Day 3, Thursday, January 31st, 2013

Today, as we had no medical obligations until 1:00pm, we set no alarm and we slept in. By slept in, I mean I slept until 8:30am, and found when I awoke that Mom had been up and reading in bed since 6:30am. Decadence, I know.

We rose, we breakfasted (another turkey sammich; that will change when we run out of deli meat), I set about writing yesterday up as a post, we continued attempts to use the internet, only to have it laugh in our faces. It defeated my attempts to engage in video chat with Ash, and made sure to be a dick about it. I had to trick it into even letting me get my blog post up.

[I have since discovered that if I venture down to the second floor, where all of the real amenities are (gym, large reading area, media room, shared kitchens, terrace), that the WiFi is, in fact, completely serviceable. Regardless, I did not know that at the time.]

A call arrived, asking if we could come down to the SCCA a little early for another teeny bit of bloodwork. They needed a little bit of the red stuff for some flow cytometry. "Hey, that's cool, I've got pints of that, take what you need!" It was only one vial, and I bonded with the nurse over her psoriasis and my own lymphoma-induced skin issues, parallel as they have been. We went to the Red Brick Bistro again for lunch - today, they had 'Hawaiian' pulled pork, which was tasty. I discovered watermelon-strawberry juice, and just as quickly discovered that it was all from concentrate, had as much sugar as any soda, was mostly filtered water and white grape juice, and had nary a vitamin anywhere near it. So much for 'all natural' having anything to do with healthy. Though, honestly, a bucket of Crisco is all natural, and so is snake venom.

We returned, once again, to the sixth floor of the SCCA. I will be spending a non-trivial amount of time on the sixth floor; that is where I go for most stuff. Through a large series of windows forming a curve, there is an amazing view of Puget Sound (I think, I could be wrong. About it being Puget Sound, not it being an amazing view, it's really a great view.), and facing said windows, there are a few recliners, which are hot goddamn property, and are always full of other cancer-prancers (dear Zack, thank you for that term). Today, we snagged a couple of recliners, and enjoyed the scenery, though I must admit that part of me very seriously considered abandoning the view to the people who were low-energy from treatment and moseying on over to one of several Nintendo Fun Stations. There were Nintendo Fun Stations. Did I mention the Nintendo Fun Stations? There were four of them: two N64, one Gamecube, one Wii. There was a kid playing Mario 64, and every time he grabbed a coin, I wanted to go play with him.

Yes, I know that Mario 64 is one-player. We could have taken turns. You hush.

Eventually, we were called in to my first actual doctor consultation, in which we once again reviewed my medical history, and, for not even close to the first time, did I amaze a trained physician by being able to rattle off dates, names, treatments, and efficacy. If that sounds like hubris, well, it might be, just a teense.  Eventually, we got to the stuff that I hate talking about - potential side effects and mortality rates. I know all of this stuff, but talking about it is never pleasant. Suffice to say that there is a non-zero chance of death, and a significant chance of some sort of complication, even if it's only a bacterial infection. I could easily have some graft-versus host disease at some point. Debbie, stop being a downer. I said stop it! Debbie is a jerk.

I was impressed with how well Mom handled it all, it must be said.

Afterwards, I was late for an EKG and a chest X-ray, but still managed to get both. While making small talk, the EKG technician asked us where we were from, and when I told her, she makes that face that Americans make when you say the words, "Saskatoon, Saskatchewan," which is to say that they think you are making shit up, or possibly that they heard you wrong. I explained that it was in Canada, and she relaxed considerably, then mentioned the local weather and asked, "it's cold there, right?" I chuckled, prepared, because my friend Scott had messaged me that morning to tell me that it was -51 F in Saskatoon (thoughtful guy, even did the conversion for me ahead of time). I told her, and she made the other face that Americans make when you tell them how cold it gets in Saskatoon, which looks like someone has booped them on the taint.

My EKG turned out flawlessly. As I have been told before, "Aside from having cancer, you are one of the healthiest people I have ever met."

A quick trip down the stairs to the second floor took us to Medical Imaging, where I waited five whole minutes to get that chest X-ray. If you've never had a chest X-ray, it takes about a minute, including two X-rays, repositioning yourself in between said pictures, and some small talk with the tech.

Then we were done for the day. Walking home, we stopped for coffee at a really good coffee shop whose name has completely escaped my faculties. I spent money in that store, and I have no idea what its name is.

Home, correspondence, then off to a Mexican restaurant! ...which closed at 5pm. Well, crap. Off to the Lunchbox Laboratory! An amazing burger place, which happened to have gluten-free buns available. I freaking love eating in Seattle. You could get Kobi beef, turkey/chicken, duck/pork ('dork'), lamb, or a veggie patty. They also had an upstairs with board games, a pool table, and a bunch of retro arcade games. They also also had a bar section with a couple of signs that proclaimed, respectively, 'No Minors', and 'Firearms Permitted'.      

'MURR'CA!

Home again, Mom tried to find Grey's Anatomy on TV, so I went to the 2nd floor, where I discovered that there was actual working internet. Had a couple of video chats, then bed.

Update: It's not Puget Sound. It's Lake Union.