Really helps to know the nurses, man . . .

My helpful hint of the day pertains to navigating the healthcare system: if the nurses already know you're just enough crazy, I mean, barely teetering on the edge of sanity and lockdown, because they've seen or heard you in action before, they'll do whatever it takes to keep you from melting down in their presence, even going so far as getting you in right away to see a doctor who is normally booked up for weeks, or producing a cup of rich French pressed coffee in the ER (that's a cute li'l story for another time, if I remember to come back to it) . . . in other words, don't save this precious trump card for sometime down the road—pull 'er out right at the start. It helps in establishing and solidifying your crazy credibility quotient, if you ever have to deal with a healthcare system for any length of time. 'Course, it always helps to be a little nuts, too . . .

A few phone calls today got Bob an appointment with his cardiologist right away tomorrow morning (when Bob's primary care nurse couldn't get him in until the end of July), and the surgeon's nurse on the ball to start coordinating for surgery. The main deal is his heart doc needs to give his blessing, that Bob's recovered well enough from a cardiac standpoint, to proceed with surgery. Why does all of this feel so strangely familiar . . . played phone tag with his palliative care doc today, too. Haven't seen her since Bob was hospitalized in the beginning of June, after the latest heart attack, but haven't seen or heard from her since. Left a message that we're in the process of getting the surgery back on track, but in the meantime, does she have any suggestions about what to do for the increase in pain? Bob does have a boatload of Neurontin, a nerve pain medication that was stopped a while back, for some reason, and I asked if it'd be okay to maybe start that back in small doses, since he's being tapered off the steroid. She called back when I wasn't by my phone, and left a message saying he should be okay to try the Neurontin again, but sounded kind of irritated that the steroid was being tapered in the first place . . . because the shit choked his adrenal glands a good enough answer? I do want to talk to her specifically about that, so another phone call will happen tomorrow.

Quite day at the home front today. Lots of sleeping, some good meals in, a walk or two outside for fresh air, more sleep. The pain in Bob's leg keeps him from being on his feet for long, so long stretches of sleep are punctuated by bits of activity. I am grateful for these quiet days, these restful days, even though Bob is in more pain, he's mentally with me, he's eating well, he is getting up and about, just not as much as before. I guess the trade-off for mental clarity is more pain. . . and hard to say which is worse . . .

It's getting late, should hit the hay, as it'll be a long stretch in the heart of rush hour tomorrow a.m. Funny how it seems like ancient history, the last time Bob was in the hospital, and I did that drive at least twice a day, some days. . . I'm sure my awesome rush hour driving tactics are gonna be a little rusty . . .