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Well, I saw my general practioner yesterday afternoon… what an appointment!! It lasted for 75 minutes. I got there, he came in and was wide-eyed and asked me who I was and what I was there to see him for. Apparently, the records department misplaced my file and he had no notes to go off from last time. I was quite speechless… I actually started crying. I was so looking forward to this appointment. I’ve been in so much pain lately, I really thought this would be a good thing… going to see him and then he says he doesn’t remember me.

A month ago, he suggested that I come back for a follow up visit for a problem I’ve had recently. So, this was my follow-up… plus I needed him to look at my ankle. Well, we somewhat solved the other problem and then he was all ready to go… I needed to remind him again that he needed to look at my ankle.

So….. he advises “RICE” for my anke: Rest, Ice, Constriction, Elevation. Well, I’ve been doing all these things and they aren’t really helping. Also, he suggested a x-ray of my ankle… This appointment I have on Monday. Then he says I should come and see the sports medicine guy in the clinic. Well, I call to make an appointment… the earliest I can get in is May 19th. Just a little frustrating. I can’t believe there is no one I can see at this place. UGH.

Nothing else too exciting to report. Just a lot of work and no real hours of play. Tuesday I was here at work until almost 8.30. My train was late, so I didn’t get home until almost 10.

I think I’m just going through a really blah week. It sometimes really sucks to be alone. All my married friends are quick to point out that marriage doesn’t complete you, etc… and all the other important but pithy (right word?) sayings they use to try and comfort you.. but, you never really hear these same people saying that they would rather be single… do you?

I’m just saying… it would be nice to have someone to come home to… who will make me tea and watch Scrubs with me.

Speaking of Scrubs, I love this show. It reminds me a lot of Sportsnight… only a more mature form…JD reminds me so much of my intern from my time at HUP. It makes me laugh thinking that maybe, just maybe… his time at HUP was a little like JD’s.

My intern: Yaacov Anziska. He’s somewhere in NYC now completing a fellowship in Neurology. Man, I’m so glad that I got to know him for 30 odd days. He always had some conversation…

He would always come into my room and say “Stay the Course” (meaning: the treatment isn’t going to change today).

Well, that’s it for now.

Stay the Course.

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Finally, doctor’s appointment tomorrow @ 4pm. I’m so happy I could scream. My good ankle is finally beating my bad ankle in the pain category.

Other than that news… nothing else too exciting to report.

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I remembered the quote I was looking for…. thanks to some internet search engine… I found it: The quote is:

“Grief. The pain now is part of the happiness then. That’s the deal.”

I’m not sure what book it is from.. “A Grief Observed.” maybe…. C.S. Lewis is so to the point with his words. Whether it be a beloved pet, a job, a friend, a family member… etc… It seems like happiness and pain go hand-in-hand… don’t they?

Anyway, that’s my deep thought of the day..I try not to have too many of them.

bye for now.

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Last night after work, I met my mom at Christ Church (2nd & Market) and then we walked to dinner. We ate at a place called Dinardo’s Crabs on Race Street. Very low key place… but very good. It’s been there for almost 30 years and is family owned. I had crab stuffed shrimp. My mom had the salmon.

We then took a cab back to 13th and Sansom for dessert. We went to the gelato place (I always forget the name!!). Now I know that I will NEVER get Mexican Chocolate again. The first bite told me this… It’s chocolate with cinnamon and some other spices… it has a horrible aftertaste… actually, spicy. Very weird for chocolate.

Got home in time to watch the end of Friends and of course, ER. I can’t believe that when these shows started I was living in Akron, Ohio worrying about research papers and such. Gosh, it seems so long ago. And, in a way, it really is. My life is so different than it was in ‘94.

After I leave work today, we are driving to Baltimore for the weekend. We are staying at a hotel in the Inner Harbor. My dad is actually in Maryland also…. he is in Silver Springs for a conference.

Ok.. that’s about it.

Aren’t you glad??? I didn’t complain about my ankle once this time around… although it still hurts… yes, I know… I have to go get it checked out. I was reminded yet again that I have a huge hospital right next door to my office.

