The marvels of modern medicine (not!)

 

Well, I had an interesting afternoon yesterday.

First stop was the nuclear medicine department.  They stuck a needle in my arm and taped it down, for extended use, then administered a dose of some nuclear isotope (it sounded like it had something to do with a neutron bomb at one time).  After twenty minutes or so for it to percolate through my kidneys, they gave me an intravenous shot of a diuretic, to make those organs work overtime, and allow them to monitor how hard they worked in relation to the norm, and to each other.  The only problem with that is that it's a very high dose of diuretic, and it keeps working as long as any of it is left in one's body.  They gave me the shot at mid-afternoon, so it's still doing it's thing.  As I write these words, in the small hours of Friday morning, I'm still having to get out of bed every so often to get rid of excess fluid.  It's hard to sleep when one's bladder is threatening mutiny every time one turns over!

From there it was on to the "regular" imaging department in another building, for a CT scan with contrast to see the current state of my kidneys.  Nothing strange here, of course.  By the time everything was done, it was close to 5 p.m., and the navigation app was showing solid red everywhere on DFW's streets as the rush hour got under way.  My wife and I decided we weren't going to try to drive through that, so we headed for the nearest Trader Joe's store and indulged ourselves in browsing through their shelves and picking up many little luxuries that we can't get up north.  (Let's hear it for smoked trout!  On the rare occasions we manage to get some, Ashbutt, our farm kitten turned monster cat, goes absolutely nuts trying to get his share and more.  We're looking forward to seeing his face as he catches the scent of our latest purchase, when we open it.  His antics trying to sneak some of it away from us are very entertaining.)

Things were still kinda clogged up on the roads when we finished shopping, but we decided to leave anyway, using a different route.  We ended up at Sweetie Pie's restaurant in Decatur at about 7 p.m., and treated ourselves to supper there.  (They're the only place I know that offers ribeye chipped beef on Texas toast with creamed gravy - a very tasty combination that's vastly better than the usual military "SOS".)  Our hunger satisfied, we hit the road again, and got home shortly after 9 p.m. after eleven hours out and about.  Thanks to everyone for your prayers for driving safety.  There were a few narrow squeaks with 18-wheelers driving far too fast and too close for comfort, but nothing hit us and we didn't hit anyone else, for which thanks be to God.

I should be sleeping it all off now, but until the diuretic stops working I'm not going to get good rest.  I'll probably sleep late this morning to catch up with myself.

Peter