Update in Still Listening to Spirit

I am now at Hickle House,named for Gov and Mrs. Hickle, on Providence Medical Center campus. This puts me much closer to the doctor(s) I am seeing. Taxi rides have averaged $20 each way. Plus the Super 8 sucked a big one. Silly of me to expect the personal and wonderful service the Super 8 provided in Juneau.

I saw a cardiologist. He wanted to do 2 stress tests. One regular and one with radioactive dye. About $6.000 for these. The surgeon,who I saw yesterday, said not yet so I cancelled those. Yippee.

The surgeon Dr. Protero I liked a lot. He must be new to town because no one else in the medical community seems to know his name. Doesn’t matter…he showed me where my pancreas is and told me that the growth is ‘wrapped around’ a bundle of nerves and possibly my aorta. He doesn’t know any more than that.

Dr. P has referred me to Dr. McCrary who does endoscopic exams and Dr. P tells me that he will take a scope and insert it my body. He will take an up-close-and-personal look at that sucker and pluck a bit of it out for biopsy.

I am still waiting for that doctor’s scheduler to call me but am hopeful this can be soon.

I am in some pain all the time, at others very bad pain and it is all manageable for now with the meds I have and a heating pad.

Hickle House is wonderful. They have very large, cozy rooms with a sink and alcove with closet hwen you come in the door and a large wheelchair accessible shower and toilet. The next large room has queen bed, 2 easy chairs, TV, DVD player, microwave, refrigerator, and another small kitchen sink in a cabinet. Cost is $71 a day, I was paying $80 and paying high cab fares.

Hickle House also has a very large common area with community kitchen where one c an cook. There are lots of tables and chairs for eating at, etc. and then there is a 2 faced fireplace which serves the large eating room as well as a very comfortably furnished room on the other side of the fireplace. There are lots of sofas and soft chairs, etc. I believe they have a wonderful facility that is a Godsend for out-of-town relatives and patients.

That is all for now. Madame will be inAnchorage sometime this evening. This is following her original plan before cancer of attending the State Robotics championship with her husband and son, who are participating. She will be here until Sunday, then leave for Skagway, take 6 days rest there, then back to Swedish Hospital for treatment of her very aggressive breast cancer.

I am not lonely, sad, I am hopeful that this pain can be taken away. Beyond that, I haven’t thought. Nor have I looked up anything on the internet. There are things I just don’t need to know, or things I’d rather not know at this time.

Blessed be!