Tuesday, Jan. 15

Up around 7:30, so I could get ready for an appointment with my cardiologist at 10 a.m. I wore clothes suited to a treadmill session. It was really cold and overcast for the drive to the clinic. But I anticipated no wintry precipitation, since weather reports stated snow and sleet would happen in the southern and eastern parts of the state.

I arrived fifteen minutes early for my appointment, and then of course, had to wait thirty minutes before I was called back. I entertained myself in the meantime working a sudoku puzzle, though I had trouble concentrating, since a visit to my cardiologist always unnerves me.

The process starts with a weigh-in. Once I came to, I was escorted to the ultra-sound room. This procedure takes about twenty minutes.

From there, I was taken to a waiting area, where I waited another ten minutes, until a nurse came and fetched me to an exam room, where she placed a port in my arm, and injected me with a dye for the treadmill stress test.

Then I was taken to yet another waiting room to have my blood pressure checked, and for the nurse to gather whatever information she needed from me. Again I waited until the cardiologist made an appearance. She spent just few minutes with me, checking information I brought along regarding the results of my last fasting lab....all normal. She pronounced it comprehensive, and I remarked that no matter what doctor I visited, I was usually put through a battery of tests.

She asked if I ever had sensations of skipped heart beats, or of a flip-flopping heart, and I said not until I got there. She laughed, and decided I was ready to get on with my tests, so I could leave before the weather got too bad.

What?! The weather was getting bad. "Oh, no," just some light snow, she said.

I was escorted to the waiting room again, where I waited endlessly, while nursing staff ran here and there, stopping often in the waiting area to watch the weather channel. Others in the waiting area went up front to look out the windows. They came back saying it was snowing to beat the band. Yikes!

A male nurse came in and announced that his wife was in a town about twenty minutes away. She asked if any of us wanted her to bring us back something from the liquor store, since the roads were bad between here and there. Got a laugh out of us. This was funny, because we live in a dry county. Also, heart patients are discouraged from overindulging in alcoholic beverages.

Another nurse came in and said she lives too far away to drive on dangerous roads, so did anyone have a spare bedroom she could use? She began asking each of us how far away we lived. The others lived in distant places, too, so when I said I live about five miles from the clinic, she declared me the winner.

Of course, she was kidding. She had actually secured a room at one of the motels...the last one available, she said. And it was a smoking room, which didn't please her, but the motel staff said they would spray it good.

The male nurse announced that there were two rooms with exam tables in them, and he would rent them to the highest bidders.

All of this was to help de-stress us about the weather, since we were already stressed enough about our coming tests.

As it became apparent that the weather was getting worse and worse, the nurses announced that any of us who wanted to shave off some of our tests, so we could leave earlier, could do so. I was one who wanted to do this.

So I waited a few more minutes, and then a nurse came to take me back to a room with a machine that takes pictures of the heart from every angle...sort of "slicing" the heart. For this, I sit in a padded chair high off the floor, and place my arms about shoulder high on a padded armrest. This test takes about twenty minutes.

While the test was going on, the nurse came in and removed the port, since I opted not to do the treadmill today. To do that, I would have had to remain at the clinic another hour. As it happened, I was there about that long, anyway.

So after the test was done, I went to the main waiting room, where I saw how much it had snowed, and where folks were gathered at the windows watching cars unable to make it up the hill that leads to the main highway. Also, there was a traffic backup on the highway.

I called Hubbie to see if he could come and pick me up with the truck. We could get the van later. Got his cell phone voice mail. So I called Mother. She said he had already left, because he was worried about me.

Since I was probably going to be waiting awhile, I prevailed upon the receptionist to fetch me some coffee and a snack. She provided a package of peanut butter crackers and the coffee.

Others, who were also waiting and had not had breakfast, were given food and drink. One lady in the waiting room went to her car and brought back a carton of wrapped cakes, which she passed around to those who needed something and didn't get peanut butter crackers. It was sort of like being stranded on a desert island, with everyone gathering what they had to eat and drink.

Hubbie finally called. He had a time trying to get to the cardiologist's office. Someone finally stopped and pulled him up the hill with a chain, and then the guy offered to sell him the concrete blocks that's he'd bought to help him navigate the roads (said he was very close to home and didn't need them anymore). Hubby paid $15 bucks for them, but it was worth it, because he didn't slide around anymore.

He drove the truck to a gas station, parked it, and hiked a mile to the cardiologist's office, because the traffic was so backed up that he couldn't drive there. The van did fine going up that hill at the doctor's office. And at the traffic jam, folks were very kind to let us turn left to come home.

We were so glad to finally get home. The only pleasant thing about it was seeing two deer leap a fence, dash across the road, and leap another fence into a field. They looked so lovely in a background of snow. The deer were nowhere near our car. We saw them as we were stopped at the intersection to the road they crossed.

At home, Mother diced veggies so I could make a pot of Dragon Soup for supper. I ate chicken noodle soup, and crackers and cheese around 2:30, so I wasn't real hungry by suppertime. But I had a bowl of the delicious soup anyway, because it was so warming. Served the soup with a choice of cornbread, or biscuits and honey.

Hubbie accompanied Mother home afterward. I don't know if she'll want to come back over tomorrow or not. We'll see how the weather is. I know I'll need to cancel our haircut appointments.

Turned the TV off, and Hubbie and I read until after 8 p.m., and then we watched TV for the rest of the evening.

I have an appointment to return to the cardiologist's office at 8:30 Monday morning. this means I'll have to miss water aerobics, but oh well. We won't be having aerobics tomorrow, either, due to the weather. Maybe things will be okay Friday. Crazy weather around here, so you never know.