance due was ZERO. I kept looking at it, waiting for the numbers to change, but they didn't! I've never had a bill from car repairs for zero dollars before. Mind blown! They had even waived the diagnostic charge to verify that the shift cable was the culprit. Wow.

"Wow!"

I went straight from there to the AMC Cinema. I had a little over two hours until my long overdue appointment with Dr. Cobb and I didn't want to go home. I wanted to be closer to his office, you know? So, I watched the 11:45 AM screening of "Gail Daughtry And The Celebrity Sex Pass", as that would put me out in plenty of time.

"Really? And how was it?"

Actually not as inane as I'd imagined, though I doubted that a couple of hairdressers like her and her pal would have the funds to gallivant around like they did. There were quite a few well-known actors in it, too - Jennifer Aniston, Elizabeth Perkins, John Slattery, and, of course, Jon Hamm, her 'celebrity crush'. The part I liked most was the nod to "The Wizard Of Oz", with him as the one granting wishes to the ones in her foursome. The end, with him in a hot air balloon, coming to steal her away from her wedding, was pretty cool, too.

"Sounds like a hot mess, to me, but I'm glad it distracted you."

Me, too. I went straight to the heart doc afterward, even though I knew I would be 30 minutes early. That worked out just fine! They took me in straight away and I was all done, EKG and talk with him, just a few minutes after my scheduled appointment time of 2:30. And to think, I had been so stressed about how I would get to it that I'd slept badly last night.

"Why were you stressed? You know that Christina said she would come from Hinesville to get you there."

Yes, I know, but I hated asking her to do that. It had been such a relief to be able to call her and tell her those hoops wouldn't need to be jumped through. She has both girls going to camp this week, so either her or Anthony would have to pick them up, and whichever did that would send the other to come for me. Just too much hoopla, I thought.

"Yes, but that was her choice to make. As she told you, "I love you enough to come to Savannah any time." She really is the best."

She really is. I am so blessed to have her in my life. Now, I'm going to watch an episode of "Shakespeare & Hathaway" before this last-minute meeting at Two First Posts that Doug has called. Later!

finishing the day the way i'd planned

"Um... isn't that one of the sticky pads used for an EKG?"

 

Yes, it is. That and another one was still stuck to me after the orderly rolled me in a wheelchair to my car.

 

"An orderly?! You mean, like at a hospital? And why did they release you to your Subaru instead of to your brother or someone?"

 

Yes, an orderly, St. Joseph's Hospital, where I've been since yesterday afternoon. My PCP over at the Savannah VA sent me to the Emergency Room so they could do bloodwork and an ultrasound to check out my spleen. Those departments were already closed after 2 PM at the VA center.

So, to St. Joseph's I went, explaining what was needed. Instead, the on-call doctor (Dr. Salas) at the hospital mistakenly thought I was having a heart attack, even though none of the symptoms said that. Yet another case of someone looking at my weight and thinking the wrong thing. They did an EKG, a chest X-ray, and an MRI of pelvis and abdomen, as well as the blood draw. None of those, by the way, came back with any problems. 

Nonetheless, after keeping me NPO since my arrival at 4 PM, in case she thought my chest needed to be ripped open, she finally decided to check me out of the ER exam room and into a hospital room about 10:30 PM. And that was a shared room, so the woman in there was asleep when they wheeled me in. Such a nightmare.

I objected, of course, as I had plans for today, but they didn't listen.

 

"Oh, no! This was the day of luncheon at The Pirates' House with Sisters of Faith, wasn't it? With the trolley ride after? That you'd paid $50 for as part of your bday68 gift to yourself. Oh, no. Were you out in time for that?"

Oh, no. My lunch meal at the hospital, eventually, was a good one, a meal suitable for Thanksgiving, too. But I didn't get that until after 1 PM. No breakfast, nothing since the deli machine roast beef sandwich on white bread that an ER nurse gave me before shuttling me upstairs. (Sigh.) I woke up this morning to a cardiac stress test, as the new doc (Dr. Rice) was following along on that wrong trail, too. Anyway, that meant lying on a hard plastic table for the CT scan before the chemically-induced stress test, then lying back on that rigid surface for a post-test CT scan. I felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to my kidneys.

