On My Mind

It's been a strange week. I came off a truly great weekend with my best friend, who came to visit for 4th of July. It's amazing how, even though we no longer live together, we can just pick up where we left off when we did. Hanging out with her was wonderful, especially since she got to meet some of My Chicagoans (I'm very territorial about them :-) So, overall, I was feeling good when she left on Monday morning, even though I'd already begun to miss her.

Then, Monday during work, I started to feel awful. I've been suffering from dysphagia on and off for the last year and a half, and this week, it really became uncomfortable to the point where I couldn't eat properly. The gastroenterologist I saw last month had scheduled me for an endoscopy (scope of the esophagus) at the end of this month, but I felt so terrible earlier this week, I called and got my appointment moved up to today. I'd had an endoscopy done before (in 1999) for the same reason (difficulty swallowing brought on by acid reflux). The procedure isn't fun. You have to be sedated (obviously, if they're putting a forearm-length scope down your gullet), so you have to have someone drive you home. Luckily, my friend Brook kindly agreed to do this for me.

So, we set off at the ridiculous hour of 7:30 this morning for Oak Park Hospital. The procedure itself isn't the hard part. The hard part - as I was reminded today - is finding a vein in which to stick the IV needle for the anesthesia. I never thought my veins were that small, but apparently, they're not only small, they were playing hide-n-seek with the nurse who was trying to find them. I hate needles, but I haven't cried at the sight of them since I was a teenager. Today, I came close, because after being stuck with one needle for 15 minutes, having it hurt and then being told the IV wasn't dripping into the vein, I was really about to go nuts.

Anyway, someone from the anesthesia - a nice man with a comforting Southern accent - came down, numbed my hand and found a vein. I vaguely remember feeling the scope go down my throat, then being wheeled out to recovery where I took what felt like an extended nap. Brook really was a doll today, driving me home and picking up food - jello, Gatorade - that I could try to ingest. I took another loooong nap when I got home, only waking up when my body decided it couldn't stand the starvation (per doctor's instructions, I hadn't eaten since Thursday night) any longer.

So that was the craziest part of my week. I did manage to crank out a review for Consequence of Sound.

Other things on my mind this week - Roger Federer, crying and self-hatred. I will get into each in subsequent posts.