Tuesday, Dec. 27

For the first time since Mother came to stay at our house, I went upstairs to bed, rather than sleeping on the couch last night. Mother hasn't required my help during the night in a few weeks, so Hubbie took the intercom upstairs, in case Mother needed to buzz me. She didn't.

We were up at 7:30 this morning so I could get ready to meet a 9:30 appointment at the cardiology clinic. I couldn't have food after midnight last night, though I could have any liquids I wanted. I had a glass of orange juice.

Got to the clinic at 9:15, but had to wait until 10 a.m. before I was seen. My tummy was complaining for food, but I wouldn't get a meal for a long time. The first thing the tech did was place a port in my arm. This was for administering the dye for testing. Then I was escorted to the waiting area and provided a bottle of water to drink, to assure hydration.

Another tech administered an ultrasound test of my heart, which took about 20 minutes. The tech was in a talking mood, and told me about her son, who served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's in the states now, based in Washington, D.C., but he is suffering from kidney failure, a malady that is common among military who have served in those countries, because of the heat and incidence of dehydration. She said the temperature can rise to 147 degrees. Soldiers suffer the heat even more, since they are dressed in full military gear, and carry a heavy backpack. We don't appreciate our military nearly enough.

From the ultrasound, I was escorted back to the waiting room, where I no sooner got seated than the first tech fetched me to start me on a cardiac CT, which takes individual pictures of slices of the heart. The patient is seated, with arms raised onto an armrest, and is cautioned to sit perfectly still, while the chair inches around, stopping periodically to allow the machine to take pictures. This procedure takes about 20 minutes.

Then I was taken to another room, where I walked on a treadmill, set at a fairly steep incline, to get my heart rate up in the shortest amount of time. The nurse checked my blood pressure and pulse before, during, and after the test.

Then I was taken back to the room with cardiac CT, where I spent another 20 minutes being scanned.

Finally, I was escorted to an exam room, where I waited 30 minutes for a nurse to come and record information about me, and take another blood pressure reading. Fortunately, since the scales were at the other end of the building, she chose not to weigh me this time.

After that, I waited another fifteen minutes for the doctor to arrive, quiz me, listen to my heart and stomach arteries, and then dismiss me, telling me to stop by the reception desk to make an appointment for six months hence. That's the next time I'll visit the clinic, unless the tests I took today show something that needs attention.

By now it was 1 p.m., and I was plenty hungry. I called Hubbie, who had eggs and toast ready for me when I got back.

While I was gone, Mother had gathered most of her belongings and asked Hubbie to take them to her house. She had every intention of going home permanently, but I discouraged her for now. I'm afraid she thinks she's in my way, since I opted to sleep upstairs last night. Once she gets a notion like that in her head, it's nearly impossible to knock it out.

I was hoping she'd wait to want to spend the night at her house until Sis was here, so we could see how she manages at home on her own, but if she's going to insist on going now, there won't be anything I can do about it. It'll just make her unhappy for me to prevent it. I'll just have to check on her frequently and hope she does okay. And if anything happens, I'll have to live with the guilt.

Since I'd had an unpleasant morning and part of the afternoon, I spent the rest of the time before supper relaxing. For supper, we had leftover Christmas dinner. Afterward, I helped Mother take a shower, and then we watched TV, including a PG suspense movie called, "Shadow Island/Wedding for One." A young woman mystery writer owns a lodge, and hosts a wedding for her friend. But the groom goes missing.