Doctors visit,more tests then we decide

Good morning journal,the time is now 8:53am,I have been awake since God knows when,and I finally decided to extricate myself from the mass of fur and flesh wrapped around me and head for the kitchen in search of coffee.Anyone taking a peek into our bedroom first thing would be surprised, to put it mildly,at how anyone could be even semi comfortable laying with three dogs and another human being on one 4 feet by six feet square. I had Buttons,our oldest German pointer,who is fairly big as medium sized hounds go laying full length against my back,Bree,our smallest Jack Russell /Staffordshire Bull terrier cross tucked in between my stomach and my wife's back,and Caesar,our big boy puppy,and he is BIG,a cross between his mama rottweiler and his daddy American Bulldog,and weighing over one hundred pounds at the age of seventeen months on the 6th of July,laying up and across my legs,blissfully unaware that he was causing a state of paralysis in my lower extremities,and caring even less.After clambering over sleeping bodies,where our canine family only gave me a cursory glance of interest before going back to sleep,and my wife,who didn't move at all,I finally made it to the kitchen and brewed some coffee after a momentary sense of panic when I realized the jar was almost empty,note to self,get to the store for more coffee!,they can take my cigarettes,my whiskey and even my health,but they will prize my coffee mug out of my cold dead hands!.Last evening,I made it until just after 9:00pm before exhaustion overtook me and I finally succumbed and took my night medication and retired,that wasn't too bad as I had been awake since 6:30am that morning,so I was fairly pleased with myself.My visit to my doctor was productive in the sense that we talked about additional,or hitherto untried,methods of helping my breathing.Firstly,I have to go for a chest x-ray,today if I feel up to it,at the big health center in town,it's a walk in place so I don't need an appointment,I did notice with some trepidation that he had marked urgent on the card and underlined it,so I guess it's a"get it done sooner rather than later"thing,so that will be first on my list of things to do today.I also have an appointment with the COPD clinic at my doctors office on the 16th of this month before seeing my doctor again the following week on the 25th,so I'm going to be a busy little fellow over the remainder of the month.He also examined the marks on my back discovered by my wife,and he thinks that they could be stress related,I also have a huge patch on my right leg which I scratch sometimes until it bleeds,he gave me a steroid cream to use twice a day for a week,then a moisturizing cream for using anytime I like after that.We discussed other things,but the main thing we talked about was my breathing,he conceded that it may be time to look at other methods to help me,and he was honest enough to tell me that my COPD may have gotten a little worse,nothing that I didn't already know,but I was grateful for his frankness.So,get the chest x-ray and wait until the COPD clinic for the verdict,it's all I can do for the moment,this morning,my chest is a little tight and I am aware that when I breathe I am trying to draw in too much air in one breath,slow and easy man,slow and easy.Doctor Butler also suggested that if I haven't heard from John,my therapist,in one month I should go and see about seeing someone else at the clinic,I am reluctant to do that because John knows me,and it took a while to get to the stage we are at,I don't know if I'm up to going through the same lengthy process with somebody new,anyway,we'll see.Now journal,it is time to go,my family are up and about and the day is fully upon us,until the next time then,may God,and His peace and contentment fill our hearts and our home this day.