Medical progress & visit with my friend Laura

Laura, strong and courageous

I have had four medical appointments this week. My calendar was filled. On Thursday I met an endocrinologist, who specializes in diabetes. He was informative and I learned that my leg arteries needed to be ultra sounded, which I did this morning. On Friday I went to the hospital and had about a five hour procedure, start to finish. It was a persentine nuclear stress test. It basically checks your heart to see if you might have any blockages. It involved an IV, my least favorite procedure and injections, one was radioactive. Although I looked throughout the day, I did not glow.:) The team at this hospital are wonderful. I explained up front that they should expect me to be somewhat neurotic. When they saw how fast my pulse was, they took me seriously. The test went fine and I am hoping that I will get the results from the cardiologist on Monday. I expect they will be fine. After Monday (my fifth medical appointment/procedure in one week) I can have a few days off. I have not been sleeping well and have been very tired. I look forward to that. I am hoping and praying that all tests come back fine.

Last night around dinner time my friend Laura called. Her husband and son were out of town and she wanted me to come visit. It had been two years since we last got together because of my job taking so much of my time and her dealing with a home remodeling that went out of control and other issues. It was so good to see her. I had her birthday presents with me since her birthday was this Thursday but she didn't think she could get together that day. We ordered Chinese food in and just sat and chatted for about three hours. It takes an hour to get there and I wanted to leave before 10:30 because I was so tired. It is the first time in awhile I have driven that far by myself. I am testing out a new blood pressure medication that is in the form of a patch. Yes, it seems odd like I am secretly trying to stop smoking and I am hoping I won't have to keep explaining it to people if they happen to see it. Laura's family are really a handful. Her only son has hemophilia (he has had a difficult life because of the severity of his) and her husband is always looking for her to set things right for him. He is a nice guy but not every woman could handle the pressure as she does. They had gone to the Nascar race and then he went to a bar and had a few drinks. He called her (in NJ) to ask what his room number was and where their son was. We were laughing and rolling our eyes. He got frustrated and hung up. She then had to call her son and have him go locate his Dad, which he did quickly and without a problem. When my son had leukemia I met Laura because both our sons had the same hematologist/oncologist. We have known each other about eighteen years now. It never escapes me that while my son had three and a half difficult years, his illness ended and he was able to go on with a somewhat normal life. Her son will never enjoy one day without concern for his illness. He has changed from the little boy who loved over sized stuffed animals into a young man. He has a steady girlfriend and a new car. He is finally working full time and earning a good living. That does a mother's heart good and her friend's also. Sometimes you just need to sit with an old friend and look at where you've come from and enjoy the moment. That was a big dose of much needed medicine for me. Today I am going to take it easy...have a long, luxuriating bath, listen to music and feel that I am finally moving towards my goal of having all my health issues under control. Let it be.