I needed to get my blood drawn yesterday for my followup Tuesday with the Endocrine Surgeon who did my parathyroidectomy last February. This will quite likely be my last appointment with him and I’ll be discharged from his care. I drove in early for the blood draw, then ran a few errands and headed home. If I just drove there and straight back, it’s about a ninety minute roundtrip.

I no sooner got settled in the Big Red Chair when the phone rang. The lab ran out of the reagent to do the parathyroid hormone level so the test needed to go over to the hospital lane. Unfortunately, the hospital uses a different kind of tube for their PTH testing and I needed to go back for another blood draw. They were most apologetic and hey…I get it. I worked in medicine my whole life. I understand unpredictable things happen.

I left home the first time at about 8:15AM. I got home the second time at 3:30PM. What is it I tell you? There is no such thing as a quick trip to town. After the first blood draw, I stopped at Michael’s to get a couple small canvases for my foray back into painting. While I was there, I found a really cool “Shot Box”…a portable “photo studio” for taking better photos for my blog. I also have some other things up my sleeve and this will be just what I need for both jobs.

I wanted to get some more yarn for the little Christmas stockings I’m knitting, but I couldn’t remember the manufacturer’s name. When I was driving back into town the second time, I called Mr. FixIt and asked him to send me a photo of the band that went around the skein of yarn. Once he sent that, I could look on the internet for that brand and see where it is sold locally. I couldn’t remember exactly where I’d gotten it before. Turns out, my first hunch was right and it came from Michael’s. This time I walked right to it, found the correct colors, and also found something a little different. A kind of reddish orchid color and grass green. Those will look so cute mixed with some fuzzy white for the cuff, heel and toe.

I’m thrilled I don’t have to go to town for several days now. My appointment with the Endocrine Surgeon on Tuesday is a video visit. Mr. FixIt’s Monday appointment was rescheduled for the end of the month. I don’t think I need to be anywhere till January 16th when Mr. FixIt has an appointment. I am so glad our followup appointments have settled into a kind of clump. I don’t mind having one really busy month if we can get the biggest bang for our buck, so to speak.

Yesterday was a day full of gratitude…two trips to town and all. Because, the ability to be out and about in the world…all healthy like…is such an incredible blessing! And I want to thank you for all your words of support and encouragement yesterday. You all mean more to me than you could ever know. I found myself wondering…would I have ever slumped so low if I’d had this blog back then? My next thought was, this was all GOD’S timing. I became strengthened by the hard things in my life. And that strength is what bought me to where I am today.

What an amazing life we lead…and what an amazing God we have to lead us through it!

Amen!

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“I didn’t die. I lived! And now I’m telling the world what God did. God tested me, he pushed me hard, but he didn’t hand me over to Death…..”

Psalm 118:17-20 MSG