After a sleepless night (up at 1AM and couldn't get back to sleep) I was picked up at 6AM for the trip to the VA hospital in Buffalo N.Y. It snowed all the way there, sometimes reducing visibility to less than 100 feet. The roads, even the interstate, were not good at all, and we saw many cars and trucks off the road in the ditches.

A trip that usually takes about 2-2 1/2 hours, took more than three, what with stopping to pick up other people also headed to the hospital. After we arrived, I had almost three hours to wait before my appointment, so I went to the lounge... yes, the smokers lounge... and took out the laptop to try to connect to the internet. No joy, so I read some of the stories I've downloaded.

The Appointment: I was first examined by a couple of trainees... students, if you will, who preliminarily diagnosed a possible hernia. To say it was a painful experience would be damning it with faint praise. Folks, it HURT! Then, they went to discuss their findings with a resident. They came back, REDID the exam... more pain. Sigh.

During all of tis I was pleading for them to just take the two little pains in my... life, if they were going to have to operate for the hernia anyway, and since it seemed as if one of them was indirectly involved in what was happening in my groin area anyway. No response from the students.

FINALLY, the resident arrived and repeated the exam, but with much more vigor, causing much more pain... I almost passed out. He seemed to believe that what is happening is a hernia, although he did express concern over the involvement of the testicle, which it seemed he was about to crush. Can you say OW? Sure you can... I knew you could.

Sooooooo... now I have to have another ultrasound done on the area, likely followed by scheduling for surgery on the hernia... and hopefully, as long as they're in the area, removal of one or both of the little pains in my... life. I'm scheduled for the ultrasound in March.

The trip home took four hours, what with the snow,and delays for accidents. We saw at least four tractor-trailers either off the road, or outright crashed, some of them looked pretty serious... I hope no one was hurt. There were seven or eight cars also in the ditches, or crashed. I finally got through the door of my house at 7 PM, and just unpacked, and fell into bed, after my short blog. 12 or so hours later, here I am... more or less awake and semi-coherent.

I cannot possibly express my gratitude to those of you who responded to my blog entries with compassion and love. You lifted my spirits and re-affirmed the fact that we are, indeed, a family here, and I thank you all, from my heart. I am just going to take things real easy between now and whenever I'm scheduled for the surgery. I do know that any surgery carries with it some risk, but I'm assured that hernia surgery is relatively simple, often requiring no more than a simple and short recovery period before returning home. I also know that my age and my COPD do not render me an ideal candidate for general surgery, but I'm not going to let that worry me. What will happen, will happen. It''s beyond my control.

The one thing I'm certain of is your continued support and compassion. I would do the same for any of you, I hope you know that. For now, I'm out of here and I promise I'll take things easy and not worry.

As I said, I thank you all from my heart.

Hugs and love,
Catherine Linda Michel