Friday, September 12, 2008

Loose Ends

Finally.
Last night we signed the closing docs on the house. We were supposed to do this nearly three weeks ago, but FHA is becoming a thorn in everybody's side. The last couple days were spent bickering over the property taxes.
In California, property taxes are based on sale price/value of the property. The lender was insisting on advance payment, six months worth, of the property tax, based upon the previous year's assessment.
Mindful that the house is a foreclosure, being purchased at nearly 1/2 the original sale price, we had an argument as to just what six months tax should be.
In the end, I decided to just pay them a couple extra grand to get the deal closed, and wait for money to be refunded by the assessor. It will be.

Two days ago, Wednesday, I had the last of several diagnostic tests my doctor ordered: an MRI. As previous attempts to MRI my face had not gone well (it appears that I am severely claustrophobic), it was necessary to knock me out to get it done. That was kinda weird. I took three breaths of the happy gas and don't remember another damn thing 'cept for waking up in another room, on another bed, as if nothing had happened.
If only I could sleep that way every night.


The 'wake up room' was rather cold. They must have had the a/c set at 58F or something.
Before I could leave, the nurse had to check my vitals, and struggled to get a good reading of my body temperature. They take temperature through the ear, and my ears were numb from the cold.

Keep in mind that I was instructed: nothing to eat or drink after midnight.

It was now 11am.
I am not just hungry. I'm in dire need of something to drink.

The nurse kept going from ear to ear to get an acceptable reading. Getting impatient with her, I offered:
"You wanna just shove it up my butt and be done with it?"
Your ears are very cold.
"My ass is warm."
She then draped a blanket over my head to 'warm you up'.
(Or maybe to shut me up?)

Next week I will be moving into my grand new home, and meeting with doctors, scheduling surgery, and hopefully wrapping up the last chapter of a year I would rather not repeat anytime soon.

Keeping fingers crossed that recovery won't prevent me from making deer season this year.

7 comments:

Bike Bubba said...

Congrats on the new house--as well as for keeping your priorities in order!

Anonymous said...

Shrinkage!!! Did you tell her about the shrinkage.

Ya wimpy Californian. Minnesotans start wearing t-shirts when it hits 33 degrees.

Mr. D said...

MRIs are no fun - I've had a lot of them. Good thing that they knocked you out, because it is claustrophobic.

I am praying that the news is good on surgery and that everything is uneventful. And since you have a nice new house with a lot of wall space, you'll have room for that 12-point buck you're going to bag later this year.

Gino said...

bubba: thanks.

KD: yeah, we are kinda spoiled here in the sunny southewest.
speaking of shrinkage,though: the angiogram room was pretty cold as well. not my proudest moment,ya know?

mark: did they knock you out for you head mri, as well? that narrow tube is scary from the inside.

Jade said...

When I scheduled an MRI, the doc thought they might put me in legs first and leave my head out, since it was my lower spine they were after. The MRI dude explained that they wanted to look at my whole spine, so I'd have to go in head first.
They didn't knock me out, but gave me a lavender scented eye cover to keep me calm. I did a lot of deep breathing and visualizations of beaches to stay calm... but it was difficult.

Congrats on closing the house, and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that you make it to deer season this year.

Gino said...

jade: just being in the tube, i may have been ok.
but, they had to place a cage around my face, and then stick padding against the sides so my head could not move.
it was like sticking your head in bucket full of foam. couldnt take it long enough to do the test.

Jade said...

I wouldn't have been able to do that either. The only reason I made it through mine is because I kept my eyes shut & I was unaware of how close everything was to my head.