Dorothy had the last of her four batteries of tests early this morning. Before sunrise we were off to Edmonton. It was -30C [-22F] with few signs there would be sunshine today.
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| Venturing out onto our street - "What are all these people doing out here? It's 30 below!" |
The breathing tests seemed to go well. The respitory therapist, Melinda, explained things fully and was very helpful in understanding what was going on.
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| Dorothy - ready for her lung function tests |
Later we had a meeting with our lawyer to advise us regarding a form we received from our travel health insurance company. I was all set to praise him for punctuality compared to our doctor, but he was half an hour late getting back from lunch so we got to practice our waiting there too.
Then it was off to our follow up doctor's appointment. Remember, the mid-day high today was -28C so it was not easy getting around - or breathing the "fresh" air. It seems I was mistaken about our doctor not usually working Friday afternoons. Actually, he does work, but not "regular" appointments - instead he is meeting with fee paying clients who want botox or other elective cosmetic procedures. So, we had to wait while those folks were served. From our 2:30 "appointment" it was actually 5 minutes before 4:00 pm before we met with the doctor. However, the message was probably worth waiting for. He said he was "relieved" by the results of Dorothy's echocardiogram tests of her heart function. He said he was concerned they might find heart congestion but that it "appeared" that was not the case. Blood tests and x-rays were also reassuring. He explained some of Dorothy's chest and abdominal pains as muscle strains or pulls. He was also encouraged by Dorothy's increase in energy and improved general appearance. He will not get the pulmonary test results until Wednesday and will only call us "if it seems called for". Generally, we ae thankful for Dorothy's progress thus far - she still has a long way to go but there are some signs of normalacy returning.
We continue to be thankful for the support of our friends, as well. A few examples are below:
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| Carolyn sent a "soup hamper" |
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Margaret sent individual meal sized Shepherd's Pie
[an apple pie did not survive long enough to be photographed] |
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| Florence brought a gift of spring flowers. |
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And Melisa brought groceries covering all the major food groups, plus flowers.
[Racquel (age 5) did the "Welcome Back" card |
Thanks - is hardly enough - but we are grateful for all the support we have received and for how far Dorothy has progressed since we arived home.
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