Well That Was Fun

Dual Perfection

I had the CT scan last night and it was kind of surreal. My appointment was after hours and it was strange walking into the nearly deserted hospital that is usually so bustling with people. I was starving since I hadn’t had anything to eat since lunch and my body is very unforgiving when it comes to denied sustenance. I was a little worried when I saw the night crew charged with administering the test. The guy who stuck me with the IV had long fingernails which cut through the gloves he was wearing but that didn’t slow him down at all. They ended up being very attentive and professional (except for the whole gloves incident). This is what I’ve come to expect from UMASS Memorial – just great people.

They’ve obviously made some serious progress in the CT scan technology in the last ten years. There was no cascade of deafening noise that I remembered from the last time I had one of these things. They did two scans, one without contrast and one with. The one with contrast was achieved by injecting some sort of semi-radiological material through an IV. This was achieved through a machine attached to the scanner. Both the technicians wanted to be out of the room when the actual flow started and went to great lengths to convince me to drink lots of water to flush it out of my system (I set a new household record for overnight bathroom breaks), so that made me a little nervous.

They said it would feel “weird” when the stuff entered my bloodstream. That turned out to be a massive understatement. Shortly after they started I could actually feel the solution coursing through my body. It’s evident how much blood flows through the groin area because I immediately became convinced I had filled my pants (both front and back) despite some desperate clenching. Blessedly this turned out to be an illusion.

Aftermath

The results of the test will be analyzed over the next couple days and forwarded to my doctor so I should know if I passed the test early next week. I took it as good news that neither of the technicians reacted in any ways after seeing the initial images. Either they’ve got great poker faces or there was nothing concerning to see. I’m going with the latter option for now.

Rare Sighting of the Panamanian Basking Cat

Speaking of cats, my wife, who seems to attract felines as soon as she hits her old neighborhood, found a doppelganger for the long passed family cat Mindy. It was basking in the sunshine at her parents’ house while my wife was squiring her dad around town for various medical appointments. She doled out the gifts we sent down, to include a Yankees hat I was forced to buy for her father (I still feel soiled), an ardent fan of the evil empire.

I finished off the allegedly last in the sword of truth series by the incomparable Terry Goodkind with Warheart. Goodkind brings Richard and Kahlan to the end of their adventures with a very satisfying, if convoluted final battle with the forces of evil. The fact that Richard is vying at the end is a surprise itself since he ended the last book headed to his funeral pyre. It turns out he was only mostly dead. He and his hardy group of survivors are rushing to get back to their capitol ahead of the evil Hannis Arc (Goodkind is so good with names) and his massive army of the half dead. You’ll have to read the books to understand what that means. It was a nice sendoff for Richard and Kahlan as a lot of the peripheral players from earlier books were given cameos throughout. You could tell Goodkind felt a certain amount of reverence for the long tortured pair of heroes and sent them off in satisfying manner. A great read.

Here are some works from Goodkind, as Richard heads into his final conflict with the leader of the half dead.

“Richard put it from his mind. If these were to be his last moments of life, he wanted them to be worthwhile. He wanted every possible second of them to be spent in happy memories of Kahlan. He didn’t want his last moments to be filled with bitterness and regrets. He wanted his last thoughts to be of love, not hate. He smiled as he thought of some of the funny faces she sometimes made at him, the way she sometimes teased him, the way she always made him live up to the best he could be. He thought about the way she believed in him when no one else did. He thought about the way he could be weak with her, and she would give him her strength.”

The Californians had some visitors from their New York City days who came to bask in the glow of perfection that is my granddaughter (I know, I know – just wait until you have one and you’ll understand):

Introducing Herself to the NYC Visitors

Much Calmer With Daddy

Team Cuteness 

Hanging with Mommy

Rocking a New Outfit

Dad Let Me Tell You About my Day

Out for a Visit to her First Pub - Same One Wingman Took me to

Obviously at Ease in a Pub Environment
My and Wingman's Blood's Run in her veins