On Kauai after a flight canceled by the airline with no notice, a replacement itinerary that added an extra airport and got in nine hours late, and finding a cane toad sitting on my toilet seat upon my return (I really don't want to know the backstory). Got my blood tests repeated today to see how my iron is doing, then went in to get a doppler ( Read more... )

After a day of phone calls and contradictory information, my suitcase just arrived. Nobody knows where it was or how it got to where it was found in the baggage service area at the Santa Barbara airport an hour ago. Nothing is lost. Phew.

Made it to Santa Barbara. Where, exactly, my suitcase is is a mystery for three different airlines. The last time anybody's computer saw it was the moment I handed it over to the TSA in Lihue twenty-four hours ago.

Have I mentioned that this has been just a lovely year?

Went to the pulmonary testing today. They gave me three laps of a spirometry test, then a nebulizer treatment with albuterol and norepinephrine, and then checked again. The plain test was fine, everything in the low 90%s, except for the speed with which I exhale, which was in the low 70%s. No big deal, though, since I'm hardly a marathon runner. So ( Read more... )

The good news is that I have my iron supplement and that should take care of the anemia and the thyroid readings. But today I got to hear the magic words "chest deformity," so the pulmonary function test (rescheduled to tomorrow) is still on, and onto the pile goes a doppler echocardiogram looking for heart-squishage problems. The only thing that ( Read more... )

Tomorrow I go back to the hospital and breathe in a tube to see how the lungs are doing. The inhaler is weird; I hope I can chuck it. I've been researching all my blood test results (more came in), and it's weird to have a bunch of people who have better results than mine who are on disability and/or state that they are bedridden. I've had insomnia ( Read more... )

The biggest standout in my newly-received blood tests is a ferritin level of six. Normal is 11-200. No wonder I've had a hard time keeping my hemoglobin up. Thyroid is also continuing its slow coast to failure. I'll see what my doctor wants to do about all that. I might get to hand in the inhaler.

Need to replace seventeen windows here at the manse. Got a home equity line of credit for a big pile of money, hired a contractor, work begins in January and will take "two or three months," or the rest of my natural life ( Read more... )

I just borrowed $75K to fix my house. I've been looking at tile all night. I've also decided to build all the cabinets myself. I've called the contractor to say I've got the money. Mad reconstruction is a go. Hello, consumer debt. I don't know if I'm the last person ever to get a loan, or the first of the new ( Read more... )

I have one of the older homes in my town. Which means 1973. I hired a home inspector because I was curious about some things I saw in the house and I've owned it for fifteen years, so it was time for a systems check ( Read more... )