A busy day and more testing to come 2

Today Tam, Felix, and I went to do several errands, including a follow up visit with my GI doctor. We started out at Great Clips for Tam to get her hair cut. We checked in and had a little wait, so we walked next door to Wild Birds Unlimited and picked up some seed blocks for Brad. He was wanting to feed birds so that he can do some wildlife photography on the patio. These seed blocks do not sprout if the seeds fall off, so they hopefully won’t be too messy. And they were 50% off!

When we got back to Great Clips, it was almost time for Tam’s turn! We got a before picture and an after picture, though Tam’s hair is up in the before picture. But it was a really major haircut with more than 6 inches being cut off! Tam also got some pretty layering done. Both Tam and I have black on (though I have a grey sweatshirt over top), and my hair was dyed back to brown yesterday, so I finally have normal looking hair LOL. Felix is a sable and white Japanese Chin.

Next, since we were hungry, we headed to Chili’s. They have a really good deal there where you can get a drink, a starter, and a main for only $10.99! The burger we both got was on the menu regularly for $14.99! I don’t know how they did their pricing, but even just a cup of soup and a drink is almost as much as the entire meal, too! It is a great value. I put Felix on my wheelchair seat and sat in a regular chair, and he was so chill. He just fell asleep.

I think Felix really likes being up on my wheelchair seat when we’re at restaurants. I think being on the floor is just too far away for him. I think he likes to be able to sniff me if needed and check in. And he can’t do that from the floor, so he just gets all antsy on the floor. But when I put him in my wheelchair seat, even though he can easily jump off, he just settles in and chills out for the whole meal. I got a picture of him in his galaxy vest on the seat.

I also got a picture of Tam throwing her hands up in the air like “oh well!” after she realized she had accidentally deleted the two pictures above. Luckily she had sent them to Brad, so he was able to send them back to the both of us!

After Chili’s, we had to run into Ross really quickly to pick up a Christmas doormat for Tamara. We looked online and they were all like $20+. But at Ross they were $9. We only had less than 10 minutes for this stop, so we hustled in, got the mat, and checked out and left.

Next it was time for my GI follow up. They said that I do have a liver hemangioma that wasn’t there a year ago. But they think it’s unlikely to be causing my nausea. They want me to have another ultrasound in 6 months to see if it has grown. I also apparently have a hiatal hernia which is located between my esophagus and my stomach. That might be causing some chest pain, but is probably not causing my nausea. I am still supposed to follow up with my cardiologist and do all their tests.

Unfortunately, those were the only two things they found. So the next step is a gastric emptying study. In this study I will eat radioactive eggs and then they will take X-rays every few minutes to watch them progress through my digestive system over the course of the next few hours. Fun fun.

Luckily that test could be done either at the Rock Hill hospital or the Ft. Mill hospital. Tam has some trauma at the Rock Hill hospital, and she will be my ride, so I was happy to be able to choose the Ft. Mill hospital instead. I don’t want to force her to be at the Rock Hill one for several hours. Last time we were there, it was only 10 minutes, and she had a really hard time.

That test will be done mid-December, and my follow up will be in January. We did get a picture of Tam, Felix, and me in the exam room. Felix is resting his paws on Tam, and both of us humans are smiling.

After that, we stopped by the ATM, where Tam forgot her car was on and turned it off when she got back in LOL! And our final stop was the Hospice Thrift Store. We had a box of donations to drop off, and we got there right as they were about to lock up! Thank goodness we made it on time!

We drove around to the front of the store, and headed inside to check it out. We spent about an hour there looking at everything. It was so much fun! They had all their Christmas stuff out. I found a red sweater with rhinestones on it for only $3 and 12 Christmas cards for 50 cents. Tam found a giant mug with gnomes, Christmas trees, and mushrooms on it that she might use as a mixing bowl, a candy dish, or a pot for a small plant. We’ll see what she does with it!

While we were there, I found a suitcase I had donated 9 months ago! I recognized it and went down memory lane with Tam about how it was a graduation present from my aunt. She came up to see my graduation, and used that suitcase to carry her things. My sister and I made fun of her for how ugly the suitcase was. But then it turns out that suitcase was my graduation present LOLOLOLOL! I ended up loving that suitcase! The only reason I gave it away is because it only had two wheels, and you just can’t use a two wheeled suitcase easily with a wheelchair. You really need one with four wheels. But it was a good thing I saw it, because I checked and I had not removed my contact information from it! So I discreetly took that out!

Finally we headed home. We did the drive-through pharmacy for Brad on the way, and then were so happy to get home and relax! It was such a busy day!!!! I’m so glad I only have one or two things to do on Thursday this week! And I’m really happy that I have Tam to share errands with now. Brad has been really tired lately, so if Tam hadn’t been able to come with me, I’d have had to go alone and that is really hard for me. We had a fun girls day out!