Partial Reprieve

First of all, thank-you to all the people that reached out yesterday after my post about the doctor’s visit. It’s always nice to know you’re not passing through life unnoticed. Despite his legendary acerbity even the Cantankerous Friend sent some good thoughts, which must have been painful for him.

As to the news, the doctor, once he got over his shock at seeing me outside of my annual physical, administered a bunch of tests, ranging from vision to strength of grip to balance; all of which I passed with no problem. He said that ruled out a lot of the more dire possibilities which was good to hear. He reached out to a neurologist to pinpoint the right radiographic test which he is now scheduling. I’m going to get a CT Angiogram with and without contrast, whatever the hell that is. I’ve had CT scans before, while not fun, at least I’ll be able to find out if something is growing in there. He wants it done before Friday and said I’m supposed to go straight to the emergency room if another headache occurs before that.

No Thank You

I nodded sagely when he said that. Later in the visit he revealed that had I gone to the emergency room as my wife was campaigning for over the weekend they would have done a lumbar puncture as part of the testing. That news more than validated my decision not to follow my wife’s advice. No one should have their lumbar punched in the early morning hours by the rookies usually assigned to that shift.

Scene at Airport This Morning

My wife was adamant about delaying her trip to Panama so she can shepherd me through the testing. She got a little upset with me for insisting she follow through with the planned trip. I’m not entirely sure myself why it was so important to me. I think I don’t want to assign any more importance to the potential outcomes than my imagination has already done. I don’t like being coddled and she would be in full coddling mode for the duration. More so, her elderly parents deserve to have her around as long as possible after I whisked her away 32 years ago. At our age to still have both parents around is a true blessing and their company should be partaken of as much as possible.

The Goodbye Photo

Lounging at the Hyatt

Some of my wife’s adamancy must have reached the cosmic balancer because after getting up at oh-dark thirty to deliver her and the PanaGal to the airport we found the flight had been cancelled. There was an immense line as people tried to re-book the flight – always a fun experience. The upside was the airline was going to put everybody up in an airport hotel and pay for all meals since the delay was not weather related. Copa is adding an additional flight tomorrow to take care of everyone. So instead of making another early morning trek into Boston tomorrow we opted to have her stay there. She’s booked into a room at the Hyatt and enjoying some well-earned rest. I’ve already fielded three separate phone calls from her lording her current opulence over me. I miss her already.

While in the waiting room yesterday I finished off the next in Terry Goodkind’s latest Richard and Kahlan series, Severed Souls. This sequel has the two desperately trying to find a cure for their impending deaths while still fighting off hordes of half-people. As usual Goodkind excels at the vivid battle scenes as the ever dwindling set of survivors gamely make for a refuge while harboring a hidden traitor. There are a couple unforeseen deaths of major characters that strain credulity but may be a sign Goodkind wants to lay the groundwork for moving on from this story line. It was a good read if a little disconcerting to lose some old friends along the way.

Some of Goodkind’s words from Severed Souls as someone unwisely decides to attack Kahlan:

 “Although Erika’s face was filled with hate, Kahlan felt no hate. She felt no pity, no rage, no anger, no sorrow. There was no mercy in Erika’s eyes, and there was none in Kahlan’s, either. In that infinitesimal spark of time, Kahlan’s mind was without emotion, filled only with the all-consuming rush of time suspended. As she watched Erika before her, frozen in time in the midst of rushing in for the kill, Kahlan knew that the woman had no chance. None. She was already dead. That fact hadn’t caught up with her yet.”

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