Dr. William Crosland, the cardiac surgeon who'd actually seen me briefly back in 2022 (before I became Dr. Cobb's patient) came in and pronounced me good to go. Well, kinda sorta. He wanted to have an ultrasound of my heart, just to be on the safe side. The two techs - one with experience, one a student - did that after my turkey and dressing. That came out fine, too. I kept telling them my heart was good. Apparently, so was my spleen. All they found was a "mild urinary tract infection".

I kid you not.

 

"I still don't understand why they released you on your own today."

 

Because I asked. Nurse Jane had me call Smitty and Mary to come for me, and I asked her why I couldn't just drive myself home. After all, I'd not had a single drop or milligram of any opioid drugs, so I was fully cognizant. So, she asked and they okayed it! I called my brother and told him they were letting me drive myself, so no need for him to make the trip. That was good for both of us! That meant he wouldn't have to make a second trip to help me fetch my car.

"Good deal! I'm so glad you asked about that!"

 

Me, too. I phoned him, Tony, and Christina when I got to my car. Then I bopped over to the AMC. See, on Tuesday, I'd booked the Thursday, 2 PM, first screening of "The Mandalorian and Grogu", in 3-D Big-D, along with a kidpack, with a bottle of water and Junior Mints. That snack was free to me, as it made use of my AMC Reward points, plus a gift card from AARP.  

As I wasn't released from St. Joseph until just before 5 PM, that meant my reserved kidpack had been sitting on the rack, waiting for me, for 3 hours. My choice was to go and retrieve it or just kiss goodbye to that money, too, as I'd been forced to do for The Pirates' House luncheon with the Asbury Sisters. I was not willing to do that. 

 

"I understand."

Plus, I had an American Legion meeting to get to. This one was just for Post 36, my post, and I felt I had to be there. Something to eat and drink would be a good thing. As it was, just Doug and I showed up. He had his dog, Sam, there, too. We were the only people there until the Marines started showing up for their 7 PM meeting. Really nice to see them wearing their dress red jackets! I even talked to a couple of them, then ducked out. It's been a long couple of days, and nights, mostly in a 68 F environment, and I wanted to go home and get back into normalcy.

 

"I know what that means: the CBS line-up, with 'George & Mandy' and 'Ghosts', and "Elsbeth', right?"

 

Right. Nothing like being in a hospital to make a person exhausted. I look forward to being back in my warm little house, in my warm bed, tonight. Can you believe I had four "blankets" on my hospital bed and was still freezing? Just craziness.

 

"Well, you sleep well tonight, dear. You need that."

 

Thanks. Tomorrow is another day. I am thankful about one thing. Remember that I'd called Dr. Whipple's office about my leg still bothering me and my concern that the inguinal hernia was back? Well, I did, last week. This afternoon, about 2 PM, his office had called to talk about that. They were thrilled to find out that an MRI of my pelvis and abdomen had been run yesterday. That meant they wouldn't have to wait to order a new one, they could simply look at that one! That's one less doctor appointment for me.

 

"And you also know now that nothing bad was found with your heart or anything south of it. That's a pretty good birthday gift from the Universe."

 

Yes, you're right.

There are no accidents. 

i thank You, God.

frog or lizard?

"Amphibian or reptile?"

Sure, we could go that route, but I was keeping it simple.

"And just what are we talkin' 'bout?"

The photo on the wall of Examining Room 5 at Doctor Cobb's place.

"Oh, was this the day of your discussion with him about your 30-day heart monitor study? I was wondering when that was coming up."

