What a day! My radiologist for the ethanol ablation was not available, so they matched me up with someone else. He turned out to be excellent...so excellent that he questioned the treatment and by the time the appointment was done, we canceled the ethanol ablation. There's a lot that went into the decision and I trust him. It was a relief to not have to get stabbed in the neck multiple times over two days. Plus it freed up my schedule for more important stuff...like dealing with the "Grapefruit."
I started my day at the scheduling desk in endocrinology, advocating for myself...I needed to be seen by pulmonology. Within a few hours I had a PET scan scheduled for tomorrow to make sure that the Grapefruit is not cancerous...or if it is, that it hasn't spread. I learned that my case was in triage in the pulmonology department. So I went there and talked to a wonderful lady at their intake desk. She assured me that the case was being reviewed and they would contact me to schedule an appointment. I asked her about the pulmonary function test (PFT) that was ordered, but not scheduled. I asked if she could schedule it. She said "Yes, do you want to do it right now?" Sure! Let's get this done! The only downside was I was hungry and I skipped lunch as a result. But that's no big deal.
The PFT was so interesting. My coach (he really was like a coach) was named Mac. We did all kinds of breathing routines, before and after albuterol. It took about an hour. They asked me if I wanted to then volunteer to be in a study to which I replied "no, I'm hungry."
I did stop to write a poem - I don't write often anymore...but this was on my mind:
My neck is black and blue.
My spirit is black and blue.
My emotions are black and blue and purple and red and orange.
My guts feel black and blue.
My brain feels black and blue.
The patients around me look black and blue.
I'm looking forward to green and gold.
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