Back from the 'ham

A trip to the Birmingham VA Medical Center takes a lot out of us. June is shaping up to be a BVAMC-heavy month. We went the third, the tenth, and have an optional event on the twenty-third. Generally, a trip to the BVAMC is an all-day endeavor. It starts the night before when we usually have difficulty sleeping. Then there is the drive. For some reason, the trip home seems much longer. Anyway, the appointment on the third went well. We were able to take care of the scheduled business as well as two other matters. Besides the car ride, I did not have much time to knit. They were just running that smoothly.

The tenth was a little different. We will begin with a positive. The coffee shop on the ground level, which proudly serves Starbucks learned something new. They learned that when I ask for a nonfat, iced, caramel macchiato, it is not necessary to steam the milk. Ah, but the application of the caramel sauce still needs a bit of work.

Anyway, I needed the big caffeine drink because I had to drive us home. My sweetheart had a rough visit. We arrived on time and he was called back almost immediately. He was back out to the waiting room sooner than I had anticipated. There was a problem. Do you see the letter beneath my coffee and knitting? Here, let me give you a closer look. He had been through the preparatory phase for this procedure. The orders were for a different one. Not upper, but lower, and not swallow but.... Yeah. They did not know if they could proceed with the ordered test, as he had not been through a preparation that is more thorough. They took a quick scan and we waited. They were pretty sure we would need to re-schedule. We did quite well to stay calm. I began a mental checklist of people to speak with to straighten things out if we had to come back another day. That is one of the tricks of the VA--finding the right person. Anyway, after an hour we went back to the reception desk. After a phone call from the clerk and a few more minutes, someone called my husband's name. It was a go for the procedure. I got in some nice knitting while I waited. He looked rugged when they were through with him. I felt so sorry for him. It was time for him to eat, a short wait, and then we could go.

It was a long day for me, but it was much longer for him. Still, I managed to mess up my knitting. The Pi Shawl you see in the picture is being frogged. Also, it would seem that many people do not know what a shawl is. When they asked what I was knitting and I told them what it was, they looked like I sprouted a third ear from my forehead. One person finally understood after some explaining. Another walked off in confusion. Anyway, somehow I turned my yarn into a tangled mess. Ugh! I want to get this back on track for WWKIP Day on Saturday.