My Friday

I got good news this morning. The stress test I took yesterday came out negative for any problems; there are no blockages to my heart.

This is what a stress test looks like (with a man instead of me, of course). They hook you up with wires so they can run an EKG and a blood pressure cuff so they can measure your blood pressure during the test. Then you walk on the treadmill until your heart rate comes up to the target level. They measure blood flow to your heart both before and after exercise. In order to do this, they inject isotopes into your body through an IV, which allows them to observe blood flow using a gamma camera.

The gamma camera looks like this. You lie under it for about fifteen minutes while it rotates around you. The whole procedure took about two hours. This morning I got the report from my doctor's office... no blockages! YAY! It's good to know. I am motivated to stay healthy now, eating healthily and getting more exercise.

Part Two of My Friday:

My sister works on Fridays, so I pick up my nieces after school. In previous years, they all went to the same school so it was fairly simple; just drive across town to their Montessori school and wait in the car line. It's a very small school, so traffic wasn't a problem. This year, however, the two oldest are going to a different school on the other side of town. That means picking up the youngest at the Montessori school, then driving across town to pick up the other two. Their new school is much larger, so there is a LOT of traffic coming and going. There is a time crunch too, as they are hungry and want to stop for food and the oldest has to be at gymnastics practice by 4:15.

I have no children of my own, so this routine has only been in my life since we moved here to be close to family. It really gives me a greater understanding of what parents' lives are like. I have to do this only on Fridays; my sister has to do it all the other days!