Actually, that was yesterday afternoon! It went very well, too. He told me the study only found two instances of atrial fibrillation... and I was able to tell him when those were! That surprised him!!! I'd brought my journal and my exercise calendar with me and looked it up. Sure enough, those two instances were both on the night following my installation of the monitor pad in a vertical orientation on top of my sternum. I told him the weight of that pad felt like someone pressing on my chest and made me feel like I was suffocating! That had woken me in a panic twice in the early hours of August 27 and it had taken a while for me to settle back to sleep. That's why I called Boston Scientific the night of the 27th, because the thought of trying to sleep with that vertical mount was not what I wanted. I'm glad I switched over to the electrodes! He was glad that I only had that one limited time of a-fib action. Me, too!

"So, does he think you need to go back on the Sotalol?"

Nope! He still wants me to keep taking the Eliquis, but he doesn't think I need the Sotalol. I think he thinks he cured me the last time he zapped me. I think the a-fib is absent because the weather has been warm. I guess we'll both see in a month or so. The nights are already going into the low 40's, so it's just a matter of time before those are the highs of the day. I already find myself limiting my night-time exposure to cooler air.

"Guess folks won't be wearing skimpy costumes this year. You'll be able to spot the locals from the northern transplants!"

Hahahaha! Yes, I guess so! So, what's your guess about the picture of the critter on the wall at his office? 

"I think it may be a lizard. I feel sure I'm seeing little legs, not flippers."

Yeah, I told nurse Robin that's what I decided, too. At first I thought it was a frog, but the more I looked at it, the more I saw lizard characteristics. In particular, there's the eyelids. I don't think I've ever seen a frog with such fancy lids. However, when I was in Panama, I had noticed plenty of lizards skittering about with fancy eyelids. Maybe I'll post the pic on fb and see what folks say... that will be fun!

thanks, boston scientific

Yesterday was the final day of the study prescribed by Dr. Cobb. 

I had expected that it would end in the afternoon, so I was prepared to ship it all off with UPS after being with Dawn.

Nope!

The heart monitor's phone gave me that message about 8 AM.

Sweet!

I went back to sleep for another hour.

Then I watched "Drew Barrymore", whose guest made 'pierogi pasta' using ground beef, onions, and diced potatoes with regular pasta.

I had onion pierogi, so breakfast was this!

Then to check the WSAV weather song.

For the Fall Equinox, temperatures would be mild, but a return to summer heat was coming up fast.

That meant I needed to break out the Ryobi at least once more.

Drats.

Oh, but here's a funny thought I had!

Some random guy came by a couple of days ago, asking if he could cut the grass.

The next time that happens, I'm going to smile real big and give him a hearty handshake as I thank him for that gracious gift of taking care of that for me!!!

I wonder if the guy might be embarrassed to ask for money after that?

LOL! 

Anyway, after the weather check, I popped the heart monitor and all its paraphernalia into the pre-addressed, postage-paid box, dropping it off at my favorite UPS.

Then to take in "The Long Walk".

Yikes... what a hard movie to sit through.

Maybe I'll have to abstain from Stephen King movies in the future.

Not that it wasn't well made... it was just incredibly brutal.

Ugh.

I decided to go to Planet Fitness to work off some of that sadness.

I'd finally returned to the Purple Planet of Victory last Saturday, kinda sorta starting a reboot of that part of my year.

I also used the hip abductor to try to stretch out my hamstrings.

My right leg has been a problem all month.

After I was done with the machine and treadmill, I still had energy - and daylight - on my side.

Time to tackle the front yard, armed with a fully-charged Ryobi!

I know this photo doesn't show my progress very well, but progress I made!

I got most of this half of the front yard mowed, as well as a good portion on the left side of the frame.

I'll try to catch the rest in the next day or two.

Now, time for an evening of relaxation!

The two Janes are on tonight, and they'll be a nice distraction from the echo of carbines in the movie earlier. 

Borg-lite

At last the electrodes arrived from Boston Scientific!!!

The Labor Day weekend really threw a monkey wrench into the mail.

The end of my cardiac study will be September 21, even though that is short of the 30 days that Dr. Cobb had prescribed.

That simply cannot be, as the company only allows the equipment to be out of their grasp for 35 days, maximum.

