V's Version

Berkeley's Cactus Jungle is a web site I adore due to the photography of Peter Lipson and a retail nursery I admire due to the design of Hap Hollibaugh. Today we received this image of the infamous Venus Slug Trap. Eeeew. Nasty. I love it! (Yes - the Venus fly trap has actually caught and is "eating" the slug.)

They have much more beautiful sights so why is it that we are attracted to such oddities? I should speak for myself, I guess!

I feel good. I am stronger every day and went for a walk in the redwoods. I got an X-ray yesterday at the hospital in Santa Cruz (my doctor ordered it "stat" so we could get the results today.) Sigh. I don't understand how much more clear I could get. I asked specifically if the radiologist had the recent X-rays and CTs with which to compare the new films. "Yes", the technician assured me. "Everything is right there in the chart. "

Yet when we got the report back today (had to drive back down to Santa Cruz - pay for another doctor's visit - pain in the butt), the radiologist had written, "No pneumonia. Comparison to older X-rays would be beneficial."

Ummm.

I didn't understand why I was getting an X-ray in the first place. The masses (nodules?) in my lungs were never seen on an x-ray - only on the CT. Apples and oranges really. So I have to get another CT scan - next week - this week. I am not sure. All I know is that I have to swallow more horrid white contrast, get another $6,000 film of my lungs, get another line put in my arm for the iodine and I have to reserve the bathroom for the day afterwards.

Depending on what we see in the CT scan- I face yet another costly lung needle biopsy because the tissue samples were put in the wrong solution despite the affirmative answer to my clearly stated question, "These will be be sent to the dermapathology lab to test for PNP, right?"

If I were not feeling well - I would have more desperation and would welcome the chance to figure out what is happening in my body. But as it stands - I feel pretty good and somewhat inconvenienced by the ineptitude. That's a good sign? I am not sure.

All of this is to say - we know nothing more technically. More, it seems, will be revealed - but only at a slug's pace.