Ugh - Never a Dull Moment

I woke up this morning feeling like Freckles had slept on my head all night. Or maybe I was out partying all night and just don't remember it.

Regardless, I'm shaking off the sleepy dust and trying to pull it back together.

It's all good. I mean I've certainly been worse off before. But that's kind of an odd contest to have with myself, so I'll just say this week has been a little tough but I'm hanging in there.

Yesterday morning Barb and I ran up to "Norlanco" which is a little medical center between Elizabethtown and Mt. Joy. Lancaster General Hospital, which is owned by the residents of Lancaster County, has been buying up just about every medical operation in the county. Norlanco is one of their many tentacles.

Norlanco is convenient because it is only about a 10-minute drive from us, and we can access it driving only rural, country roads. I had to have bloodwork and a urinalysis done.

I was previously given a cup and stuff for me to fill at home before coming in for my appointment. I appreciate that flexibility. But I'll never get used to carrying a cup of pee around with me.

They took a couple of viles of blood for several different tests: blood cell counts; liver and kidney conditions; medicine levels, etc. The lab tech who typically takes my blood now is very slick and always gets me on the first stick. But I do remember when she first started a year-or-so ago. Oh my she'd stick me over and over and over until she found a gusher.

After the lab work we walked to the other end of the med center for my brain MRI. I don't understand why the MRI is so noisy. I've asked. No one else seems to know that I've asked. Once I was told by a tech that it waa because the MRI had gigantic magnets that rapidly collided against one another. (shrugging shoulders)

But it is awful noisy. I have to lie perfectly still for around an hour while the magnets make it sound and feel like there is an earthquake going on around my head.

I used to wake up, hit the shower, and I was out the door. But since cancer came to town I need a little time to wake up. Since Barb has always needed some time to wake up we set the alarm for four a.m. So by the time we got back from the MRI I was already pretty spent and just kicked back and relaxed.

Until late in the afternoon when we had to take off for the Lancaster General Health Campus for my first radiation treatment to my upper spine. I had taken a necessary nap and the trip went well. Radiation was about 30-minutes behind schedule. But once they got me in it took longer to set me up in the exact position, laying on my belly without my shirt and with my hands above my head, then it took for the actual radiation treatment.

The stretch for the day yesterday was definitely having two different things happening at both ends of the day, early in the morning and late in the afternoon.

Today we only have to get in for a mid-afternoon radiation treatment. I'll be timing out my nap and my pain pills to pull that off without a hitch.

Never a dull moment around here!