Day 288

So today was the second MRI. All the scheduling stuff went off without a hitch. However, there must be something wrong with my veins because for the third week in a row a medial profession had a hard time getting one. The woman where I had blood work told me she got all the tough ones today, the nurse who put the IV contrast in last week had to try three times to get a vein, and today the man who did my MRI had to try 4 or 5 times before he got a vein. Both of my arms are covered in bruises from the last 3 weeks of medical tests. I’m glad they’re done because I’m kind of over all the bruises. Oh well if that’s the worst of my worries I’ll take it.

So now the blood has been drawn, my neck and soft tissue has been scanned magnetically as well as my brain. And now we wait. I don’t see the oncologist until the end of the month so I have a few weeks to cool my heels and relax. Yeah, right. Ever since this round of tests began I jump every time the phone rings; my heart beating in my throat as I look at the caller id.

I really want these next few weeks. I want to go to the Renaissance Faire and I want to finally get my ears re-pierced now that I’m done with MRIs for at least a few weeks. I want to spend time time enjoying the beautiful fall weather I’m hoping will soon arrive and perhaps stick around for a while. I spent almost all of last October in the hospital and the rest of autumn recovering at home. I’d like to go down to Hagley in Delaware and take photos of the trees along the Brandywine River. It was beautiful the last time we were there in October 3 years ago.

I decided against taking any Xanax before today’s MRI because truthfully it didn’t really help calm me that much during the test and then I slept the whole afternoon away afterwards. Today I was determined to go out and enjoy this beautiful, sunny, breezy autumn afternoon and so I did. We had originally planned to go to the Philadelphia Zoo but 3 full parking lots of other people’s kids and the option to pay $12 to park on a back road and walk like half a mile to the entrance didn’t particularly thrill either of us so we went to plan b. We took a drive along West River Drive, we finally took the time to visit Laurel Hill Cemetery so I could take photos of the beautiful old monuments and then because the hubs is super extra awesome we parked and walked to the South Street bridge so I could take photos of the Philadelphia Skyline. It was a gorgeous day to be out taking photos, it was a gorgeous just to be out and about with the hubs. After our afternoon in the gorgeous sunshine and warm temps we stopped at Pizzeria Pesto for dinner. We were a little early but they let us in anyway and catered to us like we were their only clients. We love their pizza and the opportunity to be the only ones there like celebrities was kind of awesome. We order from them every week and Chuck brings it home but rarely get to sit and eat there so it was quite the treat.

We ran a few errands afterward and stopped for books and coffee at Barnes & Noble in Cherry Hill. The day started off rocky but it turned out amazing in the end. I’m so glad I opted not to sleep the afternoon away. As always, thanks for stopping by. I love you all.

With much love,

~ Carol Anne