A Long, Strange Trip...........

I'm in the middle of my annual testing cycle. And it's different this year. Mainly because there's a different guy in charge of the Heart Transplant team down in New Brunswick so I've had to schedule some tests myself.

 It's kinda strange.

Plus, Jersey is still getting back to normal, at least where I live. It's gonna take some time for the Shore to come back.

I took the bus down to New Brunswick Tuesday to have some blood work done and get a chest x-ray. It was a dreary, rainy day. And the bus, of course, was late. Both ways.

Everything was there, but everything felt gray.

Today.....however......was different.

For one thing..the sun was out. There's a lot to be said for that. For walking outside and just feeling good.

I had some errands to run. I did the wash. I did some food shopping.

I stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts for some coffee. I had parked in the back lot  and when I got back to my car, I waited a bit, letting the coffee cool. A woman pull in. She got out and lit a cigarette.

We were the only ones around.

I started the car, lowered the driver's side window, pulled out of my spot, and then..

Point, press, Flash.

I made a left turn, then two rights, and drove on towards Edison.

I stopped at the library in Metuchen. I sat in the car for a few minutes, and decided not to go in. I drove away.

I had no real direction to follow, but I didn't want to go home just yet. There are a lot of business complexes in the area and I drove through a few. That's where I saw this guy.

It didn't take long to close the distance between us. I lowered the passenger side window.

Point, press, Flash.

I left that lot and headed for the next.

That's when my phone rang.

It was Doyle.

He wanted to meet. And said he'd be at the parking lot in Merrill Park in about 15 minutes.

 I drove straight there.

He was there first, leaning against the side of his SUV.

"Hey, Denny. How's it goin'?
We shook hands.
"I'm good, Doyle...So..What's this about?"

He stood up and stretched.

"I gotta apologize, Denny. We've had the election, then the hurricane, and then the threats to deal with but I didn't want you to think that I forgot.".
"Forgot what?"
"Your transplant. It' coming up on 4 years now, right?"
I had to smile. "Yeah. 4 years. I've had some tests done, and some more scheduled. In fact, I was just at the hospital Tuesday."
"I know. I wanted to stop by then but I just couldn't get away. We're stretched a little thin right now."

 We both just stood there for a moment or two, lost in our own thoughts. Finally, I asked, "So..what's happening with Gordon?"
"We don't know. There's been no activity that we can attribute to him. But the storms have caused us a lot of problems."
"How so?"
"Well, the power outages here in New Jersey have hit us as well. Our tracking system has gone off-line a few times so we can't be certain that he hasn't been out there. We've even lost your signal a couple of times, but we still had your backup in place."
"That's good to know, I guess."
"Yeah. Still. Things are back up and normal again. Let's hope we don't get hit like that again."

 He paused..took his car keys out of hip pockets -then looked at me.
"You know, Denny, things haven't turned out the way we thought they would when we first approached you. But, all in all, I think we've come through things well. What do you think?"
I thought about it for a minute or two.

"What's that line, Doyle, from the Grateful Dead? "What a long, strange trip it's been"? That pretty much sums it up, I think."

He laughed, slapped me on the back, and left.

I drove home.

A Matter of Degrees...........

So much has happened in the last few days that it's hard to take it all in. Most of it has affected a great deal of people, and the rest has been personal. I've been keeping to myself but yesterday I decided to go outside to face things.

Last Wednesday, I had a Prostate Biopsy.

 My PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) has been high for the last two months and the potential was there that I might have prostate cancer. That potential was higher in my case due to the immuno-suppressants that I take. Instead of repeating the test, I had the biopsy done.

I know it was the right thing to do, but it was not a pleasant experience.

My daughter was to pick me up afterwards, and we'd have dinner. Instead, I had her drive me home and I went straight to bed.

It took me a few days to get over the discomfort. When I finally started to feel better it dawned on me that I'd have to wait for another week for the results.
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I grew up in The Bronx, but I've spent the important years of my life in New Jersey.

It's here that I had the American Dream - the house with a white picket fence.

It's here that I had my daughter.

OK, so I don't have that house anymore, but I am still involved with my daughter. This is my home.

Yes, this is my home, and Hurricane Sandy just hit us big time.

I've been watching the news. She decimated the Jersey Shore.

Now I have to admit that I'm not much of a beach guy, but I've been down to the Shore a couple of times and there are landmarks that I'd recognize. That is, I'd recognize if they still existed.

It's tough to accept.

But I live in Woodbridge. We're inland. And not as far south as The Shore. Sadly, we do have a waterfront - Sewaren. And we did have flooding. And we did have really heavy winds.

 We lost power about 8 o'clock Monday night but my area had it back by 5 o'clock Tuesday morning. I had my cable and internet back by about 3 o'clock Tuesday afternoon. My only problem was that I couldn't communicate immediately through my cell phone. Calls AND texts weren't going through.

Yesterday, I went out and drove around a bit. In my neighborhood, some trees were down, traffic lights were out, and some stores were closed. There were lines at gas stations and, surprisingly to me, Dunkin' Donuts. But I could get around.

I've been lucky.
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Today, I had the follow-up with the urologist for the biopsy results. I tried not to, but I did Google the whole process and I wasn't feeling confident. My daughter, God love her, volunteered to take me even though there wasn't a need.

I was worried that they wouldn't be there..that they had no power...that I would have to wait longer for an answer.

I didn't.

Long story short, the results were negative.

NEGATIVE.

YES.

My daughter and I then spent about 45 minutes trying to find a place to have breakfast.

I'm good, but New Jersey needs help.

It's all a matter of degrees.