I had my appointment with the cardiologist on Friday. She told me there was an abnormality on the EKG that was done at the hospital (nice to know considering that neither of the two different doctors I saw at the hospital bothered to mention anything abnormal) and she wants to be sure it was just a situation caused by the placement of the sensors (since they sometimes don't get put in the right places exactly due to... ahem, lady parts) and not a bigger issue. So I'm now scheduled for a two-day stress test and an echocardiogram as well as a follow-up with the doc to discuss the results of those tests and where we go from there... mind you all this is going on while I'm still in the process of packing and I still don't know when the closings for the house sale and new purchase will occur or when we will move, all of which could wind up being within the same week as the echo and follow-up (I hope not; I'm hoping the move will wind up being the week after) so I have great timing to say the least.

Also, did I mention last week that I badly injured my left big toe? I banged it against a wall when my foot slipped off the rung of the kitchen stool and hit the wall under the kitchen counter. I had trouble walking on it a few hours after it happened and thought I might've broken it and came close to going to Urgent Care for an x-ray but by the next day I was able to put weight down on my foot again, though I had to be ginger with the toe. It took a few days for bruises to show up and it looked pretty nasty for a bit. It's finally starting to heal, thankfully, but to be on the "safe side", that stress test I have to do won't be the standard on the treadmill variety, instead I'll be going nuclear, which doesn't really sound safer but at the time I saw the doctor I was still hobbling a bit and the bruising looked bad so between that and the fibro she thought the nuclear version would be better. I had a really nasty nightmare early this morning and woke up with my heart racing so fast it scared me and at one point as I was trying to calm down with deep breathing and visualization I thought "this is what that stress test is going to feel like".

Side note: Anyone have any idea what scary clowns trying to break down your door while you try to call 911 in a dream/nightmare means?

When I have a lot of stress and worry going on in my life, I tend to have nightmares every night. Waking up in a panic, like you described. It's not fun, but I guess it's our mind's way of dealing with the stress we are currently under. I hate that, too. Like you can't even rest and get away from the stress while you're asleep!

By the way, the fire here was someone's car caught on fire in the underground parking garage. I am one floor above the garage. Got ash and soot and fire retardant on my car, but the e-mail they sent us tenants didn't say anything else. No apologies, no offer to pay for a car wash, no acknowledgement for the scary night that it was. I didn't know if my building was going to burn down, if I would die in a fire, and now that I know what it was, my car or other cars could have blown up from the other car's fire (we all park right next to each other). I am really sick of living in this apartment (oh there are MORE things currently going on here that I won't get into right now).

I'm sorry about your toe! Ow! That hurts! And every time you walk, the pain is there. Sorry! Hope that gets better soon.

I have never had a nuclear test, but I am sure it is "safe enough" and can probably see more things. I had a CT scan 2 years ago, and I know that has a lot of radiation, but I figure once in awhile it is probably okay to do.....(???)

Hope all of your tests go well. You have a lot going on right now. Try your best to make time to relax and destress each day.

Have a good week! Or try to!

I'm exhausted, but it's crazy why, so I'll elave it.

Nuclear medicine is safer than jogging alongisde a busy road by far, so .... Radiation-wise, it isn't nearly as scary as people think. Good luck!

Healing to the toe!

I hear you on the apartment. I lived in one of those types of places for too long...

Peace to all!

New here hi all

Here but at work today no time to unload things going on

Another day for me working from home. Happy Monday!

Thanks Leo.

Sorry you are exhausted. Hope you can get some rest.

GirlinCalif, any chance you can find a new apartment somewhere else? You're probably right about the nightmare being stress-related. I've been having a lot of really weird, vivid dreams lately (that clown one was the only true nightmare but the others have been kind of wild too); I've been under plenty of stress in the past and I don't ever remember having the level of crazy dreams - or the sheer number of them - as I've been having of late. It's crazy. Toe's getting better at least. Thanks for the well-wishes; I'll be sure to report on the stress test in next week's Roll Call!

Leo, nothing is too crazy for us here... but you're always welcome to be vague and mysterious if you prefer! Thanks for the luck... hope you get a chance to get some r&r!

Supercoolcat, hello to you too! Super cool that you've joined us!

Bill, I hope you manage to find some time to relax after work at the very least... and you can always come back and vent here later on... the Roll Call isn't just a "one day only" thing!

BoneThugChris, hope you had a happy Monday too! You should join us on the regular!

Tes, the problem is I have rented this apartment for over 20 years, and under rent control, so moving to another apartment would probably cost me twice as much as I pay now. Oh believe me, I have been looking around online for other apartments, but the rents are way more than I pay now. Just so tired of all the problems in this apartment complex. Things have really gotten bad and especially lately. Wish I could own a house!

LA County just reinstated the mask mandate. Starts this Sunday at midnight (late Saturday night). Fine with me, to be honest. I have been wearing my mask everywhere anyway, the same as during the pandemic. So I won't even notice a difference in what I have been doing. We barely have half the residents here fully vaccinated. Barely half!

Good luck with your tests next week and I am hoping they all come out good!!

