Well, I did get some sleep, off and on, between the time that I wrote last night and this morning when the alarm went off at 05:30. Mostly off, though. Stuff going through my head that wouldn't get out. For instance, my brother and his wife and dog have been MIA since the storm. I'm sure that everything is all right, but... well, I guess I'm not really sure, or I wouldn't worry, heh? And my stress test... well, it wasn't really too stressful. And dear Karen came with me as a good-luck charm... which was very sweet, and, as it turned out, completely unnecessary. But she was there, and that made me feel better. An old friend of mine is running the scanner and the heart imaging program for my cardiology group, and it was good seeing him and talking with him. He got me all prepped for the test, inserted the IV, shaved my chest, did the preliminary scan, then I got the cardiac stressor IV while I was walking on the treadmill... at about 0.5 MPH while the track was flat. New way of doing things, and not uncomfortable at all. They injected the thallium and then I was free to go for an hour or so, so Karen and I went over to the cafeteria and had breakfast... after I'd had a big glass of ice water to keep the isotope from going to my digestive organs. O'yeah, and after I'd smoked half of a cigar. So I had breakfast and I smoked the other half of that cigar, then we went up to get the rest of the imaging done. It took about twice as long as it should have 'cause I was in a bigeminal pattern, and it's a gated study, and that's kinda hard to explain, but if anyone *really* wants to know I'll tell all.. just let me know. So after the study was done, Mark and I looked at the images... they were pretty much identical to the ones that I had done 2.5 years ago. That is, of course, good news. The only real problem that I had with the procedure... was that, during the first scan, I had to listen to Bill O'Reilly on the radio, and the second procedure it was on the same station, and they were playing xian rock. Got on my nerves fiercely, let me tell ya. We left and went out to Sams to get some staples... we like their laundry soap, and Karen's been out there twice lately, and she couldn't lift the five-gallon bucket. So we got that and some body soap (Mom got me hooked on that!) and a ham and several other things. And we talked a pretty good talk about how we were gonna get stuff done when we got home, heh. Talked the talk, but we couldn't walk the walk. At one point, I actually got the sanding stuff out and started So off we go to Lowes... got what we needed, and some ceiling paint too, and I finally got that damned 20-amp breaker that I've been forgetting to get for the last six months. And then we came home and kinda collapsed. I was getting a helluva headache, one of the side effects of the chemical stressor, and Karen had to take one of her migraine pills earlier, and they leave her pretty drained, so we decided that tomorrow was another day. She and Kim went out tonight, and, left to my own devices for supper, I cooked myself some salmon and eggs for supper. Karen had soaked the salmon (I know, it's not soaked, but I can't remember the word, and if I could I couldn't spell it probably) in some really good stuff, and it was mighty tasty. Another early day tomorrow, so it's gonna be another early night to bed, and I'm hoping that the headache will be gone when I awaken in the morning. And I'm hoping that Brother Dan will have checked in, too...
to sand, but the swivel on the sanding pad broke, making it imperitive that we go and get another one. And some paint, too, since we were going to be there.