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Sign In to Show Your SupportThe last appointment of the day was at the St. Mary’s campus twelve blocks away. We had an hour to get there. Both of our stomachs were competing with the rotor sounds of the Mayo One helicopter occasionally flying overhead. We needed food. I decided that we should drive instead of walking. (Remember that tipsy condition Shannon has??)
Windows down in the 83 degree sunshine, we cruised down 2nd Ave SW. I put on the turn signal for the parking lot next to Canadian Honker restaurant two blocks away from St. Mary’s hospital. “Oh, you’re not going here are you?” How do you answer that and maintain current marital status? I had a plan. Free parking and walk amongst five different eateries that I would have (at best) a 49% decision in choosing. So, I bypassed that original thought and drove another block down as my eatery decision-making stat plummeted from the aforementioned 49% to the same % chance of Shannon actually mowing the lawn.
Lots of parking was available with meters. The meters require an app to be downloaded on your phone. No problem. 5G in Rochester! By the time I located the app, downloaded it, typed in my location zone, signed up for an account that didn’t like the password I picked (swear words must be easy for hackers) my hatless head had absorbed enough vitamin D, in my humble opinion, to warrant a plateful of emulsified foods with no brain bleed risk.
Standing and waiting to be seated at stomach quieting establishment #1 produced a lone overworked waitstaff who would “get to us in a bit” after taking care of the other three tables of customers looking as if they had all been waiting since the king’s coronation for some service.
“Shannon, it’s going to have to be the McDonald’s right next door or nothing.”
Have any of you experienced immediate success at these self-ordering touch screens? Has McDonalds installed these things just to make the kids working there seem like geniuses? Geniuses are the exact opposite of what we looked like trying to navigate that technological marvel. Billions and billions served?? At least two befuddled and ticked off!
“Can we make it to the Holiday gas station across the street in time?”
“Shannon, you beat leukemia. You are going to beat this cavernoma. I don’t think a Big Gulp and bag of Corn Nuts is worth you crossing four lanes of Rochester lunch time traffic in your current condition.”
So we went in to meet Dr. Lenzino, neurosurgeon, hangry. “He’s the best, but he’s sometimes grumpy when he gets out of a long surgery,” warned Dr. Flemming. Perfect. Emotional Shannon and hangry Tim vs the grumpy Italian neurosurgeon. We parked our reduced selves into the waiting lobby where I witnessed a patient receiving a hand massage. “What the hey?” I thought, “I’m doing this!” The volunteer’s name was Pam and she did not find my feeble humor attempt of “Is that your name tag or an ad for the type of oil you use?” funny at all. Shannon got called to the consult room and skeptically left me with Pam rubbing oil on my hands. The last time I saw that look from her was when she was wheeled back into the room after finally getting a shower following Emma’s birth and finding me sitting on the edge of the hospital bed with the extremely good looking lactation nurse explaining her area of specialty.
An unshaven Italian-looking man in surgical scrubs stoically moved through the waiting lobby and through the “you have to be called back here” double doors. It had to be Lenzino. Sure enough. Not two minutes later, Shannon informed Pam that my newly oiled hands needed to come with her.
Like a scene from one of The Godfather movies, Dr. Lenzino explained in his Italian accent that surgery in this case was too dangerous, but we were still part of his family now. I kid you not! He said it twice! I thought for sure he was going to grab my face while lightly slapping my cheek. “You’re a good guy, Timmy! But you showed my parking meter disrespect. That’s not what family does, is it now, Timmy?”
Temporarily forgetting our hunger, we left our parking spot after deleting the app. We made it to The Panther drive in located in Durand, WI. 45 mosquito infested minutes after ordering (from an actual human) we had our burgers, fries, and shakes. Probably enough emulsifiers to cause another brain bleed, but with the quart or so donation to the Durand mosquitoes, we parlayed our chances.
Last stop was Eli and Rebecca’s Amish farm to drop off that sewing machine. Despite not seeing them for over a year, they recognized us right away and were extremely thankful for the donation. Weird parking a Ford F150 XLT next to an Amish buggy, but happy for no app required meter.
We’re now parked at home. And so is Shannon’s cavernoma. Just like the non revolving Gonda glass doors and the time sucking parking app, it’s going to give some temporary problems, but provide new connections with people, learning, and laughs. Hope to see some of you at our new family reunion in Italy!
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