finally...

To my faithful readers...it's about time! So summer's just about over. It's been filled with all kinds of medical things. School starts in less than three weeks. Nate is ready to go! He actually got cold feet about a month ago. Oh brother. He was able to e-mail a student and ask question and that helped.

Three days after school let out, Nate broke his lower right arm. compound fracture, both bones, through the skin just a bit. The EMT's took a photo of it because it was a perfect example of how a compound fracture looks like an abrasion. The bone had gone back into his skin. The story goes--I sent the boys out to ride bikes because it was a beautiful sunny day. Within minutes, I received a call from the school that Nate had broken his arm. Moment or two of confusion because Nate wasn't in school. The principal and office staff were still finishing school business. We tried to move him so I could drive him to the hospital but he was in too much pain. We took an ambulance ride with air splint and pain meds. Nate still talks about it. He was wearing his helmet. He said he was riding between the school and dumpsters and that he tried to swerve to miss a piece of paper. Then hit the sidewalk. Who knows exactly. Nate got up and went to the front of the school to be buzzed in. I don't know how he did it. All the docs were glad he had his helmet on. Or we would have a different story to tell. He had surgery. The orthopedic surgeon put in a wire to stabilize the bone. The lower bone just needed to be set. The wire will have to come out in September some time. A quick day surgery. Nate had a splint for a week after surgery and a cast for five more weeks. He now has a removable brace. All is healing well. At the beginning, Nate made for a bad patient and I made for a bad nurse. Oh what a complainer.

For me, my oncologist is still worried over my left kidney. Something showed up on my PET scan in March 2007. At that point, the cancer was more of an issue and my blood levels were normal, sort of. My creatinine has been the contested issue. The lab reports it as high but the range for it at his lab is smaller than the range for the lab at my GP's office. So I dug out lab reports from 1993 (yes, I had them) and showed him how my creatinine has remained essentially the same. I thought we had put this one to rest. But no, the nurse calls back and says to call her. But then she never calls me back. I did make the appointment with my GP for this past Monday. Ya, I had a bad attitude about it. Because really, if it was such an issue I could have talked to my GP at my annual physical in February. But I didn't because he said OK, leave it. The good news is that my creatinine was about .10 lower (yes even this small amount makes a difference, he was worried when it was .04 above the "normal" limit) than it has been running at the oncologist's. Which makes me think there's some problem with his lab. My GP explained that kidneys either work or they don't, and they can go bad in 3 months or less. OK, I understand his over-zealousness. It might help if he'd have explained that to me. On the 25th I go for a kidney ultrasound which should make him happy. I also learned that a PET scan isn't the best tool to measure kidney function. And I imagine if something shows up, then I'll have to go to the specialist and probably pee in a cup for 24 hours. Yea!

On Tuesday morning, the boys and I are in search of pots to plant some of my Grandma's spider plant that I got in Ohio in July. And Jay calls from the ER at our doc's office building, simply an ER, no hospital facilities. I didn't even know he was going to the doc (for a night breathing issue.) He thought it was related to Jay's reflux. Then, the GP decided to do an EKG and found a glitch. So Jay went right to the ER in a wheelchair. He was irritated to say the least. They looked at heart enzymes many times which were all normal. He had to be transferred to the hospital by ambulance, they wouldn't let me drive him. Wednesday morning, Jay did a stress test which showed something in an artery on the front of his heart. They then had him do an angiogram catheterization. It showed nothing. If something was there it was knocked off or was never really there. If it was knocked off, where did it go? They released him last night at 9:45pm. Jay was so glad to sleep in his own bed. He's working from home the rest of the week. We have a work picnic to go to tonight and he wants to go. He's feeling good.

At the end of July I went to Ohio for a wedding. My cousin got married. I thought it would be nice to see the family. About 10 days before I went, I got a call from a friend that her mom was sick. At the time I remember thinking how I'd want to be there for my friend if her mom died. Also knowing that I was coming home and probably couldn't afford to go twice. Her mom died the morning I was flying to Ohio. I was able to go to the memorial service while I was home. I'm so thankful that God didn't allow her mom to linger. I'm so thankful that I could be there. Her mom wasn't a religious woman but that doesn't mean that God can't work in her life too. It was a gift from God that I could be there. I was able to see everyone--Jay's Dad, Suzanne & Grandpa, my Dad, Paula, Grandma, Jayme, Chris, Karen & Jeremy. Grandma brought me some of her spider plant. I had one in MA but couldn't bring it to CO. I love that it was hers.

And now to politics...there's so much to say but I'm just kidding--I won't start that.