Thursday, June 23, 2016

Three Beautiful Things 06/22/16: Appointments and Orders, Our First Taste of Space Reaper, Chest CT Scan Coming?

1. I called central scheduling at Johns Hopkins to schedule a PPD (skin test for TB) and after the scheduler told me she would have to have the Laurel office call me to make an appointment, I decided to drive to Laurel, make the appointment, and find out if my chest X-ray order was ready for me to pick up. I scheduled a test for Friday and the X-ray order was ready.  Excellent! This meant I could drive to Silver Spring and have the X-ray done today. And I did.

2. After going to the clinic and to the radiology center, I arrived back at our apartment home and before too long the Deke and I climbed into the Sube and lumbered on down to DC Brau to have our first taste of Space Reaper, the brewery's new Double IPA, released on Sunday. We both loved it and so we had a half gallon growler filled and headed up to the Diaz's for some dinner and to share the beer. Both Molly and Hiram found the Space Reaper tasty, too.

3. I checked my email early in the evening at the Diaz's house and Towanda, my pre-transplant nurse coordinator, had contacted me. She told me it looked like the X-ray result suggested I have my chest further evaluated with a CT scan. I sent Dr. Cullen, my Primary Care Physician, a message asking him what to do next and asking him how urgent this was.  My chest has a kind of a lousy history what with all the exposure to Zinc Plant toxins that rushed inside me when I got injured in 1973 and the resulting toxic pneumonia and with later bouts of bronchitis and the bacterial pneumonia I contracted in 2009. I hope I find out soon why it appears I'm being recommended for further evaluation.

Thurs. morning update:  As of 10 o'clock this morning (EST), my PCP has not received the report on the X-ray and will be able to tell me what to do next when he receives that report. I'm going to stay calm and deal with the news when I receive it. If nothing else, I'll be at the clinic tomorrow morning and can check up on this in person at that time. Let's all hope for the best and if bad news is about to befall me, I'll do all I can to proceed prudently. Thanks for thinking good thoughts and sending out a prayer or two on my behalf.

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