Moving On Along

Two weeks till Christmas and we continue with the doctor's appointments. K went in for the physical with the internist today and came out with an okay report. The doc said everything is looking pretty good, but he still will be doing a number of tests. I really think 2007 will be the year of medical appointments for K--and he only has himself to blame! (I hope that doesn't sound too harsh--I didn't mean it to!) Anyway, K will be having an ultrasound on Wednesday to look for peripheral artery disease--NOT because he has any symptoms but because two of his siblings have it. He also has to have a stress test next month--mostly as a follow-up to the LAST one he had eight years ago. He never had the second one like the doctor wanted, so he has to do it now. Also, the doc said a colonoscopy is on the list to be done--but probably won't happen for a few months, at least. Tomorrow he goes for the entire spectrum of usual blood tests and then gets to see the internist in a month to go over all of the results. Until all tests are completed and everything going on with him is stabilized, I think he will be having monthly appointments, if not more often.

I want to thank everyone for their well wishes--we appreciate all of the prayers and good thoughts. Leazwell asked if K will have to go on dialysis, but I don't think that is in consideration right now. The nephrologist seemed to be pretty certain that some of the kidney function will be able to be restored--just not all of it. And he still seemed to be thinking that the damage was done from high blood pressure--and now that K has that under control, no more damage should be done. At least, I HOPE this is the case. We just have to wait and see. And, really, the strangest thing about all of this is the fact that K never felt sick or bad in any way. I guess that just goes to show that high blood pressure really IS a silent killer!

On to other things. I finally got all of the Christmas decorating done. I put up the tree and decorated it tonight, so that is finished. I usually don't go this long before finishing, but this has been a strange year. I'll try to remember to take a picture of the tree and post it.

The weather has been really nice here for the past few days. The temps have been in the 40s and the snow is melting like crazy. I like having this weather when I have to go out and do shopping, but the ski hills and the people who depend on snowmobilers and other winter recreation tourists aren't very happy. I don't mind if it doesn't snow till Christmas Eve.

Today I was talking to C and she was telling me how she has to study up on how to use the remote control for the cable box. She has to set the parental controls because the 2-year-old ordered a movie the other day--AND he recorded it on the digital recorder! She doesn't know HOW he did it, because she said neither her nor her husband have a clue how to do it! I just don't know why she isn't gray and why she hasn't gone completely insane.

It seems as if a gray squirrel has decided to make our attic its home for the winter. We have been hearing the scratching for awhile and K finally went in the attic and saw it. We have to figure out how it got in, trap it, and then block off the entry. I wonder if this means I can't feed the squirrels anymore?

A couple of days ago one of the guys that K and I graduated with, died. Now, we hadn't seen him since we graduated, but it kind of affected us as he is the first of our class to die. (Actually, he is the SECOND--K's twin brother died as the result of a motorcycle/car accident when he was 21. A bit different than natural causes or age-related.) I'm not sure WHAT he died of (it WASN'T an accident), but it really brought our mortality to mind--this on top of all of the medical things happening. The doctor told K today, "I guess if you would have known you were going to live this long you would have taken better care of yourself, huh?" This he said with a smile. Of course, no truer words could have been spoken. (And, yes, it is an old joke.) :)