November 13, 2014. Ridgeland, Mississippi. Test and Scans.

Modern Medicine is wonderful. But it is more interesting in someone else. Today began the search for the needle in the hay stack, the needle being, "what is the matter with Ruth?" I look perfectly normal. As Ken says, "You are not fading away". My cheeks are rosy and my skin is pink. My only symptoms are shortness of breath and a bad taste in my mouth. I also have a cough, but I am inclined to think the cough is coming from allergies. Both the Internist and Ken disagree. And of course, they discovered that I have a large amount of fluid in my chest. Today we met for two hours with Dr. Gregg, our Internist who is a specialist of Geriatrics. She asked me every question known to man about my health and my symptoms. And we made a plan. Tomorrow I will have a CT scan on my chest and after lunch more fluid removed from my chest, this time by a Pulmonary specialist. First thing Tuesday morning I meet with Dr. Cotton, the Cardiologist to do a cardiac evaluation. Wednesday morning I will have a Mammogram. After further evaluation of the fluid and the other tests, something should be found that is causing the build up of fluid. If nothing is found, they will continue more scans of the abdomen and bowel. Eventually the culprit will be found. Being a test subject holds no charm for me. My druthers are to forget about my health and get on with the job at hand but I have no choice but to pay attention. So I remove myself about three feet from the test and try to pretend this task is actually interesting. At least I laugh as I pretend that this is all being done on someone else!!