I will glow in the dark

Stress Test doughnut
I fasted before arrival as per instructions.  The tech gave me a shot in the arm then leaving the needle in he taped it down for another shot later.  Then he said, you can have your breakfast now, I was flummoxed.   What!  I have been here five minutes and now I can eat and drink?  Yes, I had to inject you first.  Now you can eat.  He had shot me with nuclear stuff, now tonight my heart will glow in the dark.  Thirty minutes later, after a Vegemite sandwich and pineapple juice, I rejoined the friendly tech and was ready for the first stage of the test.  While I rested in the doughnut, the machine goes to work taking multiple x-rays of the heart.  I laid there looking at the clouds for twelve minutes.

A walk 24 floors up
I walked on the treadmill to get my heart rate to 130 and was shot with more nuclear stuff and given another break.  I went to Starbucks for my morning coffee.  Yep, then it was back in the doughnut for another twelve minute rest.  Stress Test done!

It was four hours of waiting and testing but once again I will be reassured that my heart is fine.  I await the result which will be sent to my Internist this afternoon.  All being well, and there is no reason to suspect it will be a bad result,  the surgery will go ahead as per schedule next Tuesday, September 14.

So how do I feel?  It has been one week that I am without pain gel and drugs.  Today the pain is at times unbearable.  All my doctors have a question on their forms: Rate your pain between 0-10 with 0 being no pain at all and 10 being unbearable pain.  I have been at about a 6 or 7 since my return from Europe but this week I have jumped up to a 9 with moments bordering on 10.  Now another question on the forms is that the doctors ask you to rate your tolerance to pain.  I will tell you that I have a high tolerance and admitting to pain is not usually my game.

All systems go
The cardiology nurse called late today and I have been given the all clear by the cardiologist for the surgery.  My Internist and Orthopedist have been notified.  I am now relieved of stress knowing that I will be given the chance to walk again without pain.  Maybe by Thanksgiving and our visit to San Francisco for AGU I should be walking like I did before arthritis struck.  Oh the joy!

Dreams
Now I can continue my daydreams ..... in 2011 I would like to walk from Santiago de Compostela to Saint Jean Pied de Port (SJPP).  This way has been in my dreams since I first walked Camino Francés in 2002.  Oh, and maybe, just maybe the cold weather will not affect the knees as it does now so I could walk in the Fall.  That would be different for me.