How much should I write about what is going on in my personal life on my blog? It is question that many of us face, and it depends, to a large extent, who we think our audience is. In a recent blog post, I wrote about A Legacy for Our Loved Ones. Yes, part of my audience, I hope, will be grandchildren fifty years from now wondering what the early years of the 21st century were like and what their grandfather’s life was like. I want to give them as much details as I can. Part of my audience is friends and family simply checking in to see how I am doing. I want them to get enough details to know what is going on, but not so much that they worry unnecessarily. Part of my audience may be future employers and I hope they will come away with a positive impression and call me up with great new opportunities soon. Others are people interested in the various subjects I talk about; politics, technology, group dynamics or whatever.

With all of these possible readers in mind, let me give you a few details about my day. People looking for politics or technology can skip the rest. For everyone else, it will be tempered to meet the needs and expectations of the general audience.

The other day, I had my annual physical. I’m slowly addressing different issues that came up from it. Next week, I will meet with an allergist. Today, I had an abdominal sonogram. Before anyone gets too freaked out, here’s what is going on. My blood work came back with elevated liver enzymes. The same thing happened in 2002 and 2000, and probably other times as well, for all I know. In 2000, my doctor thought I should have it checked out, so I had a sonogram back then, and they found nothing. Apparently, in 2002, the doctor looked at the 2000 reports and figured it wasn’t worth it to have another sonogram.

Well, now that seven years have gone by, my doctor thought it probably made sense to double check the liver, just to be sure. So, I went to a medical imaging lab today. I’ve told family members the story above, perhaps partly to reassure them, perhaps partly to reassure myself. Perhaps some of my requests that people pray for Faith is as a way of dealing with my anxieties about possibly finding something wrong with me.

At the imaging center, things went smoothly. Checking in was quick and easy and in a few minutes I was on my back with a technician moving her magic wand around my abdomen across nicely warmed gel to gather images of my innards. After around half an hour of variously holding my breath or shifting from one side to another, all the requisite data had been gather.

Being the techie that I am, I glanced over at the screen whenever I could. They did a thorough job and I saw images that I assume were my liver, kidneys and pancreas. I watched her flip switches which brought bright reds and blues onto a ghostly gray screen. I wondered if there were ways that I could get any of these images. Perhaps I could have my liver up for next weeks Wordless Wednesday, assuming there was nothing wrong with it.

I listened to the technicians as they talked. I tried to read their expressions. Were there any indications of them seeing anything abnormal? I thought of asking them what they thought, but I expected that the imaging center’s lawyers have told all the technicians to have a standard line about being just technicians and it is up to the radiologist to interpret the results. It’s probably just as good to wait for the radiologist’s interpretation anyway.

Back home, Kim asked me how it went. I shrugged it off and described the uneventful event. I asked her how the ‘perc’ test at the house went. We are in the process of selling our house and we have a possible buyer who wanted to have the test done. It seemed somehow oddly fitting that I was having my innards tested at the same time as the house’s land was having its innards tested.

So, as I tried to focus from my distractions and get through emails, websites, data, etc., the phone rang. It was the imaging center. They had forgotten to measure my spleen. I do try to control my spleen, but it does come out in my blog posts every now and then, but that wasn’t what they were interested in. Could I come back? It would only be for a few minutes.

I told Kim that they wanted me to come back in, and before I could get out the reason why, she burst into tears. I guess she’s feeling a little agita as well. We laughed about that and I headed back to the imaging center. The technician quickly measured my spleen and I was back on my way.

On the way home, I looked at the deep blue summer sky. Cirrus clouds in thin wisps up high looked a bit like some of the thin white wisps that had appeared on the screen during my sonogram.

So, now I wait for the results. As I said at the top, I don’t expect anything out of the ordinary, yet as has been reflected in the words below, I still worry. Yet with these tests behind me, I can now focus on preparing for the coming weekend.