GirlinCalif, consider this though - the rents are higher everywhere else but if those apartments are better than there's a good reason why they cost more (besides just the fact that you have rent control there). Are you at least saving your money up by not paying more in rent right now so you could maybe consider eventually moving somewhere else? From what I understand the real estate prices in California aren't much better than the rents though... Do you need to stay in the area where you currently are or would you consider going elsewhere? That might be able to give you a little more leeway on the prices...

I saw your mask mandate reinstatement. I wish we were doing the same here but we're not which I think is a mistake. I don't think our area is doing so well with full vaccinations either to be honest; the state is over 70% but the majority of the population is in NYC and Long Island so that's where the numbers are coming from really...

Stress test #1 is later today... I should technically be in bed already but insomnia and a little of anxiety about everything I need to do before I go for the test has me a little too amped at the moment to go to sleep yet. Hopefully soon though... I'll give an update (whatever there might be to give anyway) next Monday.

Tes, Yes, I take care of my 89 year old mother, so I need to be near her. Moving far away is not an option while she is still alive.

I am on a neighborhood website, and I have read so many horror stories about most of the so-called higher end apartments that are around here. One woman was paying $5000 a month for complete crap service, burglaries, cars broken into, packages and mail constantly stolen. And this is all in a good area, supposedly. We had our mail stolen here in my building 4 times since the beginning of this year. Craziness.

I am still traumatized by that fire, to be honest. I can't even watch fire anything on TV, I change the channel.

I've always assumed NYC had worse crime than we do. Just a generalization, and people I've talked to that moved from there. Is it really that bad there? How much are rents?

Good luck on your stress test today! You will do fine!

GirlinCalif - Any chance your mother would be willing to move with you?

Understandable that you'd still be a bit traumatized... it happened recently and you weren't exactly given much reassurance from whoever takes care of your building that you can be confident that it won't happen again or any sort of compensation for what damage you incurred.

I'm not in NYC so I can't speak to how good or bad it might be (I haven't been down to the city in well over a decade)... I'm in the Hudson Valley, north of the city, more suburban (in some places rural actually). But we're close enough to the city that a lot of city people move up here and commute or they have "weekend homes" - even more so since the pandemic when people who lived in the city realized that working from home is better when you have a yard and space to spread out - so the prices of houses, townhomes, condos, et al have all skyrocketed and rents have gone up too. Newer rentals are all way overpriced as well.

You know, I have come to realize after so many different tests on different parts of me this year that whoever comes up with these machines never thinks remotely about whether someone having to undergo one of these tests might not be as physically able to contort themselves as they expect you to be - I had to keep my arms above my head for 15 straight minutes and stay completely still the whole time they were taking the images and my shoulders and neck have hurt me ever since like I pinched a couple of nerves or something. I am going to have to beg them to allow me to have a moment to move my arms or let them be down at my sides or something because I cannot go through that again on Tuesday - I won't be able to move for days! Also, the sort of questions they ask in advance feel a tad too invasive.. I mean, I get that they are trying to protect themselves from potential lawsuits by making sure you're not pregnant or breastfeeding but to have to sign paperwork attesting to the fact just feels a bit much, plus why must they ask what my bra size is if I am going to have to take it off later when they do the imaging anyway? And it wasn't even like I was being told I had to remove it because it had an underwire - I wasn't even asked about that. It could've been a sports bra for all they knew... And they tell you not to wear lotion on your chest and I didn't and yet the MA comes at me with this cold exfoliant antibacterial gel and she's rubbing at my skin like I haven't bathed in days and had layers of excess grime to remove from my skin - I literally said to her when she was doing it, "I did shower"... like geez... I'm going to have to ask on Tuesday if I can do that part myself as well because she was harsh and between that and the sticker sensor things they put on you for the EKG monitor, my skin was itchy and hurt and it's still bothersome today. I'm so achy and tired and I had one hell of a headache yesterday evening. Not looking forward to Tuesday...

Hi Tes,

I'm so sorry it was an uncomfortable experience with the test yesterday. I would definitely speak up next time. I think they will honor your requests. For example, I can't handle doing MRI's. Getting in that machine up to my neck, when they are imaging my knee (???), seems odd to me. I get way too claustrophobic in those MRI machines, even with taking my anxiety medication right before. So I told the tech about my anxiety, and they gave me earplugs to wear, as well as headphones and a radio playing music (any type of music I requested). So, yes, definitely speak up for the next one. I think they will try to make you more comfortable. You just have to let them know your concerns.

I have never had one (hate to admit this), but it's like with a mammogram. I pre-registered to do one, but wasn't able to go and never rescheduled, but they said you can't wear any kind of deodorant or anti perspirant that day. I guess because of the possibility of aluminum in it. That's all I can figure with them saying not to have lotion on your chest... some ingredient could be in it that can mess up the results.

And yes, the pregnancy question, ha ha. I almost literally laugh in their face. Don't they know how old I am? LOL.

Sorry you went through that, and yes, they should have explained it more to you ahead of time.

No, my Mom will never leave that house. Willingly. We've lived in that house since I was 1 years old. My Dad told me once that their wishes were to die in that house. So, no go on that one. But thank you for your suggestions and support in this. I welcome any suggestions.