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I’m sitting at my desk in my office and trying not to wince in pain. I’m usually pretty good about getting to a doctor if something is bothering me… but for a couple of reasons I haven’t gone yet for my ankle. Now, it’s hurting me really good and I’m not sure what I should do. I’m working here at one of the best places for orthopedics and I don’t know who I should call. My doctor is off playing teacher this week…. they have an employee health center in the hospital…but I don’t know if my injury would warrant a visit there….

My mom is finally in town. I picked her up last night and we stopped at Target. In case anyone is wondering… my Target list was very minimal. Here is what I bought:

Shampoo
blade refills for my razor
contact lens solution
toilet paper
paper towels

That’s it… my total was $20.03.

After Target my mom and I stopped at Baja Fresh for fajitas. Came home and found out she also watches American Idol.

Today after work I’m meeting her in the city for dinner. She is down here somewhere looking at historical buildings of significance.

More later… time for lunch.

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Birthday celebrations go out to Christine Romero from Zion, Illinois. A little about Christine. I met her in 1990. I was a sophomore at DePaul. Christine transferred from Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin. We both became Christians around the same time. We experienced our first Campus Crusade for Christ Christmas Conference together and we thought how weird all the people were to be happy all the time (or something to that effect)… Christine married a great guy, Eric Romero, in June 1995. She is a music teacher. Eric and Christine had their first child, a girl, Sarah, in August of 2003.

No doctor’s appointment this week. My doc is off teaching the residents in the hospital this week. I could have seen someone else… but I would rather not. My health history is too complicated to be repeating to any doctor.

And, yes, my ankle still is bothering me…. not as much as yesterday… but still enough for me to say “ouch” when I try to walk down the stairs.

Nothing else too exciting to report for today. From work I’m going to the airport to get my mom. We will probably stop somewhere on the way home for dinner.

Bye for now.

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The tale of the ankle continues… my workmate Tom thinks I actually pulled a muscle or something… I almost feel like it’s impossible for me to go down stairs… there is this huge pain that shoots up my heel as I’m walking down the stairs (it hurts going up… but not as bad).

I’m sure exercising last night and jumping around didn’t help it at all. UGH. I feel like I’m 80 because I’m walking at such a snail’s pace right now.

Interesting thing happened on the SEPTA on the way to work. We were stopped at Suburban Station for an extra long period of time. Two different smartly dressed business people made boobs out of themselves by getting mad at the train conductor because it wasn’t moving. It turns out there was a bag left unattended in one of the other cars of our train. The SEPTA officials wanted to get the bag off the train before they moved on. It took all of an extra 10 minutes… It’s just so funny that these people were so bothered by this. I would rather spend 10 minutes and have the peace of mind that there isn’t a bomb on my train then have the other consequence. People are funny… don’t you think?

Tonight is a late night at work. I have a presentation… and then a quick trip to the grocery store to get some food for my mom for tomorrow. Finally, I need to clean….

Oh… congratulate me…. I finally threw away the milk carton that has been in fridge since June 18 of last year. YIPPY.

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Just finished with dinner… a healthy choice frozen dinner. See previous post about why I hate to cook…

I really think I screwed up my ankle. I worked out a couple of hours ago and it really didn’t hurt then… but now it’s hard to put my weight on it. I have to see my doctor about something else this week… so, maybe he can look at this also.

It’s hard picking a new family doctor. I had a great one, Dr. Joseph Hope, from Riddle Memorial… he was my doctor throughout all my heart & transplant issues. Well, when I started with my current job and new insurance plan… he isn’t a part of the plan… So, I needed to pick a new one. How does one go about picking a new doctor? Well, I had the book, and then I started doing some research. I wanted someone who graduated med school in the 90s at least…. I found a couple that I liked that were close to my building in the city… I ended up choosing a guy who went to medical school in Cleveland. He went to Case Western Reserve Univ Med school and I worked at the affiliated hospital..University Hospitals of Cleveland. It’s sorta luck of the draw… he has turned out to be really good, or at least he seems really good. My first visit he totally took a thorough history and listened to all my heart stories… I think I like the midwesterness in him. He’s originally from Wisconsin. Living on the East Coast, you can definitely tell when people aren’t from here… they tend to be nicer and less abrupt (just my opinion).

