Medical Misadventures...

Thursday, August 19:

I had my annual visit to my kidney cancer surgeon. He said that things are looking good and reminded me that chances of a recurrence are getting smaller each year as are probabilities of a metastasis. Whew! However. He asked me about the CT scans I'd had last year. I had lung nodules at that time as well as an enlarged mediastinal lymph node.

I was supposed to get those scanned fairly regularly and my PCP was supposed to order the scans. I did a couple of those then we (PCP and I) thought that maybe the radiation risk was worse than the possible findings since there was no change. So he stopped ordering the scans and I forgot all about it. Until today.

So my kidney cancer surgeon said that my PCP would no longer be in charge of these scans. He referred me to a pulmonologist. The KCS thinks there will probably be a biopsy. Yuck.

I called the hospital at 11:00am and said that I needed a CD of my scans and they said they'd be ready when I got there. I got to the hospital at 11:20 and their machine had broken. So, I waited while they made a manual copy.

I got home about noon and, of course, the pulmonologist's staff was out to lunch. I left a message for them to ca back but of course they didn't. When I called them back I got an appointment for September 8. I hope that this doesn't signal the beginning of a new medical journey.

Like Scarlet O'Hara I'll think about this...tomorrow.

I finally did it! I've been looking at Macs for a while now. I'm so tired of the Windows constant security updates. On tuesday night there were 35. Egads! I've had 5 different Macs in my amazon.com shopping card trying to decide what to get for a long time. Today I made the decision.

We leave on Saturday for our annual trip to Barbados and I'll be carrying my laptop in my backpack. Since I just had a bit of surgery on my mid-back, I want to keep things as light as possible. My Gateway weighs 7.5 pounds and the battery lasts maybe 3 hours. The Mac weighs 4.5 pounds with a 10-hour battery.

On some kind of whim, I looked at amazon.com again and they said that I could get next day shipping if I ordered by 7:30 pm. I assumed that the shipping costs would be prohibitive but I looked anyway – only $3.99. So, I ordered it and hoped that they were right about next day delivery. I hated the thought of this Macbook sitting on my front porch for 2 weeks if I missed the delivery.

To read about the Barbados trip, please read in my Beautiful Barbados Blog.

Beautiful Barbados

Beautiful Barbados:

..."About 11:30 we arrived home, exhausted and achy from too much airplane sitting. But, we're here!"...

Beautiful Barbados

Beautiful Barbados: "Whether it was the pounding rain or the nagging reminder that I hadn't yet written the post about the races, I woke up very early this morning. I guess the rain was a part of one of the hurricanes that are out at sea somewhere - Hanna or Ike. Gustav had already been past Cuba and headed towards New Orleans. Maybe it was just rain.

Anyway, I woke up early and wrote my last blog entry. When I went online to upload it, I found that my hacked site and my 2 sites with the error messages were back up thanks to the hosting company. WooHoo! That takes a lot off my mind."

Beautiful Barbados

Beautiful Barbados:

"...I had some trouble getting to sleep last night. It was a little warmer and my sunburn is getting a bit itchy so I tossed and turned for awhile. At some point, I noticed a pain/pressure in my chest. It feels sort of how I would imagine it if my lung got pinched in my ribs. Not a big pain but there. That led me to thinking about my cancer and the possibility that it metastasized to my lungs. Oh, joy. I started trying to think about where my lung nodules but couldn't remember. I think I have a CT scan in my future!..."

Beautiful Barbados

Beautiful Barbados:

"Monday, week one
Monday, August 25, 2008

Of course yesterday didn't go as planned. After much haggling with his wi-fi in the lobby, Tom got a network cable from the front desk. The rest of the afternoon he was online or making phone calls.

I spent the time dipping in the pool, reading, napping. I did something I have never done here - I got a sunburn! The weather was so breezy and cool and I was out in my bathing suit. It never occurred to me I might get a burn."

Read the rest of this post here http://beautiful-barbados.blogspot.com/

We're here in Barbados!

WooHoo!

Our cab yesterday was for 5:30 so it was a very early start. Everything went smoothly, though. Not a long layover in Charlotte, either, which was good. I got a small nap on the second plane and I was surprised when we started the descent nearly an hour before our published time of arrival.

Customs and Immigration were faster than normal, too, but the rental car was slower. We had a reservation for a couple of months. Until this year, someone with a placard with our name would meet us right outside. We'd give him the credit card, get our car and go.

Now, in an effort to "modernize" I guess, they have an indoor office like they do at other airports and you have to wait in line with others including those who have no reservation at all. Oh well - "no problem, man".

In the Crane lobby we got to give Theresa a big hug and talk a little to Paul. If I were him, I'd avoid check-in days like the plague.

After we got here and unpacked a little we went grocery shopping at Emerald City. That's so much closer than when we had to go to the JulieN. I got my beloved salt bread (it was commercial, though. It was too later for homemade. Drat!) and a bit of rum punch. I'm so glad to see that Tutti Fruitti milk is still here. I have always loved it but 2 years ago they didn't have it anymore. There were even articles in the newspaper about not having it. That and vanilla milk are 2 long time favorites here.

Tom realized he didn't bring a network cable so he can't go online with his laptop in the room. I didn't bring one because I don't need one. So, I imagine we'll be on a mission to buy one of those here. I imagine when we go to SuperCenter in Warrens later today they'll have one.

He went over to the lobby to check his mail and I fell asleep by the pool. I was exhausted. We had a very easy, fast dinner and I was heading to bed by about 9PM. I went out to say goodnight to Tom and he had fallen asleep while channel surfing LOL

I didn't wake up until around 8AM. Tom was already reading, of course, and had made coffee (YEA!). I debated going back to sleep but got up anyway. Tom's at his regular Sunday morning meeting in Six Roads. I'm sure the woman with the coconut bread will be there and Tom will come home with a loaf. Tradition!

After that, off to SuperCenter for stuff we forgot yesterday and that cable. They're the only store open on Sundays here. Then maybe, finally (finally? we're only been here less than 24 hours LOL) we'll go in the pool. Or I could go now...

Almost ready to head out first thing in the morning

I'm almost ready to go on out trip...except for some laundry, all the packing, watering the plants, delivering Mimi to her sister's house...

How can I be almost ready? I'm not packing much, and all the web work is done, files copied to a SD card, bills are paid, forms notarized and delivered to work, puppy treats bought to take with Mimi, meds picked up, Michael's bound dissertation delivered to Mom, computer program delivered to a friend, last night's podcast uploaded to iTunes.

I'll be online some and I'll be back in 2 weeks. Check out my Barbados Blog if you want to see what we're up to.

So, I can now take a nap!

Coming soon!