Posts tagged medical

I’m home, finally. I got to the VA hospital around 11:30 and got right in for my nutritionist appointment. And although I’m trying hard, I’ve only lost 4 lbs since April. So another pep talk and more hand-outs and I need some labs done to see if there’s any improvement in my cholesterol and potassium numbers.

Then they smushed me in to see my doctor. Who, I swear to Vader, said, “Wow, that’s really bizarre!” How comforting. This blister or infection or boil or whatever you call it popped this morning (super ewww grossity) so it wasn’t quite as agonizing to touch but he felt the need to squeeze and poke it while assuring me he wasn’t trying to hurt me on purpose. He really is a sweet man. Being clueless, he decided I needed to have a surgical consult from ENT. Nice fella with his tag-a-long student was a bit gentler and asked me a bunch of questions and decided it is probably a cyst and that I need to come back in tomorrow to see a real surgeon and schedule the removal. And he prescribed a antibiotic so hopefully this will heal faster than last time.

Waited for the ENT guy for an hour. And that waiting room stunk like pee so bad I almost choked. That’s the problem with the VA, all the unfortunate homeless vets who practically live in the waiting rooms. And then I had to wait another hour for the prescription to make its way slowly through the computers and finally get filled.

So tomorrow I get to drive the 30 miles back to the hospital and get my labs done and walk-in the ENT department to consult with a real surgeon and hopefully I’ll never have to do this crap again.

So he told me last visit that today would just be a pre-op conversation. It’s a good thing I took a shower and shaved my legs this morning.

45 minutes after my appointment time . . . he did a quick exam, we discuss what exactly the operation would entail. Grody. You don’t wanna know. I have to be at the hospital 5:30am Monday morning for surgery scheduled at 7:30, and should be in there around 48 hours.

I’ll have Ginnie post something after so y’all know everything went okay, or not as the case may be.

I’m trying not to think about this too much.

Got to Phoenix Memorial Hosp for mammogram 30 minutes early, and even though I told them to take their time, I was in and out before 1:30! Niiiice.

So we zoomed to the other side of downtown to the VA hospital before 2, got my blood work done, popped across the hall to the x-ray for a chest film, and across the hospital to get the EKG and was out of there by 3! DAYUM! Now that’s what medical care should be like for everyone. No sitting in around for 12 hours on MY account.

The only bad part was running all over town in 107° heat and no deodorant. Can’t use deodorant when you’re getting a mammogram. That and being in a black-on-black car w/leather seats. My poor A/C just can’t fight that midday heat.

So, I’ve been baked, squished, poked, radiated, and wired today. Then I got a nap.

Tomorrow I have to get up early and take Venus to the lab for her blood work and then to an appointment. I think Ginnie’s staying over there the rest of the week so I don’t have to share my computer for a few days.

Except Buck’s shop won’t officially open until Thursday so he thinks he’s sitting around here til then. I have got to find something for him to do.