Right now: doing laundry again… unfortunately, I wore one of my favorite white shirts to the Donor Dash on Sunday (well, I wanted to look half-way decent at 10th that morning)…Well, it was totally hot and I must have leaned up against something…. there were rust stains all over the front of the shirt…. I didn’t even notice them until I was in a department store afterwards looking for something….. I’m kinda bummed… because I really liked the shirt. Oh well, it’s just a shirt…. and Jesus said don’t worry about the clothes you wear. Right? He did say that? Thankfully, he has done a fine job of clothing me for the last 32 years. :O)

Bye for now..

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I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom… and totally forgot that I hurt my ankle…. as I put my weight on it… I almost toppled over… not good at 1am. I limped getting ready to work, I limped to the train station, I limped on Market Street… yes, it still hurts.

Nothing too exciting to report. For once I’m actually glad it’s a Monday. My mom comes in 2 days… even though I have to work, it will be nice to have her here. I haven’t seen my either of my parents since when I was home for Christmas…that’s what I get for living 800 miles away from home.

More later…

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I just reread my last post. I think I was a little too hard on myself w/ regards to my friend (let’s name him Jason). Anyway, it was nice seeing him and hard also… b/c I know I probably won’t see him for another year.

When I started this blog… I said that I told him that I wanted him at my wedding (that is if I ever have one)… and I said I would explain why…. this is why:

When I got out of graduate school it took me awhile to find a job. Actually, a long while. 18 months! And when I did, all it required was fast fingers to update the database for a hospital’s resume tracking system in the HR Department. I wasn’t making much at all… but the situation showed me a lot about myself…

First, it showed me to NEVER worry about money again. EVER. When I put my security deposit down on my apartment in Cleveland, I didn’t know where the next month’s rent was coming from… I still didn’t have a job. I was getting food from the food bank at my church.. that’s how poor I was. A week later, the hospital called with a job that I could walk to.

Second, being there gave me one of my major dreams, visions, whatever you call it for my life…I would often eat lunch at the medical school the hospital was affliated with. It was filled with med students talking about all the great things that they would be doing soon…. I still remember that day… I remember just suddenly thinking, “What if they were all talking about Jesus in the same way that they all have a heart for medicine… how much STRONGER they would be in practicing… and they would know who the divine healer really is…” Anyway, that was in 1996. I didn’t meet my first Christian doctor until I met Jason (again…. not even close to his real name…but no one is reading this so.. it really doesn’t matter… but he’s pretty private… so I’m not even going to embarrass him by using it) in 2001. I wasn’t even sure he was a Christian…

While I was in the hospital, there were a few signs that I thought he was… but I wasn’t sure. When I left the hospital, I kept saying that the next time I saw him… I would definitely ask him… Finally, I had a chance and I think I took him off guard by asking him… I was just really excited that Christian physicians aren’t a dream but that they actually existed. Since that moment, I have met quite a few more and I’ve learned that they are all different… Some are quiet about their faith, while others are more open and will openly pray with patients. To be honest, I’m really not sure which type Jason is (I’m thinking one who is more quiet) but I know that he really cares about the people he treats… and I’m glad about that. He is really getting to touch quite a few lives where he is at now and that’s cool…

So that’s why I would want him there… b/c he’s touched my life in a way he doesn’t know and that it all my weirdness.. he’s still important to me. Hopefully, I can tell this all to him in person someday… instead of writing it here.

Ok.. that’s it for the 18th of April. Tomorrow is another is the start of a week. I twisted my ankle today..
Go figure, I didn’t twist it on the walk… but I twisted it when I stepped off a curb walking to my car. It really hurts tonight (I can’t even remember the last time I twisted my ankle…. years & years ago)… I’m hoping it’s better by tomorrow so I can go work out after work.