FEAR NOT

I went to the hospital on Saturday morning for my test. I had to stop eating at 8PM Friday night which was tough since it’s after 8 that I like to eat the most. (The mints aren’t bad either). When I got to the hospital they told me that I needed to have an injection because of my artificial heart valve and the test could be dangerous without the antibiotic.

So they took me to the “Injection Therapy” room where they did some sort of skin test first. That meant giving me a needle and seeing if anything happened to me in the next 15 minutes. After 15 minutes I was still alive so they hooked me up with an intravenous drip and then put me in a bed in a room full of sleeping Koreans. I brought a book so I read.

The drip took about 30 minutes and then I had to wait 30 minutes for it to settle in (or whatever) before they could do the test. Then the test. Oh boy! You lie on your side curled up in a fetal ball. They freeze your mouth with a spray and but a mouth guard with a hole in the middle in your mouth. They then take this effing long tube which has a width a little wider than a dime and keep shoving it down your throat. You gag, you drool, your eyes tear up and they are manipulating this tube in your stomach to take pictures. It wasn’t fun.

After that you sit with a doctor and he shows you pictures of your stomach and explains what you’re seeing. His English wasn’t great but he managed. It seems I have Reflux Esophagitis and Erosive Gastritis. That is why my stomach is bloated. I knew it was something. He gave me a prescription for 2 weeks and I’m supposed to go back and see how it’s going.

He also told me I had a Submucosal Tumor in my stomach. I just put my head in my hands when he told me and was saying to myself, “I knew it”. He then said it was only 1 cm. in diameter so it was benign and nothing to worry about. It’s when it’s 3 cm. that you have to worry. He said I should take this test once a year just to be sure all is okay. So I don’t have stomach cancer which I was truly afraid I had. Boy, that word “tumor” is one scary word. You hear it and it just saps all the life out of you for a minute.

So I won’t worry about my benign tumor and I’ll take my medicine and hopefully clear up the problem. The problem is caused by too much acid in my stomach. They didn’t tell me what to eat or what not to eat but maybe that’s what the Internist will talk about when I see him on March 19th. Who knows?

I had my best compliment last week from the Ophthalmologist in my adult class. He told me that he operated on a person from the Philippines 2 months ago and had a very difficult time communicating with them. They speak English in the Philippines. He then said he operated on another person from the Phillippines last week and he had no trouble communicating. That made me feel very good. I’ve actually helped one person.

The weekend was fairly quiet. Robert left on Friday. Saeyoon and I went out with him last Wednesday to say goodbye. I miss him already. Just knowing my only native English speaking friend is gone is sad. We will stay in touch (hopefully if we’re not lazy) but it won’t be the same as making plans to meet and having him show up 30 minutes or so late. Boy, I’ll miss that.

Saeyoon and I watched “Dreamgirls” on Thursday night. What a dog! It was so predictable and the music was quite pedestrian. At one point I said to Saeyoon that this character would be dead in a few minutes. She asked me how I knew and I told her I wrote the script. Two minutes later he was dead. We had a good laugh. In fact, the enjoyment of that film was that we both laughed at it. So far we have agreed on the quality of all the movies we’ve seen. We haven’t seen a lot, but so far, so good.

The weekend was fairly quiet. I watched “French Connection” on Friday night. I love Gene Hackman. He really dominates the screen. Saturday night Saeyoon came over and we just chatted and Sunday I read a book. I love Michael Connelly books. I also watched “American Dreamz” and I’m embarrassed to say that I enjoyed it. I thought Dennis Quaid did a good and insulting satire of George W. Bush.

I had a big screen TV that I had been using. It was Kyle’s but he had no room for it. Now it’s gone. He sold it to his parents and I’m left with a little 14 inch TV. What a comedown. The quality of my movies will suffer.

Kyle wants me to work until 7PM on 2 nights on top of the 2 nights I already work past 6. I told him no and he said to not tell him no yet. I should think about it. It would mean a few more dollars for me but I hate that he just expects me to do it so I will stick with my no unless he sweetens the pot. I’ve always treated him fair and been honest with him, but he’s a weasel. If he would have given me the big TV I would have said yes.

I will have much more working hours starting next week. I have gotten used to hardly working but I suppose the work won’t kill me. The fact is that except for my adult class which I enjoy, this is just another job. I try and do well at it, but I have no passion for it. I get a kick out of the kindergarten but I think I’ll be doing kindergartens 4 days a week so my enjoyment of it may lessen somewhat.

I think about what I should do about staying or going every day. I know I said I’ll make a decision soon and I know I must. I need to pick some sort of date be it very soon or November and just go from there. I have given myself until the middle of March to decide. I know what I want to happen but that isn’t entirely in my hands. I can’t make decisions for other people and I don’t want to try and talk them into what I think is best for them. So Saeyoon will make her life decision (right or wrong) and then I’ll make mine (right or wrong) and we’ll go from there.