Further Adventures in Medicine

At this very moment, I am feeling better, but during the night last night I was having a pain in my chest - right in the middle. I slept a little, and this morning felt shaky and woozy. Decided to return to the ER.

Note to self - going to the ER on a Wednesday morning is way better than a Monday night. Lot less people. Also, if you say "chest pain" they take immediate care of you. I have to say that the staff at the ER are all very kind.

Same diagnosis as Monday night. EKG, x-rays, blood work all look excellent. I almost wanted to ask them if I could just stay in that little bed for the rest of the day, but decided that Hal could bring me home. Now I'm in my bigger bed with wi-fi, tv, phone and bathroom close at hand.

I have an appointment with the cardiologist tomorrow (it's Dr. Thumati, my dad's dr.), and I hope that I either feel better, or that he can tell me what is going on.

Adventures in Medicine

Though we had a good time at Saddlerock this weekend, I wasn't feeling up to snuff. On Friday night my heart started racing and stayed at a high level for 2-3 hours. I thought I might be having a panic attack, even though I was under no stress whatsoever. All weekend I felt a little weird with some trouble getting a breath, and discomfort in my chest. Monday I started feeling worse and went to the doctor who did an ekg and found nothing wrong there and gave me a referral to a cardiologist. I cancelled my string classes and stayed on the couch most of the day. As evening rolled around, I felt that it became harder and harder to catch my breath, so I called Hal who took me to the ER.

We spent 4 1/2 hours there with each staff member (about 10-12) apologizing for how busy it was and how long each wait was. Another ekg, blood work and a chest x-ray. The upshot was that they found nothing wrong with me at all. Our best guess is that I am running through a virus.

This morning I woke up being able to breathe much better, like normal, but feeling wiped out, so I cancelled all classes today and am going to rest, rest, rest. Tomorrow is a holiday at school, so I am going to be good to go by Thursday, I'm sure.

Saddlerock 2009

This weekend Hal attended the annual HMC trustees retreat called Saddlerock. I tagged along, enjoying the surroundings at Smoke Tree Ranch in Palm Springs. While Hal was in meetings, I got to read, work on some music, chat with friends (old and new), and watch a little HGTV. Yesterday Hal and I took a nature walk with a docent from the Living Desert in Palm Desert. After dinner we got a chance to dance to a band, and since we've had some dance lessons this semester, we knew a few moves.

Our '98 Camry

In 2001 we bought a '98 Toyota Camry with less than 30,000 miles on it. Yesterday as we drove down Monte Vista Ave. it turned over 100,000 miles.

Just to be clear, Hal was driving when I took this photo.

Olive Kitteridge

In two weeks my book club is discussing Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. These thirteen stories weave the main character, Olive, throughout, sometimes as a fleeting character (the scary, retired middle school math teacher), sometimes front and center. The writing is beautiful, the subject matter full of small daily tragedies.

Holiday Banners

Claremont, why must we have Christmas banners up already? Can't we have Thanksgiving first?

Recorder Karate

Today was the day to begin Recorder Karate at school. Every year I teach the 3rd graders how to play the recorder, and to help motivate them to practice, I give them tests. The first test is the easiest one, or the white belt. They come in at recess one day a week and if they pass the test, I give them a piece of embroidery floss to tie to the bottom of the recorder. By the end of the year, some children have a rainbow of colors to show off.

First Tuesday in November

I took the time today to vote for three candidates for school board. I think voter turnout was low today, but I always vote!

Lab Work

As I was waiting in a full room this morning to have blood drawn for my yearly tests, I wondered why the people who staff the lab have to be so darn impatient with the older crowd. We sit there, and if they need something from someone, the name gets called out, and if the poor older person is slowly making their way, not fast enough, they yell out the name again, not looking to see that the person is actually coming their way. I also didn't really appreciate the way the clipboard was shoved at me when I arrived. These people need training to be people!

Changing Clocks

I think we have about 10-12 clocks - or things with clocks (like the coffee maker) to change when we go on or off Daylight Savings Time. We went around changing all timepieces last night before we went to bed, only to have our electricity cut out for a minute this morning. That required resetting time on at least 5 of these clocks again.