Just got home from KC. I left this morning at 9:30 and got home a little before 6:00. It feels like it has been a long day. My brain is tired.
The first hour of the visit was going over the consent form. I think it was 20 pages long. Then the lady went over my medication list, Covid immunization record, and gave me a debit card loaded with $50 from today’s pay out. When I go back for the MRI and the physical testing part they will add more to it. I filled my car with gas and had lunch and spent $50 so broke even for today.
I then spent two hours with the lady that tested my brain. I did lots of different mental exercises such as hit the button of the color of the ink when a word popped up on the screen. It might say blue but if it is was in red ink I was to hit red. That took some focus and concentration. She did about 20 of games like that with me. The one I had the most trouble with was the one that had flat shapes that folded up into a thingy and you had to guess which thingy matched the flat shapes. Not my strength! She gave me a list of 12 things verbally that I had to recall afterwards. She repeated it twice to see if I could remember more of them and then 10 minutes later asked me again to recall the things. Then 20 minutes later she had a list of 24 things that I had to recall if they were on the original list or not.
My brain is tired tonight! I haven’t used it that much for a long time. There is a chance that I didn’t score high enough to proceed with the program. If so, they will call me by Monday to let me know. No news is good news and they don’t share the results with me otherwise. I will repeat this testing six months into the program and again at the end of the program.
Both ladies were easy to visit with and positive people to be around. I had a good conversation with her mental testing lady especially. She really put me at ease. She told me to offer myself grace throughout the process and if I mess up to not let it mess with me. My word for the year is Grace so that helped ease my anxiety. I know how to do Grace.
I was proud of myself for going with the flow and not getting worked up when I would miss one of the answers by hitting the wrong button. I never got stressed out or worked up and was able to stay above neutral on the consciousness scale even when I was doing the part that was hard for me. I’m tired tonight but not energy depleted.
I talked to them about my appointment for next week and what I can do if the weather is bad. We are going to visit Monday and make a decision but if it is bad they will reschedule the two appointments. Fingers crossed I can get safely to KC but good to have a backup plan just in case.
They told me they hope to start the actual exercise program the end of January or the first week of February. They have four other people from Emporia they are working up and we all should be done with the initial testing by the middle of January.
Afterwards I went to Chipotle for lunch and then made a quick stop at Costco for chicken tenders. They finally had some. Got them and got out of there. Parking was at a premium again although inside the store it didn’t feel as busy as it had been last week.
Drove home and stopped at Michelle’s for a hot minute to pick up something and then came home. I was chasing daylight as I thought I was going to have to do chickens but Kathy had taken care of them for me. I’m grateful I didn’t have to do them in the dark.
Got a message from the window people and they are coming tomorrow to install the last two windows. They wanted to get them in before the snow flies. It will be good to get that project wrapped up. I got a bill from them but am going to have to ask them to rewrite the bill if possible so I can submit it for final payment from the insurance company. I don’t like the way it was worded.
No plans until next Tuesday when I am to go back to KC. We shall see what Mr. Winter is going to do and what the weather is like this weekend and into next week. Sounds like we are in for a winter storm or two. Grateful the roads were dry and clear for today’s visit.
It will be good to go to bed tonight. I didn’t sleep much last night. I think I took too long of a nap yesterday and I couldn’t sleep in this morning. Hopefully I will sleep good tonight.
Grateful this part of the testing is over with, grateful I was able to have fun with it and stress over it, and grateful for a safe trip to and from KC.