My Real Life

I had a CT scan this morning for my sinuses.

This gave me some time to be perfectly still and alone with my thoughts.

Always dangerous.

My first thoughts were about not moving.

What if I need to swallow?  Can I move my eyes behind my eyelids?  Will that mess it all up?

Then, I was gripped with the overwhelming urge to move my tongue around in my mouth and roll my eyes behind my eyelids.  I restrained myself because I realized if I was on a camera they would probably think I was having a seizure.

My thoughts, though, kept rolling.

I started thinking about how far technology has come.  I mean, this machine was taking pictures of the inside of my head!!!

My doctor can look at these pictures and can figure out what the heck is going on with my sinuses by looking at these pictures.  Amazing.

They have machines that can take 3-D pictures of babies in utero.  IN UTERO!!!  Are you kidding  me?

I’m typing this, right now, on a laptop that isn’t plugged in to anything.  While this window is open, another window is hiding that has the internet, which somehow is wirelessly transmitting all sorts of stuff.

If I open Skype, I could talk to someone by looking at my computer.  What?

I digress.

From there, my thoughts started to go back in time.

Perhaps they didn’t need CT scans in the “olden days.”  I mean, did anyone in Walnut Grove get sinus infections?  Did anyone buy peanuts from Olson’s General Store and need an epi-pen from a nut allergy?

Why is it, that as we progress in so many ways, as a civilization, are we regressing with regards to certain aspects of our health?

Then I started thinking what my life would have been if I was born during Revolutionary times. 

Ben Franklin could have given me some glasses, but would they be strong enough to really help me?  Would I have been the sickly sister, relegated to staying in bed most of the time because of my asthma?  What would have happened with my diabetes?  Would we have said I had a “weak constitution?” 

Alternatively, I started going down another road with my thoughts and started wondering what George Washington would think if he was suddenly resurrected and took a walk through my town.  He stayed here for a winter.  He was pretty darn familiar with it.  So, what would he think?  Would he think it was an improvement or would he think we had ruined it?

What would Henry VIII think of the current monarchy?  What would his opinion of Prince Charles be?

Finally, the radiology tech came in and told me that I was all done.

Phewf…it’s not a good thing to leave me alone with my thoughts for too long.

FYI…the CT scan? 

Yeah, it was only 3 minutes long.

Told ya that being alone with my thoughts was a bad idea.