If It ain't one thing, it's another.

Dave's transfusion went well - no reactions. He actually has a little color in his face and he goes up the stairs at a pretty good clip, with no shortness of breath.

On the other hand . . .

Last night we spent three hours in the SF General Emergency department. Got home about 1am. This time I was the patient. I've been sick for a few days, but Dave was afraid I was getting pneumonia or worse (turned out to be just a garden-variety upper respiratory infection.) When I was getting ready to go to bed for the night, he suddenly became alarmed and called our friend Pam to drive us to the hospital. I haven't been this sick in about 8 or 10 years, but I figured it was just a cold or the flu. Normally I wouldn't have gone to the ER for something like this but I could see that he was terrified and he was likely to stay up all night hovering over me. He relaxed after he heard a couple of doctors say it wasn't pneumonia or a heart attack. While we were waiting for my discharge papers, he looked around and said with a smile, "Steve McQueen was here." (Actually Bullitt was filmed in the older wing.)

So now he's headed off to work, a little late today. I'm in "quarantine," sleeping on the daybed in the studio, so that I don't pass this bug along to the rest of the household.

Weirdly, this trip to SF General happened on a day when the local paper ran a column about how people manage without health insurance. They included a quote from me about using the free clinics and SF General. The waiting rooms at General can be a trial, but I've always had excellent care there. I feel really lucky to be living in San Francisco, with top-notch medical centers and plenty of options for the uninsured.

(Image at top is a view of the Bullitt-era SF General. via)