"Just keep me wondering' "

soccerfreaks
soccerfreaks Member Posts: 2,788 Member
(Allman Brothers Band reference)

GastroPod ran me off to a joint that could do some blood work, so he would have it at 11AM for our meeting. If things weren't scary before, they aren't now.

So what?

Um, I DID buy two cases of beer today and intend to enjoy them completely, so bear with me or not.

Thing is, when I went in for the blood work, it turns out I had my very first allergic reaction to iodine or whatever it is that they use to irradiate you. It didn't take long either. By the time I left CATScanDu, my right arm was as flaky as an Italian pastry and there were what I would call, for want of a better phrase, as blood bruises on my arm. Lots of them. Clearly, in my opinion, an allergic reaction, one I don't want to reveal in the future so that I don't have to go through a bunch of crap to get my next CT scan.

I can live with it.

Nothing but a thing.

GastroPod did not want to keep me wondering, wondeful dude that he is (and with an appointment scheduled for tomorrow), so he sent me off for blood work. I have the order, and plan to find out what he was looking for, but in the meantime, it was a most interesting experience.

I hate waiting, as you do. And when I walked up to the front desk of a place that is supposed to be part of my very own hospital network, my very own insurance network, and they wanted me to fill out forms AND wait for a fax from GastroPod's office, I was pretty pissed off.

I expressed myself, you might say, without being too offensive, mind you, to the young lady behind the counter. Why, I asked, do I have to keep repeating the same stuff over and over? Why, I asked, is my order for the blood work not already here?

No answers. I was Mr. Bellicose, I suppose.

And then, some beautiful lady came to the counter, while I, of course, sat in the nearest seat, hoping for my name to be called, and they asked her all of these questions of a personal nature, and I thought, my God, if I were a stalker, she would be in deep kimshi.

And so I expressed as much. I said, "Your privacy protections suck. This lady just gave you enough information that any pervert would have her on their radar."

They apologized to her, I think for ME, but she said, "No, he is right. I was uncomfortable giving you my bra size." Okay, she didn't say that, but you get the idea. It's incredible what they allow to pass over one side of a desk or partition to another.

And, by the way, when she left, much later, she said thanks to the person that was handling her situation, and made a point to say thanks to me too. So I followed her home.

NO I DIDN'T. But I could have, if I'd been really paying attention.

In my own case, this hospital network acts like it has it all together, but it doesn't (speaking of my own wife's network, by the way), and I had to have GastroPod's people fax over a permission slip for me to give blood.

Geez.

It turns out that blood nurse, who I figured was pretty ticked at me for a number of reasons, is a two-time breast cancer survivor. I loved her immediately (was she lying?). And she did a good stick, so what's not to love.

Tomorrow, my doctor, named after a pirate I think, and I will meet to see what we can do about this nasty little sac or whatever it is.

Clearly he is concerned. Oddly, if it is not cancer, my alert color goes down tremendously, even though my ever-thoughtful, ever-cheerful, wife reminded me that you can die of things other than cancer.

What a babe.

Comments

  • Glenna M
    Glenna M Member Posts: 1,576
    LOL...love your wife's reminder!!!
    I've heard that if you die from something other than cancer it makes you a true survivor and are cured.

    Hoping this is nothing serious and you can continue your drinking :) I wonder if any of the blood work was to determine the alcohol content in your blood...just wondering.

    Keep writing, I've had a good chuckle from each of your posts and it sure feels good.
  • soccerfreaks
    soccerfreaks Member Posts: 2,788 Member
    Glenna M said:

    LOL...love your wife's reminder!!!
    I've heard that if you die from something other than cancer it makes you a true survivor and are cured.

    Hoping this is nothing serious and you can continue your drinking :) I wonder if any of the blood work was to determine the alcohol content in your blood...just wondering.

    Keep writing, I've had a good chuckle from each of your posts and it sure feels good.