Last Tuesday was the last full day of monitoring, as I was plagued by "poor connection" alerts all day on Wednesday.

I'd hoped the new Borg set would arrive Saturday, as it was coming by UPS, but, no.

It did arrive earlier than expected today, though!

I've attached it to my body as proscribed: monitor affixed to dangle from a holder on my right chest, a green electrode affixed near-central along the right lower ribs, then a red electrode paralleling the same area on the left lower ribs.

It's much more comfortable than the other configuration ever was!

All of it is very light, and even the monitor feels lighter now that it can dangle.

They've included a plethora of little sticky electrode pads for me to use.

I wonder if I'm to replace them every other day?

Maybe they expect me to be super sweaty?

Well, it is September, even though it's a bit cooler than usual.

I do intend to mow the back yard some more tonight, as I did last night.

The grass is so crazy tall that the Ryobi has been struggling mightily.

Plus, I don't want to leave mulch, so I've been using the bag attachment, which has to be emptied at least four times before the battery dies.

Slow slogging, for sure, but I'll keep at it.

I wonder what that will look like in the cardiac monitor readings?

Guess me and Dr. Cobb will have an interesting talk in October!

(smile!)

waiting for the electrodes...

Yeah, you heard right: electrodes.

That little heart monitor is a bit too heavy when placed vertically on my chest.

I have enough weight in that area as it is, if you catch my drift.

I'd moved it to that location on Tuesday morning, after my shower.

That's when I removed the horizontally-aligned one that nurse Robin had put on me and that I'd been able to keep on for the mammogram on Monday.

When I removed it, the hypercolloid adhesive took with it a layer of epidermis - OUCH!!!

So, placing it back in that position was not an option.

Vertical it would go, right up against the sternum.

Yeah, that was a mistake.

I woke up several times Tuesday night in a panic, convinced that a hand was pushing down on my chest.

Honestly, it was like the A-fib was trying to come back on me! 

Then, all day yesterday, the heart monitor's phone repeatedly alarmed to let me know I had "poor connection" between the monitor's pad and my skin.

That was no doubt because the area itched like crazy, as my sensitivity to the adhesive had finally kicked in.

Just after 11 PM, I called the BodyGuardian hotline for help.

The thought of trying to sleep another night with the monitor weighing heavily on my chest was weighing heavily on my mind. 

Sherry was amazing, speaking in a calming voice throughout our 54-minute session and reassuring me that others also had these issues.

She had first suggested a "bridge" for the monitor, but she thought that might lead to the same problems I'd already experienced, as it used the same adhesive and the same placement areas.

The winning solution was to revert to electrodes.

Only two would be needed and they would attach to a connection point on my right chest, with a USB port for the monitor to plug into and dangle.

Meanwhile, she told me to go ahead and remove the vertical strip, remove the monitor and leave it on the charger, and turn off the monitor's phone.

Help would be forthcoming in two or three days.

Let my skin heal and let me relax, she told me.

So, that's what I did.

Yes, four days have been added to the length of my study, so the end date will be more like September 21, instead of the 17th.

That's fine.

At least I had a peaceful night's sleep last night.

con amor, desde el cielo

As i was waiting for the bfe to join me for lunch and a play, i lifted my eyes skyward, as i so often do.
And a message from beyond was written for me.
A message of love, still, always.
I had noticed the swiftly racing clouds earlier, rain makers leaving town for other environs, racing, racing to arrive on time to the next area due for a soaking.
Now, there was a message writ for my eyes! Could I capture it forever, to share with others, to read again and again? Would the message dissipate before i could even open my phone and take aim?
Oh, please!!!
Please stay for just a few seconds!
And the message did, barely managing to maintain its integrity, to preserve the delicate lace doily of a heart occupying the massive portion of sky above me as the air swirled around it.
I don't think Mama knew how to tat.
Maybe it was crocheted from those stray wisps of water vapor...
for me, from her, as another Mother's Day apart draws near.