Per usual, it took them close to 3 hours to get me my results; apparently, for the fifth year in a row, something about putting my scan in crashed their system. I complained politely this time, because I was feeling quite exasperated; they were very apologetic, gave me a free parking voucher, and told me that they were going to talk to the IT people to try to figure out what was happening before I came back — something about how the system pulls up my old scans seems to be causing it.
I mean, the delay isn’t SO bad at this point — I know it’s likely to happen, so I pack a backpack full of laptop and work and entertainment so I don’t get crazed from a sense of wasted time. (I got through my Choice of Games research and pitches this time, so that was good.) The first three years, I got super-anxious that they were finding cancer recurring, but at this point, I know it’s probably just the same stupid tech issue again. Still, would be nice to resolve it.
I was made quite late by all that to my next doctor appointment, but they saw me anyway (Dr. Varkey at Loyola is very nice, recommended if you need an internal medicine doc, though not sure if she’s taking new patients at this point), and told me basically what I suspected — the thing that’s been going on with my leg since April might be sciatica, might be piriformis syndrome, might be a third thing that’s basically a slipped disc although she had another name for it…
…but regardless, it was likely to eventually resolve on its own, and I should just keep doing sciatica stretches (morning AND evening), take ibuprofen or tylenol if needed (mostly it hasn’t been), and let her know if at some point it gets worse instead of better — at that point, we’d be talking about an MRI and possibly surgery. Good motivation to actually do those stretches; I’d be happy to avoid another surgery, especially one near my spine. That seems like the sort of thing that could easily go very wrong.
That ate up most of the day and I am now very tired. But I have nothing else I have to do today, so that is okay. I’ve stuffed myself with Chengdu dumplings from Katy’s, also some very spicy chili chicken and their green beans, and Kevin and I are going to watch the next episode of Lower Decks. All is well.
