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from one appointment to the next


Blonde Eyes

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YIKES! The wee hours of the morning seem to keep getting wee-er! But I so love the quiet and the peacefulness of this time.

 

Tonight (this morning?) I'm up because I had a shot in my hip yesterday for bursitis. YOUCH! That was surely painful. But it's MORE painful now. The doctor gave me a prescription for Lortab. Normally, one Lortab will have me dead to the world, but after two, I'm still in considerable pain and not sleeping. That is so strange for me. I have no idea why I'm not sleeping deeply.

 

The results of my bubble test were perfect. I have no shunting in the heart, so the ASD repair is working well! I'm so relieved.

 

I had my MRI on Monday, but don't have the results yet. I should know something tomorrow. Knowing now that the repair is closed, I'm not worried about him finding anything. Dh is still unconvinced.

 

I had one of those stroke recovery moments on Monday before the MRI. Dh took me to Arby's for lunch. I saw that a man walked in quickly in front of us as we were coming up to the door, but then didn't think about that again. Dh and I were standing for a long time in front of the menu/order area, trying to decide what to eat.

 

Since we live in South America, when we come back for a visit, EVERYTHING is new and we have no idea what we want to eat! So, when I finally decided on the Reuben sandwich, I stepped up to the counter to order. I'm right side blind since the stroke, but have adapted to the point that sometimes I forget to scan my environment before I walk, which often leads to trouble.

 

I walked up to the counter and I thought the lady was talking to me, when she said, "May I take your order?" So I began blathering on about what kind of side dish I could get with a combo, while dh is a few steps behind me calling out, "Lisa, Lisa, Lisa, Lisa, Lisa, Lisa," getting louder each time. He had just reminded me about 4 times that I wanted combo number 10, so I'm thinking to myself, "OK, I got it....combo 10!" Does he think I am recovering from a stroke and have no short term memory or something? :)

 

So, I'm about to turn around and tell him that if he says, "Combo 10" one more time, I'm gonna rip off his head and spit down his neck (in a good way :) ), when I turn my head to the right and see the guy who passed us coming in standing right next to me ready to give HIS order!

 

I could have crawled under the counter out of embarrassment. I began to apologize all over him and tell him I didn't see him standing there (I'm SURE he believed that one!). He was sweet and assured me it was no problem but that he was in a hurry and had to get to work, etc. I didn't bother to go into the long story I sometimes feel compelled to tell people when I blunder like that: that I had a stroke that affected my right side and I'm blind on that side and that I really had NO idea he was there, etc. I figured if he really had to get back to work, it would only prolong his order and my embarrassment.

 

I just slithered away behind him and tried not to look his direction anymore and focus on my fear of the upcoming MRI! Well, dh did his best to warn me of what I was doing! If only I would listen!

 

I had the MRI after being at the imaging center for more than 4 hours waiting. It was ridiculous. They had to call my cardiologist, who said they would have to look up my chart, have the doctor look at it and call back. We asked them (in person) the day of my bubble test to please fax something to the imaging center to clear me for the MRI. They said they would do it right away. They didn't do it at all!

 

So, while they were waiting for that, they had to call the neurologist to get an order. Did he fax an order over or send me with one? No, he didn't. Sigh.

 

So, while we are waiting for all that, people are passing me up in the MRI line. I have lots of time to worry about whether they will sedate me or if they will have to keep pulling me out of the tube. No one told me it was an open MRI.

 

Thankfully, so much time passed while I was waiting, I had dh go home and get me a clonazapam, one of my meds for Restless Leg Syndrome. It makes me sleepy, so I thought it would be a good calming agent for me. I worried so much that my legs would start firing off during the test and I wouldn't be able to lie still.

 

Thankfully, once I got approved, I had no problems at all except staying awake! I was completely sedated at my previous MRI, but I guess if you are not completely sedated, if you fall asleep while having a brain scan, you blink too much and I moved my head around a bit as well. She kept having to do them over and tell me to not go to sleep this time! She was really sweet and would keep calling out to me, "You aren't sleeping are you?" It was all I could do to keep from dozing off.

 

The second part of the MRI was for my lower back, looking to see why I'm having so much hip pain. She said I could sleep as much I wanted to for that one, so it went by very quickly as I was off to the land of nod.

 

So, today, dh, oldest ds and I made our way to Birmingham/Tuscaloosa (Alabama) to pick up his fiance and see their new apartment, where she works, and where he will go to school in January to start his master's program in choral conducting.

 

Their apartment is just darling, a small first floor, 2 bedroom apartment. First apartments are so exciting and the one that always seems so special to us as we grow older. It's the place where we make our first memories together as a family. I told them to take lots of pictures there, as they would want to remember this place and all the joy they will experience.

 

Tomorrow we will do some shopping and then back down toward the gulf for the pre-wedding activities. We pick up youngest ds on Thursday night (with our Rottweiler in tow) at the airport, and then we will pick up middle ds and his wife on Friday night after the rehearsal dinner, coming from Germany. This will be the first time middle ds and oldest son's fiance have met. And it will be the first time in a year and half all of us have been together at the same time. We are so excited.

 

The time will fly by, as there will be less than 24 hours before ds and his new wife are off to their honeymoon. But it will be sweet and cherished. We plan on taking LOTS of video!

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