May 8, 2006

May 8, 2006

Ottawa, Ontario

YEAR 2 DAY 325

 

Today was sunny and warm.

This morning when I did Monday's preventive maintenance, I discovered that 2 of the rear truck tires have lost pressure since I installed the dually valve extenders. One tire lost a bit of air, and one tire lost a lot of air. I'll have to make that tomorrow's priority. These dually valve extenders seem somewhat fragile, and prone to leakage, when removed and reinstalled. I've encountered problems with them in the past when moving them from a flat tire to a spare tire. I may end up having to remove the rear tires after all, to ensure the tightness of the valve extenders, or I may end up having to buy new valve extenders. In any case, it's likely to be a somewhat iterative repair process, but as long as I check and adjust the tire pressures frequently until the problem is solved, it should be just a minor, irritating problem. Such is the objective of my preventive maintenance procedures. Find and solve small problems before they become large.

At 10:30 A.M. we left for my colonoscopy at Riverside Hospital. On the way we stopped at a medical lab at Towngate Mall to drop off Joanne's "specimens". Then we stopped at Southbank Dodge and picked up the correct owner's manual and maintenance / warranty manual that they had ordered for me. They phoned early this morning to advise that the manuals had arrived.

The parking lot fee at Riverside Hospital was $13.00. I thought that was a bit steep. Inside we found our way to the Endoscopy Unit, arriving precisely at my appointed time of 11:15. I changed into a hospital gown, then had an interview with a nurse. I was prepared for the procedure which started about 15 minutes late, at 12:30, and was over by 1:00. When the doctor arrived, 15 minutes late, I thought he was a bit more arrogant and rude than usual, but since he's usually arrogant and rude, I wasn't too concerned. The procedure was even more painful and unpleasant than I remembered. After I lay in the recovery area for awhile, and wore off a bit of the effects of the intravenous sedative, I was taken to the change room to get dressed again before seeing the doctor to review the results of the colonoscopy.

I was taken aback when the doctor had little to say to me about the colonoscopy results. He was far more interested in admonishing me severely about the altercation I had with his receptionist when I was setting up the appointment a few months ago. Yeah ? ! ? **** you, pal ! ! ! First of all, my rudeness to her was a result of her lack of respect. Second of all, that altercation has absolutely nothing to do with why you and I are here today ! Get focussed on today's issues ! He really pissed me off. And I consider it rather unprofessional, and cowardly, that he would "chew out" a patient when the patient is so full of sedative he's hardly awake. He seemed to think that the sedated patient was just going to sit there and take what he was dishing out. As he found out, I'm quite able to "retaliate" even when sedated. A*****e ! I'm certainly looking forward to terminating that relationship. We ended by having another little argument, and power struggle, over the results of today's biopsies, available in a couple of weeks. He demanded that I come to his office to review the results with him. NO ! ! ! I will phone from Newfoundland and you will discuss the results with me over the phone. I won that one !

Joanne drove us back to Camp Hither Hills. I had a light lunch, then went to sleep for the afternoon. Joanne painted the undersides of the sink covers with a sealer paint I bought recently. It worked well, except that the paint was black, despite being in a can labelled as white. She took Bo for an obedience walk. When I woke, I was feeling well, although tired. I did today's accounting, then worked on today's journal entry.

We had a light supper. It felt good to eat. We spent the evening relaxing, watching TV, me recuperating, Joanne becoming increasingly ill. Must have been something she ate !

DSK