My friend Alice always used to say “Man plans – God laughs”. I guess He’s having a good old time this week.
So, we got the NPH diagnosis, set for surgery, Hooray.
All is well. But – wait!
The surgeon had set us up with a couple appointments this week: An APP Eval In-Person (stands for Advanced Practice Provider Evaluation). Then a head CT Scan to be sure of proper shunt placement. No problem – hospital complex is close by, we can do this.
So, today, I dropped him off in building 3700 and went to park the car. Of course, I had to go the back parking lot, as far away as possible. According to my Apple watch, I walked .44 miles to get to 3700 for his APP evaluation. That appointment went on way longer than I planned for. The evaluator wasn’t happy about a lot of things – COPD, Blood Pressure, non-compliance with cardiologist/BP meds.
So, she was thinking a new cardiologist, pulmonologist… all before surgery on the 19th. In the meantime, there would be a walk-in X-ray of the lungs at the hospital in building 3600. That would be easily walkable for me but not DH. So, I walked back to my car in the back parking lot, picked him up at 3700, drove him to 3600 and dropped him off, Then, I drove to the back parking lot and parked almost where I was before.
My Apple watch is loving this – I walked to the hospital in building 3600 and found him waiting for the chest xray. He finally got that done so I hiked back to my car and drove back to pick him up. It was now about 12:30 and he said “Let’s get breakfast!”. Um, no. I have to go to work still.
Dropped him back home and headed to the office. About an hour later, Elizabeth from the APP called and said she was setting up a cardiologist appointment. Was I ok driving a distance. Sure, why not? She called around and scheduled us for an appointment on Monday, October 12 (supposedly a holiday) only half an hour from home.
Depending on how today’s X-rays went, Friday’s CT scan and the new cardiologist on Monday – maybe surgery will still be a go on October 19.
PS! On the way to work, I was waiting at a light and a beautiful monarch butterfly landed on my windshield. He waited for a few seconcs before flying but ht gave me hope that all will be well.
There are a few more of my butterfly stories here: https://power-surge.co/2025/09/04/butterflies/
