A somwhat crummy Day

So I got to bed fairly late after cleaning my Mosin M44 from the blogger shoot, as I shoot corrosive ammo through it. Had to get up fairly early so we could catch the train and head into Boston. Rather than work We’d both taken the day off so we could go to Mass General Hospital for Mrs. Weer’d pre-operative tests and meetings.

Some things were a bit bumpy, such as the fact that the paperwork all listed her surgery date as “August 7th” which not only isn’t the correct date…but a Saturday. The surgeon is on vacation right now and will return at the end of the week where we can square all that away, but it did worry the Mrs. a good bit. She gave blood and urine, the pee part went well, blood, not-so-hot. To say the Mrs. has shitty veins for needle sticks is putting it lightly. So she got poked and prodded, but yielded no red-stuff. She was advised to go through the meetings have lunch and drink lots of water, and then return.

We meet with the Nurse Practitioner who would be working directly under her Anesthesiologist and they went over the basics of the procedure and recovery. The NP was quite a card, and she worked the room like a stand-up comic to keep the mood light. Also I was quite surprised that in an un-related topic (We were talking about patient ID numbers, and photo ID) she mentioned, among a long list of IDs, that she had a gun permit. Since this was about the Mrs. Epilepsy surgery, I didn’t feel it proper to drop a subtle hint. Since land where one can legally shoot on is rare the general gunnie secret handshake around here is “What club are you a member of?”. Still I was amused that somebody would say “I have a gun permit” to a group of people she had only met. I likened it to saying “I’m Gay” in a more Christian-Centered Red-State.

During this meeting the Mrs. had a small seizure, so small that if I hadn’t told her she probably wouldn’t have noticed it. This was not big deal, its what we have right now, and why we were in the hospital, it was also not surprising given how nervous the wife was getting with all this talk of needles, incisions, and head-shaving. Also the Nurse mentioned an amnesiac effect that might happen for the recovery period just because of stress to the brain. Be interesting to see if that’s a reality.

We then met with a floor nurse just to talk about further medical records, health care proxy, and at-home recovery.

Then it was off to lunch at Boston Beer Works a good place, I recommend! Burgers and lots of water were had to better the blood-drawing. Then back to the Hospital.

On the way back the Mrs. said “Uh-Oh, something isn’t right…”

I suspected it was another seizure, tho this kind isn’t like the others. Normally she just blanks out for 30-60 seconds, then is a bit confused for a few minuets, and sometimes gets grouchy or sleepy afterwords. This kind there is never a loss of consciousness but she gets very confused, often says the wrong words when talking, and often hears wrong words when listening. Also she tires to explain concepts or ideas that as far as we can tell don’t exist, and therefore can’t be explained or figured out. This kind can last for hours.

So back to the hospital for the blood drawing, there was some communication difficulties due to the seizure, but the staff was understanding and helpful. A vein was struck and blood was collected, so we moved on to the EEG floor where we had an appointment with a researcher who is doing a study on brain resection and memory. While in the waiting room the Mrs. attempted to read a magazine and found it to be too difficult, I suggested she listen to music and that quickly put her to sleep.

When the researcher arrived we told her the story, and the Mrs. Confirmed that the short nap wasn’t enough to stop the seizure, so we’ll either have to reschedule or drop out of the study.

So off to home, which was a tough journey for the Mrs., as she was confused, and frustrated by the seizure and now starting to get VERY tired…as was I because of my busy weekend. Home was nap time for both of us. After my nap I decided to clean the guns from the blogger shoot. I did most of the handguns, when cleaning my Jennings J-22 I lost the main spring across the room. I found the retention plug, but no spring. Searching all over made me quite grouchy so after that I decided it was time call it quits for the night, and join the Mrs. watching movies.

So it was a rough day, but we’re moving forward with surgery and are still quite happy with the hospital.

As for a Gunnie Bleg, does anybody know where I can buy a replacement spring for the J-22? I actually remember reading somewhere of somebody who fashioned a mainspring out of the spring from a ballpoint pen. I don’t see why that might not work.

Any help?

Oh and thanks for all your concern about the Mrs. We both greatly appreciate it!