The Yearly Physical....

Had to go in to see Marie for the yearly physical.

Doncha just love them? No matter how nice your doc is -- there are just some things that Are. Not. Fun.

This is one of them.

But I did get my chuckle when the nurse, dutifully filling out the computerized history form, asked me what I was using for birth control

"Um.....Old Age?"

A Visit to the ER

I spent yesterday in the ER with chest pains.....had had them since Sunday night -- all day Monday (but were faint enough that I could fob them off).

Tuesday morning I woke up at 12:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep. There they were. Definitely left sided pains, radiating down to my left arm. No elephant sitting on my chest feeling, no huge sweats, no feeling of impending doom, just a pulse rate that was out of sight, and the pain -- front, back, arm. Hmmm.

At 4:45 I got up, showered, dressed, and told Bob we needed to go to the ER....

He showered and dressed while I stocked computer, book, Bible, contact lens case, glasses -- all the "just in case stuff", and, of course, put on makeup. You think I'm going to show up in the ER with last night's underwear and no makeup? Not me!!

12 hours later I was discharged with a clean bill of health. At least whatever I have in the chest is not my heart. (I will NOT listen to those TV shows that discuss how women's heart attacks do not have the same symptoms that men's do. The fact that my father died of a sudden coronary after being given a clean bill of health at exactly my age may have something to do with my paranoia).

My chest X-ray was normal. (Evidently they don't count fat as abnormal). My cardiac enzymes (blood work) was normal. I talked them into ordering all the other blood work my doc wants for my yearly check up which is next week....and then I had a nuclear stress test.

Uh -- don't do that. Not fun. Took about three hours. And I'm still, I guess, glowing in the dark. Not to mention the walking on the treadmill part. The walking isn't bad. The speed -- not so bad. The INCLINE??? BAD!! I will not tell you how many minutes I lasted. Suffice it to say I might have made it through two auditions on American Idol complete with Simon's caustic comments.

Maybe.

But the little donuts that demonstrate my blood vessels evidently are all clear. No clogging with Doritos, onion chip dip or chocolate.

Bob was most thankful that my chest pains happened on Tuesday and not today because he really has a very busy schedule today, including having breakfast with our new senior pastor. So glad I could accommodate him. Especially since Torrey was born on a Wednesday against his express wishes.

Memo to self: Avoid Wednesdays for emergencies or childbirth. Doesn't make Bob happy.

Oh yes, the day of Torrey's birth, he managed to leave my bedside in the labor room to go to his Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee (P&T) meeting.

Grateful to Jill -- born on a Sunday, and Tim -- born on a Thursday.

But I digress. However, keep in mind that my "emergency" did occur on a Tuesday. Whew!

Anyway -- I'm here, safe and sound for the moment. And truly thanking God that there was nothing that showed up. I'm still not sure what the chest pains are all about, but the ER doc assured me that all they needed to do was make sure I was safe to go home, it wasn't my heart, and they didn't care beyond that.... Evidently they worry about lawsuits in which they declare the chest pains a figment of an old ladies' imagination (especially if she is wearing lipstick and bringing her book to read) and send them home to drop dead within 24 hours. Not good for the corporate image.

But as to really what CAUSED the chest pain? Let's leave that to Marie to figure out when I see her next week. (Marie being my long-suffering *real* physician).

Nice....

Sorry no pictures -- too bad they won't let me have a snapshot of my amazingly clear arteries. I'm sure you would all be quite interested.

Um, not.

Last -- and Favorite Stop -- Malta

After another wonderful day at sea - amazing how much there is to do....we got into Malta about 1:00 in the afternoon. It was wonderful. Of all the places we visited, this is the one I want to re-visit. Carole and Bob were right -- this is exactly what they said too. The ship pulls up right into the port of the city, so you can walk right into the heart of the main town -- or you can wait for a bus -- or you can take a tour with RC -- or you can venture out on your own.

