SIX-THIRTY A.M. and i am at Austin Radiology Associates awaiting an MRI. Every since being diagnosed with prostate cancer, I have been MRIed, CTed, PETed, digitally mapped, injected with dyes and gels, “digitally ” probed, and had gold seeds planted in me and positioning tattoos placed on me. My rectum has been seen by more people than I ever would guessed including one little nurse who apologetically said, “I’m going to need to tape your scrotum out of the way.” I have no modesty left.
WHEN I arrived home shortly after 8:00, Ella had most of our breakfast done and waiting. She even had the griddle preferred and ready for frying eggs. We leisurely ate our breakfast before heading toward the Grandies meeting.
TODAY Ella and I surprised everyone by being at Grandies. We’ve been telling people to not expect our participation until after my radiation treatments are done. But the treatments don’t start until the thirteenth. It is possible that the treatments will be over early enough in the day that we can still continue to be there without interruption.
GRANDIES (Anne, Ella, Sandy, and I) wrote, addressed and stamped about a dozen greeting cards ( Thank you, Thinking of you, Get well soon, and Sympathies). We hadn’t done this as a group activities in a long long time. For more than a year (maybe two) one or two of our members had taken this duty upon themselves. I for one have missed participating in this ministry.
AFTER the meeting we played canasta until around 12:45. Just for the record, Ella and I won. Not that it matters ’cause we play for the fun of it. Sometimes we don’t even finish the game or do a final count. It is the chance to get to know each other better that counts.
OUR little car has been over heating for the last couple of days. I know this because the car sent me a diagnostic message. Yeah it can do that.
YESTERDAY I tried to get the radiator cap off but couldn’t budge it. It was raining and blowing and I quit and went inside.
TODAY on the way home from the MRI I kept an eye on the coolant temperature. It was only about a ten minute drive but it was heating very rapidly. After it had cooled enough I tried turning the radiator cap but still couldn’t get it to budge. I want sure how the cap was supposed to loosen. Was it the kind I’ve had on all of my older vehicles where you push down and turn a quarter turn? Our do you keep unscrewing like a bottle lid? So I found a YouTube video that gave me the answer.
THEN, armed with a pair of channel locks, I went at the cap again. Once the cap was off I poured all the antifreeze/coolant that I had on hand (about a quart) into the radiator and put the cap back on. A quick drive to Walmart for a full jug of premixed coolant and then home again. Of course the radiator is now too hot to work on. Tomorrow morning I’ll to of the coolant before going to Over The Hill Gang in Liberty Hill.
Tom and Ella Journal 