Center of attention at BMT clinic this morning

Last Thursday we had an early rather heavy snow storm with an accumulation of about 4 inches of slush and heavy, wet snow on top of the slush. Snow plows pushed the slush to both sides of the street, but we had to remove it from the decks and driveways. It was far too heavy to be shoveled so we (Emma and I) pushed it off the deck and the driveway, which was very tiring, and then we had to contend with the annual clean-up dumpsters, which had been delivered for a 24-hour stay that day. I loaded the cut shrubs from the lower driveway into the pickup and drove up to the nearest dumpster, which was across Kings Hill Drive a short distance from our upper driveway. While transferring the shrubs from the pickup to the dumpster I felt very tired and decided to go inside for a rest, but when I stepped in the pile of slush left by the snow plow I slipped and fell hitting my left cheek on the curb. It left me with a huge bruise, which I didn't see until after returning from a 5 or 6 hour stay in the ER at St. Marks hospital. They kept me there long enough for a scan of my head and a determination that there had been no bleeding inside my skull and my brain was allright.

I was a sensation at the clinic this morning because my bruises and discolored face were much worse than any previous fall had left me. I had to tell the story of my fall quite a few times and when I told it to Abby, the PA scheduled to see me today being as it was day one of the next maintenance cycle, she said that the scan of my head had been inaccurate because my brain couldn't be allright otherwise I would be hiring somebody to help with the yard work as she had told me to do after the last bad fall.

The clinic did not seem crowded but there was a long wait for all the procedures and I was there so long that I was offered a sandwich for lunch, which I accepted but brought home to eat. Abby said that my bloodwork showed almost all elements were in the desired or expected range but my hemoglobin was low so they would be giving me a shot of Procrit in order to not have to give me a transfusion of blood. I gave her my list of 7 prescriptions that needed to be filled and she said she would check to see if I had refills on them and would call the pharmacy to give them the list. I was somewhat surprised to learn at the pharmacy that they had most of the refills prepared and it would only take a few minutes to finish. With a stop at the Post Office and Ream's for some fresh fruit I got home about 1:00.

Emma had been to see Dr. Hull about her shingles, the pain of which had subsided the last 2 days and he told her that they had improved to the point that she could now get close to me. She has been scurrying around all day preparing to host her bridge group tomorrow morning and is so tired that she is only interested in resting on the couch while I do this. I left her with a football game on TV and she probably is asleep.