Friday, February 17, 2023

 Friday, February 17, 2023

  The February 17 post from last year included the before-and-after pictures of his handwriting that Adolescent D sent me. It took me forever to figure out how to do it. I can't remember what I did, but I finally did it. I had done a simple exercise on Zoom. I s-l-o-w-l-y form letters on the computer screen with a broad stroke while D followed the motion with his finger on his desktop. I haven't had the chance to try it with anyone else.

      I had my stress test at noon today. I left enough time to get to the Community Hospital under normal circumstances. I made it just in time because it was raining, and two road construction sites were shut down. Even if it had been a clear day, I would have faced the road closures along the way, adding time to my trip.

      I had been to the hospital several times but to visit the ER. There's parking right in front of the entrance. Time told me that I should go in there. More to the point, the tech, Tim, told me I should enter the building on that side. He left out a few helpful details.

  Tim forgot to mention it was difficult to find a parking spot. When I got there,  I discovered that I couldn't park in the ER section; it was reserved for people going to the ER. Logical. I drove around looking for a parking space. I found one lone space in an upper parking area.

     The next challenge was getting into the hospital. Mike was an inpatient there once. I had no trouble getting into the building from the upper parking lot. Now, all the doors on that side were locked, with only keycode access. An employee came out of one of the doors. I asked how to get in. She said to walk down the road and make a right for the main entrance. I did. I wound up at another dead end, another key code access-only door. I continued down the road and made another right. The main entrance was the  ER. As I was running around, I saw an attendant. I asked him if he knew where the stress test service was. Someone else had asked him earlier in the day, and because of that, he did know. It wasn't at the ER entrance. "See the Registration sign. Go in there."  

   When I got to the building, there was a door to my left and one to my right. The one to my left opened. I went in and announced I was there for a stress test. A woman directed me to the other door. "Press the button. Someone will let you in."

     When I got inside, it was an empty waiting room. Another ten steps, and there to my left were windows with one woman behind them. When I gave her my name, she said they were expecting me, concerned I had missed the appointment. I sat in the waiting room until Tim came to get me.

    Once inside the procedure room, I sat in a chair and put down my purse and water bottle. Tim inserted an intravenous needle into my arm. Into that went a dye that would help him take pictures of my heart. He explained that later, he would give me an additional chemical that would leave me feeling funny. I saw the treadmill in the corner and looked around for a camera that would take pictures of my heart as I ran.

   He directed me to go into a side room. There was a machine that looked like an open MRI. I lay down on the hard surface. He told me to put my arms over my head. I straightened my arms over my head. I was uncomfortable. I slowly bent my lower arms but held my upper arms parallel to my head. I was in that machine for ten minutes. I could relax enough to doze. As I've said repeatedly. I'm a good sleeper.

   When the picture-taking was over, he had me get up. I was stiff from lying there and somewhat dizzy. I held on to him to ensure I didn't fall as he walked me back into the main room. He had me lie down on a gurney. Again, he told me he would give me the chemical to make me feel funny. The doctor had ordered a chemically induced stress instead of allowing me to run on the treadmill. I wish she had asked me what I preferred. I only had to walk fast enough on an incline platform for a few minutes. I could have done that. While I was lying there waiting for the doctor who would observe my blood pressure once I'd been given the funny chemical, Tim took my blood pressure.

   When Dr. Roberto arrived. Tim injected the chemical into the intravenous contraption. I could feel my heart racing. I did a lot of deep breathing. When it was over, I asked what my blood pressure had been when he took it after I had just come in. The doctor said, "147/81." That's very high for me. He should have taken it before I got off the hard bed, not after a dizzy spell and the immediate threat of a peculiar feeling. Dr. Roberto commented there wasn't much difference between the first and the second blood pressure. I commented it was the first one that was abnormally high. I'm concerned the test will be invalid.  

   I was told not to have any caffeine before I came. I didn't. I had water, whole grain taco chips, and a miso soup. I didn't even have my chocolate-flavored energy drink. I checked. There is no caffeine in soy. I don't know what the outcome of the test will be. I'm afraid it will be considered invalid because I did something wrong.

   When I finished the procedure, I walked outside and around the building to ensure I got my steps in for the day. The weather had been so rainy. I was concerned about getting my 10,000 in.  

  We were supposed to be hit with a bad storm from the south. High winds and nine inches of rain. We only got half an inch. The storm passed us. That often happens. It moves on to the islands north of us.

  I had an appointment with adolescent D. He told me he did some reading independently. From what he said, he read one of those condition statements you're supposed to read before you click accept. He said he read the whole thing and thought he read it well enough to understand it. I didn't have the heart to tell him no one reads those statements. We all go right to the 'accept' button. It was still great news. This was the first time he had read a document when he didn't have to.

     I said," Okay, let's work on the book today." He said, "Let's do the letter tracing first." Very exciting. He is becoming a full partner in the learning process. He is learning to explore and try different things to see what works. If he does that, he will be okay even if I drop dead tomorrow. He will become his own best teacher. Such a relief.

   D  worked on reading the book Investing for Young Adults, which he got for Christmas. My job is to keep repeating, "Read each word; read each syllable before you put the word together. Focus on each word and each syllable. When confused, start with the vowel in the syllable, not the first letter." I made a joke about having a button I could push to repeat those words over and over. I repeat the instructions to remind him what to do. I'm also drilling concepts we've gone over and over and over, including the sound of the letter g and the possible pronunciations for the vowel team ea. He usually comes close enough to infer the correct word, even if he mispronounces words. His vocabulary is at grade level. We got through more material today than we did yesterday.

   I had six thousand steps in by 6 pm. I set out on a long walk. I aimed to get my 10,000 steps in before dinner. I was concerned it would start raining again.