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Tip n I had an excellent adventure today.. We are still in the process of getting things in order for the big cruise over to Ann Arbor to visit the U of M in January. 3 weeks ago, during an outing that found me jogging on a tread mill while a very young looking heart specialist controlled the speed and uphill angle of the conveyor belt that was moving beneath my feet,,, 30 more seconds the nurse said,,, I didnt trust her cause it seemed an hour had past since she had said "1 more minute".. As we were walking out the door of the hospital on that previous adventure, I looked at Tippy and told her how happy I was that another link in the process of this medical journey was completed.. Looking for empathy and maybe even some sympathy, I also made a comment about how much the angle of that tread mill reminded me of the angle of the roadway her and I had pushed Tweeks up when we ran out of gas on the other side of the Missouri River from Chamberlain South Dakota.. It worked cause she acknowledged that the ordeal didnt sound like that much fun.. I told her that the Nurse and Doctor had pulled a tag team of torment on me trying to get my heart to rev over 138 rpm's and that, truthfully, I would rather have been back out in that 105 degree sun, helping her push Tweeks.. Glad it was over.. Thought that was ancient history,, a long forgotten time of trauma when,,, last week,,, our Doctor walked into room #3, said hi to us, looked down at her computer and said,, "getting handle on all the prep - every thing is looking good --- except your heart stress test,, got some stuff there that we should look deeper into"... I knew it,, I just knew it,, that local hospital tag team and their conveyor belt with a "T" handle bolted to it were gonna cause me problems... My Doctor announces I have to go do ANOTHER one of these tests only this one will be a little more fun cause I get a bunch of pictures taken AND I get to have my motor injected... That brings us to todays adventure.. This time the tag team consisted of 3 medical looking people.. After shaving a bunch of spots on my chest to make sure my wiring was grounded properly, they flipped the switch on the monitor,, one of the group kinda moaned a little and said something about my motor rate of 42 rpm's.. The one in the white coat walked out,, looked at me and said - "do you have a heart condition"? To which I replied,, "not that I know of"... I was laying down on a bed with wheels next to the conveyor belt while that conversation was going on. I didnt notice the guy with the injection cart walk in.. Having been around injected motors and gear heads who inject them, I am pretty familiar with the voice tones the type of person who injects motors has.. I knew immediately what this person was up to as soon as he introduced himself as "Ed"... I forgave "Ed" for trying to push the feed line for my motor injection thru my elbow - he was very apologetic about it not "flowing".. He tried some kind of technique using some kind of saline solution but still couldnt get the injector cranked up.. He had to plug that lead and go looking for another one... Wired up,,, chest shaven with patches hanging all over me,, right arm all poked full of holes,, tag team standing around me, they cranked up the conveyor again... As I held onto that familiar "T" handle and felt the conveyor start to tilt, it occurred to me how many times I had asked Tweeks to pull an incline loaded to the Antelope Horns with gear and with two people on her back no less... "Ed" broke my sweaty daydream as he announced he was about to hit the injector button.. As he shoots the juice to my motor, someone announces that having your motor injected while trying to balance your wheels on a conveyor belt can cause momentary loss of balance.. It can and it does.. Thankfully the "T" bar on the conveyor belt at our local hospital is very very well made!! As the tag team was helping me lay back on the wheeled bed I could feel my pride and dignity returning knowing I had accomplished another great adventure.. I immediately found out that only part of the journey was completed.. The team moved me into another room where many more tag team members had gathered.. My motor and I were placed under this machine that they all said was "the camera" - certainly did not look like one though.. Spent about 20 minutes getting pictures taken of my motor.. As I leaned up onto the side of the bed with wheels, visions of some of Tips turkey and homemade dressing danced in my head (had to fast for this procedure - hungry!!).. Glad to have this one done... The nurse that handed me my shirt asked if I would be waiting in the hospital for the "next" step or if I would be leaving.. She informed me that I would have to be back in a couple hours for part two... Ohhhhhhh,,, goody goody,,, its not over!! It dawned on me that I still had the "injector" hooked up and,, being the gear head that I am and knowing first hand I dont like people knowing whether or not my motor is injected either, I asked if - for secrecy sake - my injector port had to be removed if I was leaving the Hospital.. Nailed it.. Remembering the fiasco that "Ed" had gone thru trying to get my injector flowing,, I made the wise choice to hang out for a couple hours... As Tip and I were goofing around in the corridors of the Hospital I was intriqued at how many mature adventurers there were hanging around.. As with any trip, we conversed with quite a few of them.. After finishing up a conversation with another bearded charecter about my age, I looked at Tippy and told her I wanted to go view the "little people behind the big window".. It had been many many years since I had stood at the viewing window and made ugly faces at the lil ones.. We walked up the stairs to the 2nd floor exit ramp.. Hooked an exit and noticed a sign that said "Intensive Care" - opppssss,, obviously the wrong exit... Merged back in the stair well traffic,, off on the 3rd floor exit,,, surgical rooms......... Back into the stairwell traffic,, 4th floor,, which was also the end of the stairwell road.. Walked in,, more surgical care rooms... Walk over to the nurses station on the 4th floor.. A nurse asked if she could help.. Tippy stood there beside me as I explained to her that we were just waisting time between some heart testing and were looking for the baby viewing area,,, just wanted to give the hospital a chance to show off those lil ones.. The nurse eyed us up and down,, smiled and told us that this particular hospital didnt do babies no more... Saddened, we ventured back down to the main floor.. As we stood in the main floor corridor, leaned against a wall and yapping, a well dressed office looking lady walked up and asked if she could help us find something.. I lifted my sleeve, showed her my injection connection and told her we were waiting for part two.. Than we got yakking about the hospital not having a baby area, how strange that seemed and how disappointed I was that I didnt get to view the little curtain climbers.. The lady grinned when I said that and said,, you wanna hear something that will really make you sad.. She asked when the last time was that I had "viewed" the hospital babies.. Probably 25 years we said.. She says now adays, at the "other" hospital, you cant even view em unless you are a family member and have a security wrist band.. She said because of people STEALING babies and other security issues, those "open view" days that I remember so well are a thing of the past... Keeping it a "secret" about whether or not your motor is injected is understandable but,, hiding those little people like that - now that is just plain wrong... Got the message that I was "next in line" for more injector flavored pictures,, finished up and came home a little older and a whole lot wiser about injectors, babies and life in the not so fast lane of geezerdom!!
