My appointment and an afternoon in DC

This was a marathon day, for sure. We got up at 7 which was really like 5am. Got ready and went downstairs to find some breakfast. The buffet was delicious.  Just what we needed to get our day started off right. We hopped on the shuttle to the hospital and ran into our friend from last night, Lehi was his name. It was good to see him. After miscellaneous stops to the different hotels in the area we finally made it to our destination. We had to go through security again.... The man doing the scanning was a jovial Jamaican man. I really enjoyed his company. Just a big teddy bear kind of guy. He was a hoot. He told us that if we come back that we should get one of those NIH security cards so we wouldn't have to get searched every time.  I told him I'd still come in there so I could visit with him. He had the coolest accent. We have met some of the nicest people out here. Everyone we've come into contact with whether at the hospital or out on the street have just been so pleasant and fun to talk to. I have been pleasantly surprised.

I didn't have to wait long for my appointment. I was in a room and talking with a nurse within 5 minutes of being there. They took my vitals, made me walk here, do all sorts of strength tests, cognitive tests....which I embarrassed to say I sucked at. Trying to remember 5 words and then repeat them back at a later time. That was horrible.  I got 3 of the 5. Then she asked me to start at 100 and count back by 7 as far as I could. Oh my, what an epic fail that was. Somehow I came up with 103? Hello?! I can't believe they let me out in public. Needless to say I didn't do so good on that one. Then what killed me was coming up with words that started with F and they couldn't be proper nouns. I came up with flat, flamingo, foot (Wayne gave me a clue by waving his foot), there were some other totally random ones, but I just drew a complete blank. Looking back I had the most opportune time to use the word "farfle"! A true Bear Lake-ism.... dang it!

We were in there with the doctor for about an hour doing these tests and answering questions. She then told me she was going to go discuss her findings with a board of other doctors who deal with movement disorders. It consisted of her boss and others...then she'd come back with me and we'd go up there with the group and they would ask me questions and "study" me. Let me tell ya, THAT was not my favorite.  I felt like an idiot, self conscious,  and way embarrassed. The Big Cheese doctor looked like President Henry B Eyring. He asked me to walk this way, walk that way, how do you feel, do you do this all the time, show me how you can make yourself stop the movements....it went on and on.  It was quite stressful.  After we met with the group, then they sent us away and told us they were going to discuss a little more about me and they would have their answer in a bit. We went back to the waiting room. I just wanted to cry. That stressed me out. It wasn't very long though and the original doctor came in and took us back to our room. She told me that they decided I would be an excellent candidate for their study if I was willing to participate.  She said they agreed with the doc in SLC's diagnosis of a functional movement disorder. They were intrigued with my ability to make it stop when I thought about it hard enough. She felt that there may be an underlying stressor that may have caused this to flair up, such as my step dad's passing last year.....but I'm not convinced on that one. They are going to look at a lot of biological factors that might be the cause such as genetics, chemical stuff, etc.  So it should be interesting.  I'll be coming back out here again in July or August for a few days, this time staying in the hospital itself but will be free to go as I please. They are going to be contacting me the end of the week. So, it wasn't the miracle answer I was looking for, but I think we are on the right track.

After our appointment we decided to eat lunch at the cafeteria.  We got on the elevator with this guy. He was very friendly. He was heading to lunch himself so invited us along to find the good place to eat. Oh my! We went on an adventure trailing all over halls and strange corridors.  I was wishing we had left some bread crumbs so we could find our way back. Lunch was tasty, as promised.  And by some miracle we found our way back to the lobby. But we did get lost trying to find a bathroom. :)

The hospital has a shuttle bus that drives around their HUGE campus.  So we took the bus to the place where we could catch the Metro. It was like a deep dark abyss with an escalator. Rather scary!  So we get down there and try to make sense of the purchasing of the tickets. We asked the attendants for some direction and he explained it to me, but I didn't quite get what he was saying. So we went back over to the payment machine.... about this time Wayne's phone rings. It was our friend, Monte. It was like Divine intervention. Just the person we needed to talk to since he lives out here and knows these things. I know Heavenly Father was watching over us. How else would Monte know we needed him? :) I just love those tender mercies. Anyway, Monte lined us out and we were golden.  We figured out what stop we wanted on the map and jumped on. It was a whole different world. We were brave and jumped on another train and ended up at the Smithsonian stop. As we climbed out of the abyss to the daylight we were greeted with an amazing view. The Smithsonian Museum, the US Capitol, the National Archives, etc.... The Washington Monument stood so high and proud. It was just amazing.

The National Mall was just incredible! I felt so honored and humbled to be able to go see these beautiful structures and pieces of history. The buildings were so huge! We kind of did the Cliff Notes version of the Natural History and American History Museums. We just didn't have enough time. But I'm so glad we got to take a peek. Just amazing! Wayne and I walked from the Smithsonian to the White House, to the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument to the US Capitol. We walked a long, long ways. I am bushed. I guess today was the first day the Washington Memorial was opened back up. I walked up and touched it. Some folks there suggested the best way to see it is to lay on your back with your bum against the Monument and put your feet in the air. So, of course, I did. It felt wonderful and the view was pretty cool. A whole new perspective. We noticed as we were walking around the Mall that in areas it smelled like a dirty horse stall, at times it was quite powerful.  Wayne explained that it was due to all the politicians there in DC....I think he may be on to something since it was the most fragrant over by the White House.

We headed back to our hotel around 8pm. We navigated the metro like we were pros. We even brached out and took a different station down by the US Capitol. We were proud of ourselves.  We got back to Bethesda and were walking back to our hotel looking for a place to eat dinner. Nearby was a place called the Tastee Diner. It was an old converted rail car made into a restaurant.  The food was excellent.  I had 2 pork chops, mashed potatoes, and apple sauce. Wayne had ham, with steamed cabbage, carrots and potatoes.  It was delicious too. They had homemade rolls too. Our waiter was on the spot and did great. It was a neat place with a lot of character and a lot of characters there too. ;) Oh my!

All in all it was just an amazing day. How blessed I am to have such an amazing opportunity as this. What an incredible country we live in!  So glad I was able to see such a historical place. Today will be a day I will cherish always. So glad I got to spend it with my love. I will go to sleep tonight with a smile on my face. Thank you, Heavenly Father!  :)