the wizard of oz

I am very behind with my blog. Let me go back to 3 weeks ago. August 8th, my birthday! I took half the day off from work, not because I have something big planned for that night (well.. that too) but because I have a doctor's appt at 1:30pm. Yes, it sucks to have a dr's appt on your birthday but it was all worth it. It was the greatest news I've heard in 2 months. Alright, I have a confession to make. 2 months ago, I went for a medical check up for my immigration paperwork purposes. Well, it was supposed to be a really easy process. Little did I know, it would lead to more visits to the doctor's office within 2 months. I did a tuberculosis test and it came back positive! The doctor told me it's normal for people that come from southeast asia because when we were young, we were given the BCG vaccination. Because my tb test is positive, I need to do a chest x-ray. The doctor told me that if nothing is wrong, I don't have to go in anymore unless I want to keep my x-ray for my own record. One week later, I got a call from the doctor's office regarding my x-ray's result. So you can imagine how nervous I was at this point. I was determined something is wrong with me because he had wanted me to go in. John came with me because I was too scared to go alone. We went together and the doctor gave me me this!

They found a 1.0 X 1.8 cm benign appearing smooth oval density in the left mid lung zone. He has advised that I go seek a specialist for a more professional opinion since I do not have a previous x-ray exam for comparison. So I made an appt with my family doctor to get amother x-ray exam done. Maybe he got some bad x-rays, who knows right? Then I went to my family doctor 2 weeks later and got 4 more x-rays done with 2 at a very special angle shot now that we know where the stupid benign is. Yep, it's still there not gone. She assured me that it's probably nothing. It's probably calcified. After all I am too young to have cancer! I did smoke, but it was just an occassional thing. Ok, so maybe not ocassional during my college years, but still??? Anyway, I didn't think it was anything major. I am pretty sure it was nothing. I felt fine, I meant I breathed normal. There was really nothing wrong with me. But I still needed to go to a specialist for peace of mind. She had to referred me to a specialist and I went in again few weeks later. I did a breathing test to test my lung capacity. The technician was very helpful. He coached me during the entire process. I was asked to sit in a booth, they call it a Plexiglas booth. In this booth I did different breathing techniques, blowing into a tube, while in the booth. The result came out very normal. However in order to make sure that the 1.0 X 1.8 cm benign density is calcified and not cancerous, my specialist ordered me a CAT scan. Fast forward to August 8th.... that's when I get my Ct scan result. It's proven that it's calcified and not cancerous. woohooo.....! See, I knew it was nothing. He said it's probably just an old scar from something... a pneumonia maybe? I don't remember getting it when I was young... anyway, who cares? As long as it's nothing. He said I might born with it too. It's hard to tell since I do not have a previous x-ray exam.

Right now, the concern is my tb skin test result. Because I was tested positive, he thinks that I have tb germs or bacteria in my body. He said my body's defenses are protecting me from the germs. This is referred to as latent TBI. He wants me to do preventive therapy that aims to kill germs that are not doing any damage right now, but could later. I would need to take a medication named INH for nine months. I have agreed to do so but I haven't started yet. We are changing our medical insurance and until then I won't start taking it. :))) So there! I am perfectly healthy.

Now you are wondering why the subject of the blog? *grin grin* It's because..... I got tickets to a play, the Wicked for my birthday from John. It started at 8pm on August 8th. I came back and met up with John after my doctor's visit. Took a short nap and headed straight to Hollywood The Pantages theatre . We had dinner at a japanese restaurant around the block. Definitely will not go back there! Food is not that great but the play was awesome. It was the best play I've seen so far. Thanks babe!!

my tickets... lovely!

the Pantages

nope, we didn't pay a visit...... but looks interesting

that's my man waiting to cross the street

ok.. go!

hollywood stars print along the sidewalk

while he kept getting pictures of crossing the street....

I get to take picture with the pole!

the lobby of the theatre

No more pictures allow in the theatre. It was really a good play, I want to watch more......!!! :)))