Road Trip Odyssey Day 7

Snexting + My Boring Yet Tedious Health Survey + Casey's Biscuits & Gravy Reign Unchallenged

This road trip is sure to qualify for legendary status. I'm back at the Mayo Clinic. The symptoms of my Influenza A seem to be abating. My schedule of appointments & procedures has been in flux since 1st thing this morning. And it's been snowing all day.
Where to begin . . . where to begin . . . 

Snexting *

Rochester has been experiencing a snow event since early this morning. The snow has continued throughout the day. It's 4:50p (CST), & it looks like the snow showers are over. Lois just texted me a couple of pictures of our front & back yards. There's a sheet of snow that's encroaching on our back yard patio. It looks like a glacier is steadily advancing toward the house. She can't get out the back door . . . And the driveway & front walk are buried in snow, too. She'll need Derek, our esteemed son-in-law, to plow her out before she's going anywhere tomorrow. The first area school just cancelled for tomorrow, & I'm thinking local schools will follow suit. **
* snow texting
** And she just texted me to let me know that school is cancelled tomorrow, as well.

Paul's Quick & Easy Health Survey *

* If this is when you decide that once again my entry has been much too self-involved, stop reading. Nobody will notice. And of course you know that you can just send a "like" & pretend that you read today's blog, thus fooling me into thinking that you actually read it. **
** Of course, I'll recognize your gambit, but that's okay.

• Influenza A. I received this diagnosis last FRI morning at a CVS Pharmacy Minute-Clinic. Since then I've been on tamiflu X 2 per day. I don't seem to be running much of a fever anymore. This diagnosis caused Mayo to push back my angiogram from today to WED.
• Coughing. It has been a long time since I had a cough this bad. It basically kept me up at Nathan & Laura's over the weekend. Last night was a little better. I'd say that I got 4 hours of sleep.
• I have 2 kinds of cough medicine, & I've been trading off sometimes during the day & always at night. Once I get started coughing while laying in bed, I can't find a position that diminishes the attack.
• And the cough sounds like a loudly, puttering, motorboat engine.
• Sleeping. Because of my spotty schedule today, I've been able to curl up for a couple of naps, & neither time resulted in a coughing fit that jolted me awake. I am encouraged. I am emboldened to think that tonight' sleep will go better.
• Blood sugar has been consistently too high, but this is expected because I've had to be off my diabetic meds more often than not.
• Appetite. I have regained some will to eat. I tried a solid brunch this morning, courtesy of the Mayo Clinic Patient Cafeteria. The fruit cup--watermelon & cantaloupe--was fine. The biscuit & gravy was a little bland. On the WPBS * [* Whiny Paul Blank Scale], it measured 3.5. It was my own fault. I should have noticed that what looked like milk gravy was actually wallpaper paste-based.]
• Executive Health Lounge. Fortunately the Mayo Executive Health Program Lounge provides a limited yet not terribly deficient supply of snacks, food, & beverage items--all at no cost! So for breakfast I had a bottle of apple juice. For a mid-afternoon snack I had yogurt. Coffee & soft drinks are available, as are breakfast bars, oatmeal, trail mix, deli-style wraps, string cheese, & more.
• Supper. I will feast on Health Choice Splendiferous Vegetable Medley Soup & a Sprite. 

Mayo Schedule

1. I checked in for a blood draw @ 7:15. They forgot to send my registration info to the nurse's station, so I waited for an hour until I checked. Good think I did, or I might still be waiting there.
2. After the blood draw I headed to the next department but was told that my appointment had been rescheduled to later this week, due to my rescheduled heart procedure. 
3. Time for patient education * [* Or in my case patient patient education.] My angiogram was explained thoroughly to me, & I watched an instructive video [What it lacked in character development it made up for with witty dialogue & realistic yet mundane plot development.]
4.  Leisure time. Between this & my last scheduled appointment, I had time to go back to my hotel room & nap, then head back to the executive health lounge for yogurt & a latte', do a little reading, take a power nap.
5. Surprise! When I checked in for my 4:15 appt w/the physician who is managing my program, I was told that I did NOT have an appointment. I requested that my schedule be re-confirmed, & it turned out that once again an appointment had been rescheduled for later this week.
6. No harm. No foul. We got a new, 100%, super-accurate schedule reprinted for me.
7. As of 5:30p on MON 1/22, I have nothing scheduled on TUE 1/23. My cardiac lab procedure is scheduled for WED. I have a follow-up w/my cardiologist on THU, & another follow-up w/the physician who is managing my program on FRI.
8. Hopefully, I will be a welcome guest at the Nathan & Laura Twin Cities Lodge over the weekend.
9. On MON 1/29, I have an "ultrasound of abdominal vessel," then a consultation of ambiguous intentions, followed by a dermatology consult.
10. Just one consultation of ambiguous intentions scheduled for TUE 1/30.
11. My last--I hope--consultation is with a diabetic specialist (endocrinologist?) on WED . . . & then it's back to snow-laden Nebraska.

Thanks for your patience. If you stuck w/this entry all the way from start-to-finish, you qualify for a drawing for newspaper clippings that I still think are blog-worthy but I haven't found a way to fit them into an entry yet. Just send me a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Include $10 for S & H.