Tests

It was a long day. Mine started out early this morning because I was to be at Loaves and Fishes to set up for a Women's Empowerment graduation at 8:30. Loaves and Fishes is Sacramento's largest source for services to the homeless and Women's Empowerment is a program that gets homeless women off the street and back into paying jobs. The 8:30 call meant dressing professionally and heading out by about 8:00.

I skipped out before the actual ceremony because I had to be home and ready to take Alex for his little procedure.

Since he had had neither food nor meds for over 24 hours the hands were shaking so hard he looked like he was playing air tambourine. Signatures simply weren't possible and all of the paperwork they were to do before the actual medical stuff were just tiny scribbles. We were very early, about 45 minutes before the appointed check-in time, and they didn't take him in until about 45 minutes after the scheduled time for the thing to start (not the same as the check-in time). The waiting room was full, mostly with people designated to take the patient home and be certain he doesn't do anything silly later in the day. Alex says he was advised not to sign legal documents for at least 24 hours. So much for my plan of tricking him into taking me out and buying a new sports car.

Over an hour and a half after he had been taken back, and after most of the other people had come out and most of the waiting attendants had left, it was just me and one other lady in the waiting room and we still hadn't heard. A couple of times during the wait a gentleman had come into the waiting room and asked for "whoever is with John Doe." He told them he needed a word and took them into another room. Yikes! I was waiting for the little man to come get me to tell me that my husband had so many polyps or whatever that he was going across the street to the hospital. Finally a sweet nurse named Angel came out to see me -- that alone was scary -- and to tell me what the hold-up was. Because of the fragility of Alex's veins combined with the tremor, they had a terrible time with the IV used for anesthesia. Finally the anesthesiologist herself had to insert it. At that time he was almost ready to go in and it would be about an hour.

She suggested I go get something to eat or drink, or whatever. Good suggestion, since by then I had read every copy of People magazine in the waiting room and neither Sports Illustrated nor Working Mother much interested me. I thought it unfair to eat when my poor starving husband couldn't, but I did go for a walk to kill time. When Alex finally did come out and was taken to the car in a wheelchair we had been there nearly five hours. He knew all about the nurses and had become quite the favorite with them.

We came straight home where he ate (mild food only for 24 hours, no dairy) a turkey sandwich, apple slices, and an entire can of chicken noodle soup. He has nothing scary going on and his colon is very healthy for a 70 year old man.

Now it is on to the next testing bout and next procedure. I strikes me that at our age we almost look forward to all of these doctor visits. They are the core of our social life and make up the background for much of our dinner conversation. We really need a cruise or something.