Well, this was a bit more than I expected..

  Just a  quick blog to say that I had my FNA done last Friday…Thanks for all the support!! The Doc told me I could drive myself for the appointment, there would only be local anesthesia.  Anyway, MacGyver had to make a visit to the elders for some important business..(Actually, I think I got the better of the options)…I am no big baby about needles…Unlike some people, they don’t terrify me and I don’t faint…I was anticipating a couple little pokes in my neck and I’d be on the road to do some shopping….couldn’t take over half an hour, right?…

First of all, they put a pillow under your shoulders, NOT under your head..Therefore my neck was over-extended, making it an easier target and also making it easier for the Doc to use that nasty cold gel on her ultrasound wand and find these invasive little bumps!..OK, I can lay like this for a bit..Next, came the anesthetic ( a couple 3 shots that I really HADN’T anticipated). I was OK with that too…until I tried to  talk and  my voice was gone..Keep in mind that I have chronic bad sinuses and post nasal drip…Apparently, the numbing affects not only  your voice, but the attempt at clearing your throat…  OK, let’s get on with this..Long story short, the doc did 5 needle biopsies in one nodule, 4 in another, and 3 in the last one..She uses the ultrasound to see exactly WHERE she is going to plunge stick the needle.  It took much longer than I thought it would .  The good news was that by the last 3 biopsies, my voice was coming back…the bad news was that the anesthetic was beginning to wane….. Finally, after and hour and 15 minutes, she told me I could sit up..but slowly.  Man, after almost standing on my head for an hour I was a bit light headed for a couple minutes…but…IT WAS OVER!!!!

My only gripe here was when I asked how long it would take to get the results and the nurse said about one month..(SAY WHAT???)  I almost cried.  I explained to the nice young nurse that Dennis and I had hoped to be leaving by first part of December…The nurse told me to mention this to the Doc…so I did…very emphatically..She was so very nice. She said that they would call the lab and ask if they could do a one  week turnaround on the results…I almost kissed her feet.  !!

Sooooo, the biopsies are done and I am feeling pretty good.  Hey, I understand that if they find reason to do some surgery, we  will have to postpone our trip a bit…but one month to wait for results on biopsies is just NOT right!  In the meantime, my throat has been pretty sore.  And this morning I woke up looking like MacGyver hit me in the throat and upper chest…

Yep, I could have MacGyver in handcuffs for this one!!

On a higher note, Den and I went to our neighbor’s house/garage to watch the Chicago Bears play the Ravens yesterday…As you probably know by now, Illinois took a pretty good hit on a deadly line of tornados that were heading right for the Chicago downtown area.  They did major damage on their march North.  The Bears game was suppose to start at noon, and it did.  But just after the first quarter, the NFL (who was watching the weather) chose to evacuate the 50,00 fans from Soldier Field..no minor feat!!

The NFL was really on top of that storm…on the right, it shows the Bears players leaving the field as they evacuated Soldier Field…

….the stands were nearly empty here…They stopped the game about 12:45PM and didn’t restart until 2:25PM…Kudos to the people who managed to get this done very efficiently, with no incidents.  The fans hung out in the outer areas until the game was restarted…amazing.

Our prayers go out to all those who were touched by this terrible tornado outbreak…Makes my little Doc visit pale in comparison.