Tuesday 9.23.2008

I slept pretty good, and when the radio came on, I wasn't done sleeping. I got up anyway, and got into the shower. We are really spoiled in the United States--or maybe I should say that we are spoiled here in Michigan. I lingered in the shower, enjoying the warm water running over me. My thoughts were--this sure feels good, and--I'm being wasteful and irresponsible with resources--water, electricity to heat the water, sewer, treatment plant--boy, does this feel good.

I got myself ready and went over to the therapy place for my 0730 appointment with Ike. We went into room 2. She looked me over--I think she was surprised at how much fluid had accumulated since Thursday. I told her that my shoulder had started aching again, that I wasn't surprised there was a fluid buildup, because I'm recognising the shoulder discomfort as an indicator. She worked on me for about 40 minutes, moving the fluid out of the deep tissue of the breast. It isn't all gone, though, and I think she was surprised at that, too. Better, but not done. I see her again Thursday. Thank you, Ike, for sharing your gifts.

I went home--Daniel was up and getting ready to go out to do errands. We chatted for a few minutes, he left, I decided to go back to bed for an hour or so.

I did, and slept for another hour or so. When I woke, I felt a bit better, like I had finished sleeping. Cool.

I had some fresh brew, then got ready to go to the health screening event at the Lansing Center. We got there and checked in, and had our screenings. We had an ultrasound of the carotid arteries (the big vessels in the neck, both left and right sides), a 4 lead EKG to rule out atrial fibrillation (a type of abnormal heart rhythm), and a pulse pressure reading to rule out atherosclerosis. This last test was unfamiliar to me. We had an 11x14 size small print list of questions to answer for this screening process; not one question had a reference to any type of cancer history. The technicians were doing there things, wiping off different areas on our skin, using ultrasound dopplers and gel and wiping that stuff off, sticking those tabs on us for the EKG leads then pulling them off, then wrapping something around each upper arm and each ankle. Mind you, there were probably 7 or 8 technicians moving among 3 exam tables that we participants we lying on, and they were cooking along like an assembly line processing us. The technician hooked up something to the thing wrapped around my left upper arm--wait, I said--is that a blood pressure cuff? Yes, she said, we'll check pressures in all 4 extremities. I told her I've had breast cancer...she said, "In this arm?" Yes, I replied. She took the cuff off and seemed like it was a bother, or that it was going to invalidate their test or studies or something. I told her there was nothing on the questionnaire about cancer. She was thoughtful a moment and acknowledged that I was right as she proceeded to the other arm, then each lower leg. The leg cuff was inflated and she used a doppler to catch the pulse (at least, that's my guess).

Done. Simple, painless. We'll get the results in the mail in approximately 3 weeks.

On to a breakout session, scheduled to start at 1:15. We chose "Brand Name vs. Generics", where the guy talked about the differences and similarities and costs, etc. I thought it was interesting, and he was very careful to say that most people don't have problems with generics, and to not make all-inclusive statements.

After a 20 minute break, Daniel went to the Social Security presentation, while I went to Financial Planning. His was finished first and came down to the room I was in, as we were finishing up.

From there we went into the banquet room for dinner, being served at 4:30. Very nice buffet of turkey, fresh steamed vegetable medley, fresh green bean amandine, real mashed potatoes, and several other choices. I was happy there were decent vegetables, and not much seasoning (ie fresh black pepper) used. I enjoyed it.

After everyone had their plates and well into their meals, there was another presentation while we were eating. This one was about market volatility, and why it's so important to diversify investments. When the presentation was done, we were too, and we left.

We got home about 7:30. We chatted a little while I did some food prep, then Dan had the TV on while I wrote here. As of now, I don't have much planned for tomorrow, maybe groceries. I don't think Dan has anything planned either.

My breast is sore and tender from manipulating the tissue, and I'm off to bed soon.

Thank you for reading. Hugs.