Uh,oh!

  After the empty ritual that's known as a cardio clearance, I decided I might as well get my blood test over with, the labs ordered by my ENDOCRINOLOGIST which I believe are meant to assess the relationship between hyperthyroidism and the formation of kidney stones.  I prefer to go to the hospital lab in the office building off Hoosick Street, mainly because it's not a hospital.  I entered the room where the only patient there was talking to the nurse on duty behind the desk.  She's describing some kind of violent activity about somebody pounding somebody else, man against woman, it seems.  I pick up the pen attached to the sign-in pad when I hear her say, "So, yes, I did hit him, and where he'd gotten cut from the other guy, he was bleeding, and I got his blood on me.  And he has herpes!"  I quickly, though most likely too late, dropped the pen I was about to sign in with, and fumbled through my purse to find my own pen, which I always mean to do anyway.  Fortunately, I also had inside my purse one of those little vials of spray antiseptic cleaner, which can be used discreetly if one has to.
    Another benefit of using this particular lab is that it is connected to the Patient Portal through my NEPHROLOGIST'S office, and so lab results can be accessed without a visit or even a call to the doctor's office, and so  avoid the hell that is the phone system.  I'm not sure if labs ordered by other doctors are accessible this way, but I think  those  results  cc'ed back to him through the chain of command are also entered into the Portal.  By chance, I decided to take a look this evening, and found that some results are already entered.  One finding was slightly elevated, indicating the possibility of  a wayward kidney stone, or it could be the result of dehydration.  I suppose I'll have to call the UROLOGIST tomorrow to see what he might suggest.  Such is life.