Wednesday, June 17, 2009 -
Aside from a few high wispy clouds, the sky is a clear deep blue and the sun is shining brightly. NWS is still predicting the possibility of thundershowers, but I hope it stays clear and helps dry out the road a little.
I won’t be working the road today, as I have my doctor’s appointment in town, and trips to town usually end up taking all day. I didn’t get a tracking number for the delivery of my new batteries, but I am hoping they are in town for me to pick up. If not, I’ll call and get an ETA on them. I will also be calling Hughes and upgrading my account so they don’t continuously slow me down.
Here I am, two days later, just now getting back to this. The trip to town was close, but I made it to my doctor’s appointment with five minutes to spare. They took me right in and after the preliminary weight, temperature, blood pressure and updating medications, the doctor came in and we discussed Cat Scratch Disease. I was pleased to see that she actually knew what it was and pulled up all the information from the database on her laptop computer. After examining my foot and talking about the wound, she examined my lymph glands and we agreed that unless there were other complications, all symptoms should pass in the next month or so.
She prepped my arm to remove the spot and then gave me an injection to numb the area. The new young assistant that had taken my history had commented that it would be cool to watch the procedure, so I told my doctor, Jennifer, and she invited her in to observe and assist.
Jennifer draped the area and began cutting an almond shaped area around the spot, to insure she got all of the possible cancerous cells. As she got to the outer edges, it wasn’t numb and I could feel her cutting. It didn’t hurt, as the scalpel was very sharp, so I told her to just go ahead and finish it, which she did. When she removed the piece, she placed it in a medium to be sent to the lab. Three stitches later and it was all finished.
We discussed my blood pressure, which was down from the last visit, but not where she thinks it should be, so she increased the water pill dosage, telling me that I needed to have another blood draw when I came back to have the stitches removed, which is in 7 days. I am feeling some of the side affects of the new medication, but nothing serious, so she wants to keep tabs on my potassium levels. The last thing on my visit was to update my tetanus shot. I hadn’t had one since 1999 and she wants to make sure I have the booster. I don’t remember tetanus shots hurting so much, but it was by far worse than having the spot cut out of my arm.
Zack and I left the doctor’s office, heading to pick up my mail, but first I stopped at Taco Bell to relieve the hunger from fasting for the blood draw. As I pulled in to the drive through, my phone rang. I answered and it was the delivery person with my new batteries. He was at the UPS Store, where I get all of my mail, wanting to know what to do with 660 pounds of batteries. I told him I would be there in a minute and he could simply load them into the back of the truck.
Talk about luck and timing, I had planned on driving the Jeep to town today, but at the last minute decided to switch and take the truck. And then to have him at my mail pick up at the same time I was going there was good luck. I got my food order and drove to the UPS Store. He was waiting with the pallet of batteries on the lift gate of his truck. I simply backed up to his truck and he lowered them into the truck bed. I signed for them and then picked up my mail and we headed to Safeway to get a few items and have my new prescription filled.
Once I was done at Safeway, I filled the gas cans and we stopped at Home Depot for a new 6’ long digging bar. This is the third one I’ve bought since living here. The other two had been taken from the back of my truck the two different times it was stuck in the snow. I could have used it to help with the repair of the dozer tracks, so wanted to buy another to have available for the next time I need it.
From there, we headed for home and I had visions of exchanging the new batteries for the old ones, and actually having power without having to run the generator. By the time we waited for the follow me truck and got home, it was after 7 PM, threatening rain and had become cold and windy. I was tired so after playing with and feeding Zack, I decided to leave the task until tomorrow. I showered, built a fire and had a light dinner, before sitting down to watch television.