Monday, Jan. 21

Today was an historic day...the celebration of President Obama's second inauguration, and the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. So the first thing Hubbie did was hang the flag on the well house.

We were up at 6:30, so I could get ready to go to the cardiologist clinic to finish the tests that were postponed last week. I couldn't have breakfast this morning, but juice was allowed, so I had a glass of orange juice.

I arrived at the clinic around 8:15 for an 8:30 appointment, but when I tried the door, it was locked. So I went back to my van to wait. It was amusing to see others arrive, try the door, and return to their vehicles.

The door was unlocked at exactly 8:30. Fortunately, I was called back pretty quickly, and the nurse immediately put a port in my arm (ouch), and injected the small amount of radioactive material necessary for the heart scanner to measure blood flow to my heart. After that, I had to wait for a while for injection to work.

Then I went to the treadmill, where I was injected again, and two nurses monitored me while I walked on the treadmill. This session took about ten minutes, with me walking fairly slowly, then faster, until my heart rate rose. Then the treadmill was adjusted to a pretty good incline and speeded up, so that my heart rate rose quickly. I walked at that rate for about a minute, and then at a slow speed again.

My blood pressure was measured before I began (130/70, even though I hadn't taken my bp meds last night or this morning), and then after I walked. I wasn't told what my bp was after that, but I guess it was okay, or the male nurse probably would have commented.

Instead, he continued to engage me in conversation about his struggle to decide whether to sell his motorcycle to help pay for an older model pontoon boat (he chatted about this all through the test). I personally hate motorcycles, so I thought a pontoon boat was a great idea.

I asked him what made him decide he might want to give up his motorcycle, and he gave a couple of reasons. One was that he recently bought a new car, which was damaged to the tune of $5,000 when a deer ran out in front of him. He figured that if he'd hit the deer on his motorcycle, he might have been killed, or paying doctor bills that would exceed any money he might have saved in gas by riding the cycle. Another reason was that his family could enjoy the pontoon boat.

Later, while I was in the waiting room, before going to the heart scanner, I overheard him in his office talking on the phone with the person selling the pontoon. He was ready to make a deal. I think he had his mind made up when he talked to me, but he just needed someone else to give him the nod about it.

This nurse is exactly the same age as Older Son (and no, telling this story is in no way meant to encourage him to sell his motorcycle).

I asked the other nurse if she got to the motel safely last Tuesday after the snowstorm. She said she did, and even got a non-smoking room, since others had cancelled their reservations. Last week, she the only room available when she called was for smokers, so she was going to go armed with a can of Febreze.

She commented, though, that her mother had been hospitalized that day. I asked if she was all right, and she told me she was okay considering she had COPD and emphysema, and that it was discovered she also had a bad urinary tract infection that she'd had quite a while, but was unaware of, because of the low-dose antibiotic she was taking that had masked her symptoms.

When you're at a clinic for hours, you learn all sorts of things. Last week, while the tech was doing an ultrasound of my heart, I asked her what had inspired her to pursue this career. She said that she had formerly been an elementary school history teacher, but when her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer, she had watched nurses conduct ultrasounds, and became interested enough go back to school to study to be a tech.

Seems that even though breast cancer runs in her family...her mother, her grandmother, and her aunt...she reasons that heart disease is the number one killer of women, and she is more afraid of that than cancer. I think I'd feel just the opposite.

I was at the clinic until around 11 a.m., during which time I caught snatches of the inaugural ceremonies for President Obama. Back home, I joined Hubbie and Mother in watching more of it.

For lunch, Hubbie did the honors of making French toast for us. Mother had a headache, which we thought might be caused by hunger, since she'd eaten breakfast early this morning, but I suggested that as soon as she'd eaten, she take a nap, and she didn't object. I also gave her a couple of Tylonol.

She slept most of the afternoon. When she got up, she said her headache was gone, but she just felt tired.

Later, I heated stirfry leftovers from last night, and soon after we'd eaten, Hubbie accompanied her to her house. I sent a couple more Tylonol with her to take before bedtime. Hopefully, she'll feel better tomorrow.

Hubbie and I spent the evening watching TV, including a disaster movie..."Avalanche," starring nobody we know, followed by another episode of "Downton Abbey," from PBS.