Tuesday, February 3, 2009

In Rochester safely

Yesterday we departed by 1:00pm and had a good trip up here. We made frequent stops and Jessica worked her legs out as we were driving to minimize the chance of getting a blood clot. On one such stop, I was washing my hands in the restroom when a gentleman (who appeared to be a trucker) suddenly entered. It surprised me, since it seemed that we were the only people at this particular gas station. In fact, I had been feeling comfortable enough about our privacy that I was singing at the moment the gentleman opened the door. Earlier yesterday morning, I ran with my iPod listening to "Chicago's Greatest Hits: 1982-1989"; you can therefore imagine how I might have the song "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" in my head. It so happened that as the door swung open, I was singing the lyrics, "Hold me now...". The trucker and I made eye contact just as I sang the word "now." His look of surprise and confusion quickly turned to a look of disdain. My eyes fell to the floor and I promptly exited.

As some of you may know, the clinic complex in the downtown area amounts to several high-rise buildings, all adjoined by underground walkways (the "subway"). We had no idea when our church family got us a room at the Residence Inn that the hotel would be an easy two-block walk to the clinic where Jessica has her appointment today. There is a subway connecting the hotel to the clinic in fact. The hotel is absolutely the closest place we could have stayed to go to this particular clinic. A special thanks to Adrienne for setting this up.

After getting a good night's sleep, we enjoyed a complimentary warm breakfast with the thriving tourist crowd here in Rochester. It felt a bit like being at work to me: we were the youngest people there, and throughout the room you could hear people sharing stories about their medical problems. Jokes aside, there was an air of community, the spoken and unspoken sense of shared experience of coming to this place and putting your health and life in the hands of the Mayo healthcare team.

Today's schedule:
12:30-Jessica will go for her third ultrasound in three weeks. Please pray for healthy babies!
1:30ish-we will have the appointment with Dr. Watson

I wish I had more details. The biggest subjects for prayer are for the babies' health and for Jessica to be a candidate for the procedue. I will write more later today.

This evening, we hope to go see a movie--something we have not done in a long time.

A couple additions to the list of people for whom we are thankful:
1. Jessica's parents for watching Emily (and Baxter) this week
2. People at work:
-My program directors and chief residents for not only letting me go but ensuring that I did not worry about how things would be covered.
-Jay Hawkins, Abby Cheloha and Kara Meinke-Baehr for directly shouldering more burden in my absence. (To those of you who are doing so without my knowledge, thank you.)
-Dr. Ganti, who is doing more work towards a research paper than he would otherwise be doing.
-Drs. Cannella and Young for allowing me to forward my pager for a few hours Sunday night so Jessica and I could go have an anniversary dinner
-All the friends at work who took the time to ask, listen, and give me a pat on the back with what we are going through.

2 comments:

  1. Are you sure the trucker looked at you with disdain, and not respect and admiration, not only for your taste in music, but also for having the cajones to sing it loud and proud?
    Hope all is going well, thinking of you guys!

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  2. We are of course thinking about you and holding you in our prayers and thoughts. On a side note, just be glad the Trucker was not named SeaBass.
    http://www.youtube.com/watchv=G8iZD9RpVFo&feature=related

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