The weekend was a little cooler than we like, perhaps, but I think it was still just a little above normal. It was just about all sunshine and that’s good. Although our activities here were mainly inside, seeing the sun out there made our tasks that much easier.
As everyone who cares already knows, the Boston Bubble Burst last night in St. Petersburg as the Rays beat the Red Sox 3 to 1 in last game of the American League Championship Series. I thought the game was a combination of a pretty good game and one with the outcome coming in the third inning. I’m not a baseball expert, but even though he was perfect through three innings, Jon Lester looked to me like he had begun aiming his pitches instead of pitching them. I thought it continued into the fourth and that’s when the end began. Lester made it through seven, but without any help from his hitters (only three hits, including a homer by Pedroia), the die was cast. They did well, though, in getting all the way to that game after an injury plagued season. The Rays now play Philadelphia in the World Series.
Today begins my four months of being poked, scanned, rubber gloved, and a bunch of other great things that happen to me every year starting in October and usually ending in February. Both the start and end dates are at least one year and a day from last year’s go around because that’s the frequency of Medicare payments.
Today I visit my cardiologist to see if I survived another year. If all goes as it has the last six years, it’ll start out with a cardiogram and a physical check by the doctor. Naturally, neither will give him enough information for a definitive diagnosis so I’ll have to go back for both a nuclear cardiogram, the one using a dye, and a nuclear stress test. This whole process will take six weeks or so. I’m not sure why it all can’t be done at once, but I have an idea.
Once those procedures are finished, the next visit will be to my internist for a full annual physical exam. That’s always a fun time. I’m not sure if this is my year for a colonoscopy or not, but if so, that’ll get scheduled.
It ends in February with my annual CAT scan of several stents that have been inserted into various sections of my body. I have a tendency to develop little bubbles, aneurysms, in my arteries and veins and those spots get replaced with bypass thingies. It was the one two years ago that has caused some of my mobility problems.
Other than the aggravation of going through all this, it’s nothing new and I think I have learned to read my body so I’m not worried about any of this. This will be the sixth time through the routine and I don’t sense anything different, except my walking distance is decreasing, so I expect this will just be why it’s called a ‘routine’ few months. And it all starts today.
We have a nasty combination that spells outdoors work for me, I’m afraid. Our driveway and its nearby yard are loaded with those darned acorns which just don’t seem to stop raining down and the weather person says we’re going to get some water raining down tomorrow. If we don’t get the driveway cleared today, I’m afraid we’ll have a real mess. So when Gator Wife gets home around noon, we’ll be heading outside for some work.
You’re probably wondering why I don’t do it this morning while she’s at her part time job. Simple answer to that; I’ve got a very busy morning lined up. As we mentioned earlier, I have a doctor complex appointment and that will be followed by my normal monthly blood work on my way home. It’ll be close to noon, probably, before I get home. However, if I should get here earlier, I’ll at least get a start on those acorns.
That’s this day in Gator Country, at least my little part of the country.
GiM
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