I'm hanging up my coffee mug!!!

So, I've been having these very strange headaches. It's been going on for a couple of months and finally after talking to a doctor friend in Ohio, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and go for a check up. Since I didn't have a doctor to go to I asked around and two different people in my church made the same suggestion. I got the phone number and made the appointment.

So today at 9:10 am I am sitting in the waiting room filling out the insurance papers. At promptly 9:30am (my scheduled apt time) I am escorted through the standard height, weight, and vitals ritual. Then I am taken to the examination room where I figure I'll have to wait for quite some time....I was very wrong. Just a few short minutes after that I am greeted by the sweetest lady. She is about my age and she is the doc. Docs assistant actually, which I think is code for Doc in Training. So she begins to ask me about my symptoms. The why, when, how, where....all the gorey details.

After some time of talking, asking, listening, and typing (she carries around a lap top, gone are the days of hand written folders) she proceeds to administer a neurological evaluation. Look at the light, hold your hands up, squeeze my hands, walk a straight line, walk on tip toes....let me hit you with this hammer......touch your tongue to your forehead. Well maybe not that last one, but only because she didn't think of it!!! It was extensive. I felt like I was being evaluated for my level of intoxication. You'll all be glad to know that I passed!!! So she sits down again...thinks for just a moment and then tries one more thing....."could be vertigo" she says....but your symptoms aren't quite consistent enough.

She has me sit on the examination table and then relax my body and tells me to let myself fall back until she catches me....I think to my self "we've just met, such trust required so soon?" but I did it several times with my head in various positions. Nothing happened. To which the wise young Doc says....well if it were vertigo we would have been able to recreate the symptoms...since we can't.....I'm going to go get my supervising phycisian...ok...great! She needs reinforcements.

So a few minutes later she comes back with older but still young, and very cute doctor (married). He asks me a couple of questions, turns and twists my head a few times. And the answer is no, I cannot unscrew my head and leave it somewhere....he was obviously trying to find out. Then he says to me....how much fluids do you get. I think for just a moment wondering how to tell this man that I don't have a clue. So I said "about 10 classes?" He smiles, and says "and how much of that is".....brace yourself.....here it comes......"caffeine?" Ahh, do NOT go there!!! I quickly look to the floor and stutter, "most of it". He says, "ok, here's the deal, you aren't consistent or progressive enough for a brain tumor, but if you want to do the MRI and go ahead and rule that out now you can. OR you can take the next two weeks and start hydrating with water....Oh and cut back on the coffee".....the words came out in slow motion. Like the freeze frame at the climax of a movie. No...please.....take it back! But he had said it, and he had meant it too! 80 ounces of water and no more than 1...UNO....ONE...cup of coffee every day.

Ahh....Starbucks, and Caribou....I will miss you both!!! Nothing like that nice warm coffee mug in the morning, except one in the afternoon, evening and late night too!!! LOVE my coffee!!! Miss my coffee......it was a comfort to wrap my hands around it and smell the different smells of the rich blends and syrups of the coffee houses, or aisle. The sound of the cappuccino machines frothing the milk, the steam shooting out from the stainless steel valves. The grinding of the coffee grinder and the aroma of freshly crushed beans floating deliciously through the cafe' and into the crispness of an autumn afternoon and the chocolate covered espresso beans used as garnish to a great Cafe Mocha! I used to love to sit and watch the snow fall and listen to the crackel of the fire in the fire place while cradling a Depth Charge or Mint Condition Espresso masterpiece! Gone are the days!!!

And so the verdict "Chronic Dehydration" the solution.....someone in the coffee industry will probably get laid of for the sudden lack of revenue caused by my forced retirement as coffee connoisseur!!!

I will never forget the good times we had....

Now...I must go to bed...meeting Ashley at 7:30am at Caribou........

He did say I can have ONE....I'm baby stepping....


Looking for that Blessed Hope!

J~