Journeys 3.1

On the way home from a medical appointment, I insisted on something normal: an Americano and an old-fashioned donut at Open Book. It doubles as our polling place, but there weren’t many takers: we live in a liberal neighborhood, and I expect most people heeded the warnings to vote by mail. Normal is important to me: I’d just learned that my tumor is now pressing against my spinal cord, likely leading to palliative surgery.

Yesterday, I ordered over 100 Japanese KitKats in various creative flavors, taking advantage of a special offer. Today, I received the waybill showing they’ll be flying out of Osaka, probably via Tokyo, with ANA. ​My KitKats are in good hands: having flown ANA both domestically and trans-Pacific, I’ve always been impressed with their level of service, which beats any US airline. ​I’ll be giving away most of the KitKats, by the way.

​I didn’t stray far from the couch today (on the right), but this plant rack had migrated clear across the apartment as Dwight rearranged our garden on wheels.

Reviewed my Explanations of Benefits (EOBs) for October, each of which corresponds to a medical bill paid fully or in part by insurance. I’ve received 14 EOBs so far for this month, with more to trickle in over the coming weeks. While each EOB used to arrive by mail as a thick wad of paper, I now receive them electronically. In this case, an uninsured patient would have been billed $1,039.00 for laboratory services; however, the rate negotiated between the provider and the insurer was just $144.26.

Today’s adventure: an MRI in a truck in a hospital parking lot. The hospital is remodeling its MRI suite, so I got to ride in one of Siemens’ latest systems. Fortunately, there’s a small changing area inside, so I didn’t have to parade across the lot in a hospital gown.

Well, that’s something new for me, and a nice nod to our local Nordic roots. Today, for the first time, I tried our building’s sauna to see if it might help with pain management. I was immediately struck by the warm cedar aroma as I laid down my towel. The heat felt great, and my perception of pain noticeably eased. As a temporary shut-in, I’m glad to have one more local destination to shuffle to.

Life is a bit more complicated now that I have to be driven everywhere and get dropped off at front doors where I’d normally walk. Lovely lunch with friends at a Hilton (0.6 miles), a beautifully repurposed farm machinery factory, for extreme comfort food: Swedish meatballs, mushroom gravy, lingonberries (mandatory) and horseradish mash. Tonight, Kunene and the King at the Guthrie (0.3 miles), a confrontation between a white and a Black South African.