36) Bullet Time Novel

July 29, 2006
Saturday

El Milagro: After calling Herman at 9 and calling back at noon and talking to Ron the Nurse; I am able to start my session at 12:30 p.m. today. This is early. But, no matter what time I start and finish, now that watching TV soccer is over, it seems like 4 hours of dialysis + cannulation and de-cannulation time (30-40 minutes) + drive time (30 minutes round trip) pretty much bites into a Saturday afternoon. I have some time to work in the yard and around the house in the morning, and then time for whatever in the evening and that’s it.

Diana cannulated me again today and again did a good job. She mentioned that my fistula has matured really well because it is so easy to cannulate now. I’m thinking maybe she went to a class or has just practiced a lot since she used to always mess up on me. Clearly this question exists in a social constructionist (post-modern) frame… we are both right from our own perspectives.

Luckily, my four hours passed without incident and seemed to rush along the time track like one of those Japanese bullet trains*. I started reading Paris Trout, by Pete Dexter and could’ve been on a Japanese bullet train for all I knew. This novel, which I heard about on NPR, and which my son John gave me for my birthday, is like a another version of To Kill a Mockingbird with more of a psychological bent. According to the Chicago Tribune, “…(It) doesn’t have any brakes. Hang on, because you won’t be able to stop until the finish.” I was completely sucked in to this novel…. so much so that I was surprised when one of the techies came up and said “You’ve got two more minutes”. We coulda been arriving in Osaka for all I knew. Train time sayonara.

Notes: In at 73.1 Kg, and out at 71.0 Kg.
*BULLET Trains (Shinkansen) (n.d.) Retrieved July 29 online from http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/Island/2589/nmt/bullet.html