We opted for a "venture out on your own" which wasn't too difficult as that required walking up a bit of a hill and then a bunch of stairs into the main "downtown" area. Valleta is one of those places you could spend a long time, particularly if you don't have a tour guide hurrying you along to the next stop. It isn't all that big....in fact, if you had a full day or a bit more, you could rent a car and drive alll along the coast.

The next time I would do what Carole and Bob did -- go on a bus to the M'dina -- the old walled city of Malta, and tour there. They said it was truly wonderful.

Coming into port was a fabulous view. The advantage to coming in at 1:00 in the afternoon is that You. Are. Awake!!

We started out with Linda and Will, but they opted to take a bus, while we opted to walk. (I'm the total martyr here, and plan to play it for all it is worth when I have to see Marie for my usual check up in February....)

Up the stairs....






Well, dang, I didn't take any pictures of the stairs. Sigh. They were there -- trust me -- my thighs do!!

The picture of the Lipton's Iced Tea is for Linda and Carole who refuse to drink any tea but Liptons. Yet another reason to return to Malta.

We visited THE Cathedral -- St. John the Co-something or other. Yikes -- I can't remember -- I'm sure it wasn't the co-conspirator, but of course, that is what comes to mind. In any case, it was absolutely beautiful -- well kept, geared to tourists in that we each got a little doodah that took us around the cathedral with audio lectures on each stopping point. It was truly amazing. Unfortunately most of my pictures turned out totally blurry (having not a clue as to how to take them w/o flash), and needing to really go to the bathroom. Finally found one, waited a really decent length of time in front of the woman's room, only to be a tad disconcerted when a man walked out of it.....

A toilet is a toilet is a toilet -- and if ya gotta go, well.....







True confessions:

1. I wanted to spend more money here than anywhere. Malta had the BEST stuff to buy. I resisted jewelry, but did get some things for everyone else -- my girls, and a bit for me as well. I have the prettiest vases -- Malta is known for its glassware. Truly lovely.

2. I had positively, without-a-shadow-of-a-doubt, the best capuccino I have ever had in my entire life. Right across the street from St. John the Co-whatever....

We met up with Linda and Will at that point, and after extracting many promises from Tim as to what time he would arrive at the ship, we let him go find an internet cafe from whence he could chat with friend Jen.

I LOVED Malta. Did I say that before? My pictures do not do a bit of justice to the little town we were in....up hill and down dale (though I'm not a bit sure of what "down dale" really is....)

Y'gotta have your MacFix....






We had, of course, go to St. Paul the Shipwrecked church. They wouldn't allow picture taking in the church, which was a pity -- but they also didn't charge us to go through it. That was obvious. Rather than the shiny gold, copper, and silver objects of arts that were in St. John the Whatever church, this church was smaller, dingier, and certainly nothing was polished.

Except for the statue of Paul the Apostle in the front of the church in a glassed in box. There he was, as, I suppose, they thought he arrived in Malta. Do go to the story in the Acts of the Apostles to read about Paul's arrival on Malta. Shipwrecked, they came into harbor with the ship gone, but not a soul lost. Paul and company are making a bonfire on the shore when a viper comes out of the brush and latches on to Paul's hand....he shakes it off into the fire, and since he suffers no ill effects from the viper's poisonous bite, the people of Malta declare him a god....well, it goes on from there -- you have to read it for yourself. Wonderful story - especially if you are visiting Malta.

So there is the statue of Paul -- replendant in green and gold robes, holding what looks to be a Bible which would have been printed in at least the 15th century. A snake is slithering up behind him....

It was gorgeous. A bit out of character as to what I THINK the whole scene looked like, but oh, how fun....

Carole told me that the M'dina had a lot more dedicated to Paul as they think that is really where he landed and lived for some time....

Sigh.

Anyway, we meandered a bit more through the town, taking pictures, buying souveniers, and finally headed back to the ship....





I absolutely cannot wait to go back to Malta. What a wonderful island!!