    Pancreatic DUI
    Glenna, my sweet friend, I think the blood work was actually to determine the efficiency level of my pancreas, although that it is just a guess. I would submit that had they wanted merely my blood alcohol content, they might have simply invited the police to drop by for a breathalyzer.

    As for my wife and her reminder: kids say the darnedest things :). She hates me, I know she does hahahaha.

    YES we can die of other stuff, but that is not exactly the point. As you indicate, albeit in an ironic way, the deal is to survive cancer, to heck with walking in front of a bus while reading the paper! That stuff just happens.

    Trust me, Glenna, as much as you might like my musings, it is comments like yours that keep me doing this.

    Take care,

    Joe
  • D Lewis
    D Lewis Member Posts: 1,581 Member
    Geeze, Joe
    This just gets better and better all the time.

    Deb (wishing I had a pirate for a doctor)
  • buzz99
    buzz99 Member Posts: 404
    Waiting
    Hope you get good (or not so bad) news tomorrow. In the meantime, you have a lot of beer to drink! Karen
  • Buckwirth
    Buckwirth Member Posts: 1,258 Member
    Glenna M said:

    LOL...love your wife's reminder!!!
    I've heard that if you die from something other than cancer it makes you a true survivor and are cured.

    Hoping this is nothing serious and you can continue your drinking :) I wonder if any of the blood work was to determine the alcohol content in your blood...just wondering.

    Keep writing, I've had a good chuckle from each of your posts and it sure feels good.

    How am I counted
    If killed by a bus?

    I suddenly imagine a special big Pharma hit squad hired to make those trial numbers look good! ;->

    As I understand it, you are not counted at all, you basically get dropped from the cancer database.

    Could be wrong though....
  • soccerfreaks
    soccerfreaks Member Posts: 2,788 Member
    buzz99 said:

    Waiting
    Hope you get good (or not so bad) news tomorrow. In the meantime, you have a lot of beer to drink! Karen

    :)
    You are TOO funny, Karen. I am laughing out loud, literally.

    Take care,

    Joe
  • soccerfreaks
    soccerfreaks Member Posts: 2,788 Member
    Buckwirth said:

    How am I counted
    If killed by a bus?

    I suddenly imagine a special big Pharma hit squad hired to make those trial numbers look good! ;->

    As I understand it, you are not counted at all, you basically get dropped from the cancer database.

    Could be wrong though....

    hmmm
    As they say, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!

    I know this, Blake: as soon as my cancer came back to another place (not another city; another place in my body), I was dropped from a study I'd been in for two years.

    Take care,

    Joe
  • soccerfreaks
    soccerfreaks Member Posts: 2,788 Member
    D Lewis said:

    Geeze, Joe
    This just gets better and better all the time.

    Deb (wishing I had a pirate for a doctor)

    "Life is like a tire swing"
    as Jimmy Buffett sang, and I suppose, in retrospect, he was reiterating something John Prine sang: "You're up one day and the next your down; it's a half an inch of water and you think you're gonna drown; that's the way that the world goes 'round"

    It' all good Deb.

    Take care,

    Joe
  • SASH
    SASH Member Posts: 421 Member

    hmmm
    As they say, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!

    I know this, Blake: as soon as my cancer came back to another place (not another city; another place in my body), I was dropped from a study I'd been in for two years.

    Take care,

    Joe

    Paranoia
    Look carefully in the bushes, you never know who is watching.
  • arndog64
    arndog64 Member Posts: 537

    :)
    You are TOO funny, Karen. I am laughing out loud, literally.

    Take care,

    Joe

    Love reading your post..
    Love reading your post.. Very funny and painfully truthfull all at the same time. Keep em coming.. Have a cold one for me..
  • soccerfreaks
    soccerfreaks Member Posts: 2,788 Member
    arndog64 said:

    Love reading your post..
    Love reading your post.. Very funny and painfully truthfull all at the same time. Keep em coming.. Have a cold one for me..

    :)
    I will. Just don't tell anyone.

    Take care,

    Joe