Yesterday I went to the doctor twice. Once in the morning for a routine maintenance visit to my Primary Care, then another one in the late afternoon to visit a hand surgeon to arrange an operation on my left thumb which is becoming less opposable as time progresses.

My visit to my PC resulted in a phone call today telling me the results of my blood work revealed that my LDL is elevated, possibly as a result of the fact that I quit taking them weeks ago because they are round pills and I only had to take half of one a day but I couldn’t break them in half. So, I just quit. I even told the doc that. Kinda. Anyway, she solved that problem by telling me to take the full pill once a day.

The blood also indicated that my BS levels are also elevated which is indicated by my 7.4 A1C. Now I have to take double the amount of Metformin that I’ve been taking for some time now.

Dang! I’ve been working real hard to eliminate pills from my life but it’s not working out very well. The daily pills is turning into a stunning, colorful array of different size pills. Such is my life. That’s OK. I’m still navigating OK.

Well, navigating OK most of the time. When my PC asked me if I’ve fallen since our last visit I truthfully answered “no”, but told her I had some close calls. Like the time in the garage a few days ago where I was stumbling around in the items scattered around on the floor, lost my balance, and fell against the garage door. Technically, that’s not falling down … it’s more like falling against, so it doesn’t count. Still, knowing that I have a small vertigo problem she suggested that I use a cane all the time when I’m walking. She followed that with a promise the order me a walker if I still had problems with the cane. “Excellent!, I thought, and actually said, “With a walker I’ll be able to board planes first!” Although she smiled, I don’t believe she saw the humor in it that I saw. She probably didn’t know I was serious.

My afternoon visit was prefaced by a side trip to St. Vincent Hospital where Jean, Diane’s Mom, visited her surgeon to schedule her carpal tunnel procedure. While she and Diane were with her doctor I walked about a mile to the other end of the hospital to the cafe for sustenance. Jerrie was hungry, so he had a chicken burrito. It was pretty dry, but not too bad.

When they were done we met at the truck for our trek downtown to Good Sam for my visit with Dr. Kim, my hand surgeon. My appointment was at 4:00 pm and we arrived about 3:30 pm so I just went in to wait while Diane and Mom sat in the truck. Dr. Kim explained the procedure and told me once it was done and I was rehabilitated I would be pain-free. That’s my goal. Pain free. What he’s going to do is remove a small bone as the base of my thumb, where it connects to my hand. Apparently this little bone, the Trapezium, is like the Appendix of bones. It’s grinding bone on bone in my case and removing it won’t be noticed after the vacancy is filled with scar tissue. What a deal.

I have to wait until January for all the nurses and other support folks to return to work from their Christmas break because apparently, as a cost saving effort, the hospital will be closed from December 14th to January 6th, except for emergencies, of course. During emergencies that result in admission to the hospital, since the kitchen will be closed, they’ve hired a bunch of homeless vets to make runs to the nearby MacDonald’s for meals. If the patient is fortunate, their assigned homeless vet will have medical experience from tours in Viet Nam or perhaps Afghanistan.

My surgery is outpatient so I’m not sure why I have to wait until January, unless my doc wants some time off, too. That could be it.

Today, just for fun, I took Diane’s truck to Les Schwab’s and had new tires installed. The old ones weren’t too bad, just a little dirty, but I know how Diane likes a clean truck. So, new shiny tires fixed that.

Although it’s only 1:30 in the afternoon, my day is apparently done as far as addressing bodily functions. So, I think I’ll go fire up my table saw and find some wood that needs to be cut in half.

Later.