Today was much less hectic than yesterday. (Aren’t Tuesdays always better than Mondays?) I dropped the kids off at MBAC with no more drama. I was able to plug my car in right there – yesterday the lot was full, and the car chargers here had ICE cars blocking them.  Today that was not a problem, so once the kids were settled, with time to kill, I took a long walk along Mission Bay (the bay-side this time, not the ocean-side) down around the Bahia and back. I love checking out the houses and deciding which one is my favorite.

When I got back to MBAC, I saw that the Sabots were headed out for the day, so I went over to take pictures. Yesterday was too windy for the little rookie sailors to go out there for their first time ever; but today was just gorgeous. It was funny watching them play bumper boats, but frustrating too – pull the darn sail in, kiddo!! I commented on this to one of the instructors on shore and he promised me that I’d be surprised with how quickly they’ll have picked it up by Friday.

After a nice coffee break with a friend, I headed back to the clinic for a second try at my EKG ECHOCARDIOGRAM. Walking up to the fourth-floor check-in desk as indicated on my appointment sheet, I said, “I’m here to check in for an EKG.”

“Do you mean an EKG or an Echo?  We do ECHOS here!!  EKGs are downstairs!!”

My mistake.  Um … they are not the same thing?  I had no idea.  Echo, definitely an Echo.

Enter Wikipedia: While waiting to be called back, I learned that an Echocardiogram is an ultrasound of your heart. I’d had an EKG many many years ago because it was required prior to my research trip to Antarctica. That was definitely not an ultrasound.

The tech (let’s call him Maurice) called me back and enthusiastically explained the whole thing to me. He reminded me frequently throughout the procedure that he’s been doing this for 24 years and he likes to explain what he’s doing. That’s good because I like explanations. It was all super interesting and I’m looking forward to getting a copy of the images to show you all.

I also learned that this procedure was not diagnostic in nature, which I had not realized. The purpose of this was to get a thorough baseline before chemo starts, to have a good look at my heart and ensure there are no concerns. Maurice predicts that I’ll come back at least once during the chemo treatment to monitor how the drugs are effecting my heart.

The examination took about 45 minutes. Maurice  was proud of all the new equipment he had available to him in this brand new building, most notably a fancy bed that had a drop-out hatch and an automatic side-lying support so that the ultrasound wand could go everywhere without me moving. He wanded the middle of my chest, the side of my chest, looking upward from the top of my abdomen, and looking downward from my neck.  All that meant that when it was time to get dressed again, I had ultrasound goop absolutely everywhere.  I felt like Venkman.