Posted on

Wednesday

 We were right.  The surgeon said he expected this range of movement by Judy by May 20th.  She is six weeks ahead of schedule.  He put the word “Awesome” in her chart. From there, two haircuts, and a drive north through San Antonio to Boerne.  We’re going to pop up to Albuquerque to catch Alex in the gymnastics regionals. Before we left, Judy put all her flower pots in the front garden and we set a sprinkler to keep everything alive while we were gone.  
Posted on

Queen of PT

 Judy went to her 6 week physical therapy evaluation.  At the end of six weeks, she tested out at 6 weeks Ahead of Schedule!  How could she get that far ahead of where she is supposed to be?  The physical therapist looked around and said no-one else there was six weeks ahead of schedule.  He didn’t know if he had Ever had someone six weeks ahead of schedule after six weeks.  She was declared to be the PT Monster!  She might be the hardest working most determined rehabber he has ever had. Wednesday, it’s back to the surgeon in Corpus Christi for the final follow-up visit.  We expect he too will be pleased with her progress.  
Posted on

I was wrong

 I didn’t really pass a kidney stone at the airport three weeks ago.  I just moved it.  I’ve still got it. A trip to the emergency room last night and a CAT scan confirmed that not only do I have a kidney stone, I have *two* kidney stones.  The one in the left kidney is static.  The one on the right is the one doing all the drama right now. Stones don’t necessarily go all the way out in one episode.  They only hurt when they’re moving.  They might only move once every few minutes, hours, days, or even months.  No telling when they’re actually done and gone, unless you catch one with a strainer, or maybe get a final CAT scan to confirm it’s really gone.  This is the first time I’ve ever gotten one on a CAT scan.  We’re going to work our way through the rest of this process with a Urologist to see if we can get better information about where it is and what it’s doing, as well as why I’m suddenly getting them now.  Some diet or supplement trigger I presume. Anyway, at the hospital they gave me some medications to help the stone continue moving and now I’m back home again.  Demerol intravenously at the E.R.  Something else by injection (Tramadol I think) when the Demerol didn’t get it.  Hydrocodone orally at home.  I’m pretty stoned. 
Posted on

We settled on a car

 I want something high mileage.  Judy wants a hatchback.  We made a deal.  Minimum 35 mpg EPA Highway.  Judy picks the car.  I pick the color.  We settled on a Mazda 3 Hatchback, Grand Touring.  40mpg EPA Highway. http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/displayPage.action?pageParameter=modelsMain&vehicleCode=M3H I picked Accountant’s Gray. Problem is, there are plenty of Mazda 3s in the neighborhood, but none of them are my color.  No compromises.  I didn’t want to look out the door every morning and see a car that was an okay color.  I want to look out the door and say “Yes!  Accountant’s Gray!  I love that color!” They have that color in the brochure.  They call it graphite, but what do they know.  The dealer didn’t have it; not with the package of options we wanted.  They checked around with their local affiliates.  None in Brownsville.  None anywhere in the Valley.  They checked with Corpus Christi.  No luck.  We left. But……it’s the age of the internet.  Internet to the rescue!  Once I figured out the sorting mechanism on Mazda of America’s website, it took me about five minutes to locate two dozen cars that match our description, most of them in Texas.  We called a dealer in Conroe, north of Houston.  He said the internet was correct, he did have that car in stock.  We told him the deal we had with the dealer down here.  He matched it.  We agreed to fly to Houston and pick it up.  He volunteered to meet us at the airport and make the exchange of paperwork and keys.  We landed in Houston at noon. They had the car there waiting for us.  We were on the road in our new car by 12:30 headed south.  We were home by 7.  One airplane flight.  350 miles driving.  One day.  One new car. A good day.