This Was the Week that Was...

 This Was the Week that Was…

I really wanted to go for a bicycle ride today, but I’m just too tired and the weather is cold. I also needed a day off. It’s been a crazy week.

Sunday went surprisingly well, considering this is our first time with multiple musical instruments, lots of live songs and several PowerPoint recordings of music, all combined. We had a practice session the week before, gathering up all the microphones we could find and trying to find a good arrangement to pick up all the sounds and mix them for live streaming, recording and the real time program in the chapel.

Since the audience was expected to participate in the songs, I got to coordinate the text verses on the screens as the music played. Due to my monotropic mind, I was afraid I might have trouble working the sound mixer and the PowerPoint computer at the same time, but it worked out once we had the sound board set up the way we liked it.

I learned during the program what I needed to study and practice to make it easier next time. I printed myself another manual for the Behringer X32 Compact mixer board, and by reading that and watching videos on YouTube, I now know how to mute groups of channels with one button and how to control several channels together with one DCA fader.

Muting certain groups of channels was required, because during one song playing on PowerPoint by Dan on the piano, the dulcimers were retuning to a different key for their next number. I had to mute them on their individual channels, which I got done, but it would have been easier to have had them grouped on a single mute button.

The bass dulcimer player had her own amplifier, so we put a microphone in front of that speaker to pick up that sound. Unfortunately, after the program was over, we found that the recorded sound lost her bass part. It sounded good in the room at the time, but we will have to use headphones next time to isolate the sound being picked up on that microphone, since we don’t have a soundproof recording booth.

Monday I went on a follow up visit to my electrophysiologist down in Sherman, TX. Have you ever got a fist bump from your doctor? I did! I told him that in the month since he raised my prescription of Verapamil, I haven’t had even one instance of heart arrhythmia. He said we need to do an EKG to make sure, and I told him I have several with me. Did he want to see them? He laughed and said, “Sure, show me!” So I dug my iPhone out of my coat pocket and showed him the KardiaMobile chart on Oct. 19, when I had my last Premature Ventricular Contraction, and then about four more since then that were all boring Normal Sinus Rhythm recordings. 

He held up one fist and we did a fist bump. I told him I had never had that sudden an improvement after a change in medication, and it seemed a miracle to me. He got a little more sober and reminded me the my heart had already beat thousands of times already that day, and had done that millions of times since I was born. That was the real miracle of God’s creation, he said. I didn’t argue, and I didn’t ask him which God he was referring to. His name is Mohammed, and with the situation in the Middle East right now, I don’t want to have that discussion today.

Tuesday I went back to the church in Denison to retrieve my coat and keys, which I had forgotten Sunday. Marla had called to tell me they found it when they were locking up. I stayed for the Chair Yoga exercise, which I needed. My shoulders are still sore.

Wednesday I took Darlene down to Carrus Hospital in Sherman for an all night sleep study and titration to look for sleep apnea. It was raining, and there seemed to be a lot of trucks on the highway kicking up spray and reducing visibility to nearly zero. The worst part is they were all taking turns passing each other. If they would just stay in the right lane I could get out in front of them, but no chance of that.

Thursday I went back to Carrus hospital to pick up Darlene after the all night sleep study. We drove back home in Oklahoma 40 miles away, and Darlene made me an omelet for breakfast. Then we had to drive back to Sherman, Tx, for a visit with Darlene’s gastroenterologist. They want to examine her for the neuroendocrine carcinoid tumors they are treating her for at Texoma Medical Center. The chemo treatments have helped her pain considerably.

Today I’m tired and it’s cold outside. Maybe I’ll go bike riding tomorrow.