Decisions, decisions ….

Yet another paracentesis today. We got 5.5 liters, and could probably have gotten at least two liters more, but today’s block didn’t take well. (A “block” is what they call injections of a pain-blocker to an area to anesthetize it.) I started feeling pain about three liters into the draining, and there was no way I could have tolerated a repositioning, so once the initial flow stopped the needle was removed. I’ll go back in ten days instead of two weeks so I don’t accumulation too much before the next tap.

Dr. Liver became rather angry when I told him about the prescription renewal run-around I got last week. He intends to talk to the head of the clerical staff about it (they’re the ones who made the public relations FUBAR). I definitely like my doc.

My bleeding time is way up, and that’s increased my MELD. I’ll have to get the official score from Big City Hospital in a couple of days, but the UNOS Calculator claims I’m a 19. If true, this is very good news. It puts me in the top pool with 17 other candidates.

Only three of these seventeen are my blood type, so I may suddenly be well placed again. We’ll see in a few days how it goes.

Tomorrow I have an MRI scan scheduled for first thing in the morning. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it goes quickly. I’m not claustrophobic or anything, but I still find the MRI scan to be an unpleasant experience. It’s a pity the machine is so freaking loud, because it would help to have music piped in.

Then Wednesday it’s back to the grind again. I had a short but serious discussion with Dr. Liver about disability. I’m beginning to think it might be time. I was thinking that even before I got my bloodwork back today. I’m becoming exhausted only an hour or two into the day. I work with some rather large animals, and I also work around some rather dangerous equipment. I don’t trust my judgement any more in these conditions. There’s still things I could do, but they wouldn’t merit a full time job. I’ll take a few days to decide for sure, but I think I know what my final decision is going to be.

Meanwhile, the weekend was very good. I slept in, ran some errands with The Socialist, and read. The Socialist and I took a nice long Sunday drive, and I discovered how dangerously close I was to an artsy-fartsy little town that I love to window shop in. Meanwhile, my morning glories are growing like weeds, which is exactly how the local farmers regard them. I’ll have to take a picture of them as they look now, so I can compare it to later when they’ve covered the fencing with blooms.