SHE TURNED TO ME AND SAID “YOU ARE A SPECIAL CASE”

Even the chickens weren't quite awake yet when I showed up to feed them. It was an early start we had to the day and I was out before the sun cleared the Pedregosa Mountains to our East. Gathered up a swatch of hay for the donkeys and fed Gleeson, Pearce, and Charlie the Cat. Nice hot shower, waved bye bye to Motor and Pheebs on the other side of the locked gate and we headed ourselves off to Tucson.

Nice morning drive again as we slipped straight up the Sulphur Springs Valley through Benson to I-10. Quick stop at McDonald’s & then pedal to the metal for the University of Arizona hospital. Light traffic again and no problem finding the hospital on Ajo Way just a block east of I-10.

No glitches this time and all the paperwork was in order as we checked in at the outpatient registration desk.  Because we arrived for my appointment early, we were taken in early and 15 minutes before my scheduled appointment time of 11 o’clock I was stretched out on a bed in a darkened room with my shirt off laying on my left side.

 

ARRIVING EARLY FOR MY APPOINTMENT THIS MORNING 

An ultra-sound technician lady was at my side sitting in front of what looked like a spaceship computer control board.  Her left hand deftly flitted over a panel of buttons & keys while her right hand skillfully manipulated what felt like a warm computer mouse around my lower abdomen in the kidney area.  Constantly I heard the words, “take a deep breath” zzzzz “ok, you can breath”.  “Take a deep breath” zzzzz “ok, you can breath”.  This went on for a very long time as she slowly moved that mouse from spot to spot.  I could hear computer noises and dingle sounds coming from the spaceship control panel.

WAITING TO BE CALLED FOR MY RENAL ULTRA-SOUND

The procedure seemed to take a long  time and the hardest part was trying to stay awake.  Imagine having someone slowly massaging your lower abdomen and softly repeating, “take a deep breath” zzzzz “ok, you can breath now”.

Next, I was on my back as she did my bladder area which was followed by me rolling onto my right side while she next spent a long time on my other kidney.  “Take a deep breath” zzzzz “ok, you can breath”.  The whole procedure took about half an hour but at last she was done.  I wasn’t prepared for what the technician told me next.

NOPE, I AIN’T SCARED OF NO DARNED HOSPITAL STUFF!!

Her words to me were, “I’m sorry this took so long but you have a lot of things in there.”  She then looked me directly in the eye and said, “you are a special case.”  She repeated that phrase twice more before her cell phone rang.  She smiled and motioned me towards the door.  As I left that room I couldn’t help but get the feeling that maybe my ultra-sound was unlike most others she was accustomed to seeing.  Her words, “you are a special case” echoed around in my mind.

While I was having the procedure done Kelly had been busy.  She had arranged for a CD to be made of my ultra-sound results.  We waited maybe 20 minutes until that info had been uploaded and with CD in hand we headed the short distance to where another building’s Urologist department was located.  Kelly wanted to make doubly doubly sure there would be no slip ups in us getting Dr. Funk’s full report on today’s results.  We want to be armed with every shred of documentation we can carry before heading back to Ontario and contacting my Doctor in a few months.  The receptionist remembered us from a couple weeks ago and assured us the complete written report could be mailed to us in NcNeal because we are hoping we do not have to drive all the way back to Tucson again.  Receptionist also assured us Doctor Funk would phone us either Friday or Monday with the results.

It was 5 minutes to noon when we walked out of the hospital into the warming rays of the big Arizona sun.  How nice to be outside in the fresh air again.  Minutes later we rolled back up onto I-10 heading south out of Tucson.  We were on a mission.  We had a Shreddies delivery to make.  Say, have I told you how much I love these big Arizona mountains.

OK, so what the big darn heck are Shreddies??  Shreddies are a breakfast cereal which are apparently only available in Canada.  Last fall we received an email from a reader and fellow RV Blogger who noticed we were heading their way on our trip to southeast Arizona.    Americans, Grant and Kathy Webb from BIRDING RVERS wondered if we could bring them some boxes of Shreddies from Canada.  They love Shreddies but can’t get them here in the States.  Yep, no problem.

GRANT AND KATHY WEBB FROM THE RVING BIRDERS

With Grant’s directions we found the birding folks in the staff area of the KARTCHNER CAVERNS about 8 miles south of Benson Arizona.  They have just begun a two month stint at the Caverns as volunteers helping out with activities in the large Caverns.  You can read about our trip to Kartchner Caverns here at, SILVER CITY TO THE KARTCHNER CAVERNS  and INTO THE CAVERN AND OFF TO A MONASTERY.

Always nice to meet fellow RVing Bloggers so we all had ourselves a good chin wag for about an hour.  We didn’t want to hold the folks up too long because we knew they were anxious to get inside and rip into a big fresh new box of Shreddies……Yum:))

  

From the Kartchner Caverns we didn’t waste any time ski-daddling ourselves straight south down highway 90 through Huachuca City and Sierra Vista.  We still had groceries to get and we were very anxious to get home and see the doggy guys. 

Stopped into the San Jose part of Bisbee for groceries at my favorite little Safeway grocery store.  Seems we never get out of grocery stores anymore for under a hundred dollars.  Didn’t take us long to go through our grocery list and make fast tracks for home. 

Pheebs came racing out of the Motorhome and up to the gate about 300 miles an hour.  Sure is a good thing her tail is fastened on securely because if not it would have flown off into outer space a long long time ago.

Pearce ran out to meet us as well but Motor and Gleeson, being their usual Coach Potato selves were sound asleep in the rig when we drove up.  It’s quite a bunch of sleepy heads we got here….including me.  Tomorrow we head back to Tucson, but this time….to the Airport:)) 

The Last Paragraph:  Have to say again how fortunate I am in having the efficient and caring person beside me that I do.  I never would have thought of getting that scan result CD today or going to the Urologist’s office and doubly doubly checking on everything.  Typically, when I walked out of that Ultra-Sound room this morning my priority would have been to get out of that hospital area, head that Jeep out into the desert somewhere and see if I could find me some good Saguaro photos.  I sometimes have a habit of not taking things to seriously……..

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Sophie went to see a psychiatrist about her husband.
"Doctor, My husband has this problem. Almost every night now he's dreaming he's a refrigerator!"
"My dear, that is not really a problem! A lot of people dream that they are somebody or something unusual..."
Sophie leans forward as she softly whispers this confidence: "But you see doctor it is also a problem for me! Jake sleeps with his mouth open and the light keeps me awake!"

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