Thursday Note

Gosh! I wish I had something good to say on the medical front. I thought maybe improvement was going to start escalating. Not! Hand is essentially the same. Except it seems to have a stronger instinct to curl into a ball. [Actually, this is starting to hurt. A lot. A very big whole lot.] And it seems to flop a whole lot more. Still no control over my fingers. Am rather bummed. "Rather." Yeah, right.

Wednesday when the doc's office called, I begged them to use my office phone number for communications! They said they would probably have bloodtest results today. Nurse Judy made a point of saying they would call my work. So what did I find tonight when I got home? Of course: another message from the doc's office, asking me to call, and bragging that "we'll be here 'til 5:00." Well, no shit, Sherlock!!! And I was in my office 'til 5, too! But because these jerks can't follow the simplest instructions about how to reach me, I get to spend all night wondering what news/results they have for me.

Small rant coming: These people can't even reliably record and track a simple telephone number, and I'm supposed to entrust them with my health care and maybe my life??!!?? Helloooooooooo?

I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging in the next few days. I have a road trip coming.

About two years ago I accepted a speaking gig for this Saturday. I get to drive 500 miles to teach a 4-hour workshop to Roman Catholic nuns about how to do preserve their archival collections. I did a mini-workshop for this same group 2 or 3 years ago, when their national meeting was here in Missouri. I had a delightful time with them! They liked my session so much they asked me to be their keynoter this weekend. And I enjoyed them so much I agreed to do it essentially gratis. So tomorrow (Friday) I'll drive 500 miles to their conference site, to teach a 4-hr session Saturday.

When I accepted their invitation so long ago, little did I realize how difficult this trip might be. I love long-distance drives! In my normal mode, a 500-mile drive is just a warm-up exercise. But where I am now, it feels a bit daunting. The notion of driving one-handed feels a bit intimidating.

Somehow, I must get ready for that trip. Must do all the necessary travel prep. In my normal life, this would be a no-brainer. Packing and prep. But with just one good hand, everything goes so much slower and is so much more labor-intensive! Hold a good thought for me.

I'll blog again as soon as I can.

[And so you know: writing these meager words has required over 50 mins. Which is why I warn some of u that I can reply much more effectively via phone than in writing.]