I'm hoping my dear sister will weigh in on this post -- she and Tim (her dh) spent a week here on one of their much needed, but not-frequent-enough breaks.

Maybe someday....

Camels, Michael Jackson, Pyramids, and the Sphinx!

Due to a storm that was headed our way, the captain chose to skip Cyprus so that there wouldn't be any danger of our not getting into port in Alexandria. That gave us an extra day at sea before our really long day in Egypt. For this one, we opted to go on the Royal Caribbean tour rather than getting one of our own...

Up early and eager, we got our number (19) and got on our bus.

Only to discover we had all been put on the wrong bus. This one wasn't going on the Nile cruise -- it was going to the City of the Dead in Cairo instead. Oops.

It was a long drive from Alexandria to Cairo. Our tour guide was hot into selling things -- T-shirts and cartouches which she promised if we only ordered Right Now we could get it at the end of the trip.

First stop was an old mosque. It wasn't terribly impressive, but it did have 365 lights in it! Poor February 29 gets left out again.





Next stop was lunch on a cruise on the Nile. Wasn't exactly what I expected. Evidently Moses wasn't born near Cairo -- there wasn't a bulrush to be seen. There were, however, lots and lots of buildings. Looked just like any old city anywhere. We even waved at TGI Fridays! The Nile is brown, in case you needed to know...




Tim looks thrilled with the food, doesn't he? It wasn't the best -- though I LOVED the ice cream!!



Now here is the kind of boat I thought we would be on...



I think I was expecting the Egypt of the old Agatha Christie mysteries, or Elizabeth Peters Amelia Peabody books....not the Egypt of 2009....

In fact, seeing the pyramids behind the city was a shock. I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't this:



The pyramids were surrounded by lots of um -- sales people and camel vendors. Will and Bob (Peterson) think they could market the place a lot better and perhaps do an Egyptian Disneyworld -- perhaps "Sphinx R Us" or "Pyramidic Planet". I do think they need help...

I digress.

I wanted to ride a camel. Another one of the 101 things to do before I die is now crossed off the list....Tim was an unenthusiastic passenger with me -- I didn't want to do it on my own, and there was no way I was going to get Bob to go! So Tim graciously decided he would accompany his old mother...






Our little camel boy spoke lovely English -- told us the camel's name was Michael Jackson. I told him Michael Jordan would have been a much better fit....which brought on a lovely discussion of basketball. He was quite impressed with Tim's command of Arabic....I too, am very impressed with Tim's command of Arabic. Despite having learned several phrases in Morocco, I'm left with la shukran. (No thank you).







The Great Pyramid -- the one the three of us are standing in front of -- is the only one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World that is still standing. The pyramids, however, are not the oldest man-made structure on the earth. That honor is given to a stone gate in Malta. (This took up a full breakfast discussion the next day...) And you can't get into the pyramids -- Evidently you can if you go to Luxor, but maybe on another trip....

Then on to the Sphinx... This guy -- well, you can't get up close and personal with him. He is surrounded by a fence which is probably just as well. That way the only thing that will make him crumble a bit faster is the acid rain and pollution from the 15,000,000 folks that live in Cairo and its environs.







The last stop of the day was one of the many "Papyrus Institutes" where we were treated to a lecture on how papyrus is made, and then encouraged to spend many euros on beautiful pictures painted on the papyrus. I opted to take pictures of the pictures instead....much to our tour guide's disgust because we are quite sure she gets a commission on all that is sold. Maybe Royal Caribbean does too....hmmm....







We finally headed back -- sleepy -- a bit disgruntled at spending so much time in the last shop rather than more time exploring the wonders of Egypt, and hungry....

The line was LONG to get back on the ship. And it was COLD.



The next time I go back to Egypt, I'm going to Luxor, and I'm going to find some bulrushes. I think I'm going to go with Agatha Christie, because I want to visit the Egypt of the past. I think it's much more romantic than the Egypt of the present.