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Today was my 6-month checkup at the UCSD Medical Center, which I always dread. We left at 8:30-ish, got down there at 9:30-ish, checked in, got my new ID card thingy. Around 10:15 I had my echocardiogram, which only took about half an hour (usually takes closer to an hour). I think the guy really knew what he was doing. A medical student came in to observe, so they were talking about my heart functions and everything, which was kind of neat, I guess. Mostly I just listened to my iPod. Then I went downstairs for the 6-minute walk, which is a test they give people with pulmonary hypertension. You literally walk up and down a hallway, as fast as you can, for 6 minutes. You wear a monitor on your ear or finger, (always finger for me, ear never works) and a technician walks behind you and measures your heart rate and blood oxygen level and total distance covered, and asks how fatigued and breathless you feel afterward. It’s an oddly low-tech test. I covered 660 meters and felt mildly breathless and fatigued afterward, which is pretty good, no worse than last time. Then after that I saw my actual PH doctor and he said everything is stable and I can just stay on all my medication as usual. Asked him about those funny episodes I have and he has no idea what could cause them. I’m supposed to go in for another appointment for them to hook me up to a heart monitor to wear for 24 hours, but since my episodes are rare and random, it’s unlikely that one will happen during those 24 hours. Oh well.

After we got out of the hospital I was so glad to be finished! We were already halfway down to the zoo, so we went there and had a nice lunch and walked around and looked at all the monkeys and apes, and then on the way home we stopped at the yarn store and I bought red and black NatureSpun Worsted wool for a hat for Dan, and blue Lamb’s Pride Superwash wool for socks for Henry. And then we went home, all tired out.

Tonight was the first episode of the new season on Survivor, so that was fun, though it’s never that interesting until you get to know the people. Also a new episode of The Office. Also we watched last Tuesday’s episode of House, which, again, wasn’t up to par. It was the one with the gypsy kid and the parking space. Meh.