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I’ve got dates!

It’s official. I’ll be back for my next visit at the National Institutes of Health, a.k.a Club Med, the week before Christmas. Any details other than that are a bit up in the air. No, they won’t let me come in on the weekend and hang out with Ryan, so I’ll arrive and be admitted Monday.

I’m also not sure if I’ll be able to get a pass to leave. Thanks to my iffy pee last time, they seem a little leery to promise to let me roam the streets in the evening and do anything that might affect my “samples.” Whether I’ll get to see the OBGYN and whether they’ll get another lung lavage on this trip also are up in the air, but I think they’re looking doubtful.

Poor Kevin is going to be having quite the week. Apparently he’s got nine folks from Puerto Rico in that week – none of whom speak English. So, I’ll be a bit of the odd one out and linguistically challenged. Hey, if someone else gets admitted to the trial, that will work for me!

Since the scheduling will have to be a sort of go-with-the-flow thing I might get out Wednesday evening, or I might get out Friday. Who knows.

They won’t be doing a CT scan this time. I wish they would just because I’m anxious to know whether the “questionable” thing they saw on my lung last time has cleared up or not. But, I will be getting PFTs and I have to confess I’m anxious to see what they show. My breathing has been better. I realized today while cleaning out my purse that I didn’t even know where my emergency inhaler was – and six months ago that thing would have never been out of arms reach. It was in my purse, but still. I realized I hadn’t even thought about it in weeks. How great is that!!!

This means I’ll be by myself on Christmas. Everyone seems to think this is a sad state, but to be honest, I don’t mind. I have so many things I need to do around here, and I’ll get at least a day off that week for Christmas. Things at the office will be pretty calm, so I might actually get to clean out a closet or two.

I told Kevin I was available all week and was happy to go with the flow. I’ll lose the vacation days anyway, so if I can be an inpatient and park in a room with my paints and Internet access – I’m good baby! Think of it like a cruise ship without water. No one bugs you with much when you’re in the hospital, so sometimes being at NIH is actually kind of relaxing to me. (That is when I’m not upset and worried about test results.)

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