Stateside!

Hey guys,
I know I've been MIA for awhile but I've been stateside for the last few weeks undergoing  some medical tests.  As I mentioned earlier, I was diagnosed with vitamin b12 issue when I was home for the holidays but I was still having some issues that needed o be checked out. Clarice and I flew home 3 weeks ago and it's been a whirlwind ever since.  I have been taking the  pills for a month now and the good news my levels are up so no shots needed...yippee!  I also had a test for Alpha 1 which is hereditary and my family has the gene but the wonderful news is I was negative. So now I'm batting 2 for 0 and the dr decides that in light of my excellent family history maybe I should have an echocardiogram done. I called the cardiologist and scheduled an appointment but felt like it was more of a CYA for my dr than I actually had any heart issues since the EKG he did in his office showed everything was ok. Well the cardiologist ran a new EKG in her office and showed I'd had a minor cardiac infraction at some point. Then it's on to wearing a heart monitor for a week, doing a nuclear stress test and taking beta blockers twice a day. WTH, I'm only 47 and in spite of the horrible family heart issues, I've always had  low blood pressure.  I have my follow up appointment to discuss the test results on Thursday and if she clears me I fly out to Germany Friday morning. Nothing like cutting it close to give me a heart attack!  I'm really worried about these tests and what this will mean.

But in spite of all this crap, I have had the most amazing time spending 3 weeks with my folks. You are never too old to need your mommy and daddy when you are scared. They drove in from Arkansas and have just been wonderful running me all around town, feeding me, doing my laundry, ect....so I feel very pampered.  I just don't know how I wold have gotten thru all this without them. Mark flew over last Wednesday but he's been in Tennessee working so my folks have been my support system here. I'm going to miss them when they go home but not as much as Clarice will. She's totally become a Pappa girl and even got him to pet her.  He so doesn't like cats but she has won him over. He speaks kitty to her and she meows back, he plays laser tag for hours on end and she thinks he hung the moon. She also takes daily naps on the couch with her Ninny so she doesn't miss Hubert as much.  My brother is staying at their  house and taking care of Hubert and Gizmo so I owe him one as well now.

Ok, I'm off for now to stitch a little before my pills kick in for the night because I haven't put in more than 20 stitches the entire time I've been home.