Rainy Day in Bethesda

Pictured above is the smallest hydroelectric plant in the United States. We saw this on our drive yesterday along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We got up really early and headed out really early...Woody wanted to get to the phlebotomy lab before all 8am appointments appeared. We have been at NIH for lab work at 8am and it us usually covered up. We got to NIH so early that the gate that we usually go in was still closed. We tried to find the other gate but were never sure where they wanted us to go...so we drove around...found a place to park and sat for a while. We were the second car through the gate once it opened at 7am...but there were already 20 people ahead of him at the lab when we got there. He had a lot of appointments that said that he could go "whenever" so we fit those in when there was a free moment or two. He had lab work, EKG, chest x-ray, CT scan and MRI of the brain all finished by noon. We also checked about travel vouchers (He is supposed to be reimbursed so much per mile for our trips to NIH after the first screening trip...and we hadn't ever been told how or where to do this.). So in one of the free times we got the form and found out how to do it. Before we left we found the elevator that we are to take in the morning to get to his first appointment. Then we got our car and headed away from NIH.

We stopped on the way back to the hotel at a speciality grocery/deli and got some "good eating" for lunch. We brought what we got back to our room and ate lunch in our room. Woody has rested after lunch...taken a couple of naps actually. We are now down in the lobby as our room is being made up. It has been pouring...glad that we got everything done at NIH before it started raining...though it was really humid as we were waiting for our car to be brought to us...and the breeze had picked up by the time we came out of the deli...so we could tell that rain was on its way.

We are just planning to take it easy here at the hotel this evening...crossword puzzles, TV, reading, resting, etc. We will probably try to get the car partially packed tonight, as we will check out in the morning before we go to NIH...and his first appointment in the morning is 7:30am for apheresis...which could take as long as five hours! Then hopefully we will be able to grab a bite to eat before we meet with the immunotherapy team. Hopefully after that meeting, he will feel like heading down the road a piece toward home to find a place to put our heads for the night.

So I will be posting from someplace between Bethesda and Tullahoma tomorrow night.