Journal - 3/5/02

Tuesday, 5 March 2002

I finished another round of medical tests yesterday. As I've said before, I'm seeing these people way too much. Pretty soon, they will know me by name. It isn't really that bad, but sometimes it feels like it. Friday, I had an ultrasound test to check my gall bladder, liver, and kidneys to try to figure out what is going on with my stomach (or that strange space inside me). The Upper GI seemed to show that I don't have an ulcer, which is good. The blood tests suggested that my liver and kidneys are functioning properly. Yet, the pain and nausea is still occurring. So, an ultrasound to see whether I might have gall-stones.

Yesterday, Monday, I had another round of bone-scans and MRI's as a follow-up to monitor the spot on my femur. The doctor at University Hospitals in Cleveland diagnosed the spot as being Calcific Tendonitis, which is not serious at all. The bone specialist in Akron scheduled the follow-up bone-scan and MRI. I have an appointment with him next week to go over these films. I will talk to him about the diagnosis then.

Within a year and a half, I've had to go through tests for blood in my urine. I had to go through a rather aggressive prostate exam (ouch) and then have my bladder scoped (that has been the most horrendous of my limited medical procedures I have ever experienced -- I hope to God I never have to that done again!). Then, a spot on my femur (which could have been cancer), and now my stomach. What's up with all this? I suppose it is better to get it all out of the way before I loose my very good insurance and head off to New York to once again become a student.

Oh, and I've had another head cold this past weekend.

I took advantage of being home yesterday to finally switch to another host for this website. I got a notice from Yahoo Geocities that I would no longer be able to FTP updates to the site directly, but have to go through their web-based upload procedure. That was the final straw, I suppose. So, soon, after all the DNS servers are updated, there will be no more banner ads, which is good. The cost of the new host isn't that bad at all. We shall see....

I discovered last week that one of journals I read over the web, that the guy went to BGSU ( where I also went) and was involved in the campus ministry that Nick and Laura and I started back in 1985 -- Chi Alpha at BGSU. What a small world. We talked via instant messaging last week. He created a website with tons of pictures of his experiences in Chi Alpha -- it was so odd seeing a few people I knew back then. Something we started still continues, which is a good feeling. I pulled myself out of Chi Alpha, having that chapter of my life closed, because I just couldn't support some of the things the national and state organizations were doing and the general atmosphere of the ministry. Daoenix (the guy above) and my experiences seemed to be similar as we both dealt with being gay and Christian. Small world....