Fun, Fun, Fun!

The HKs are here! Mikele got here on Tuesday a week ago, and attended the performing arts conference in downtown Denver for the week. She rode the light rail downtown and back, which is a pretty fun experience. Then the rest of the HKs arrived very late on the evening of Friday the 13th. Mikele graciously volunteered her entire family to help us move our precious belongings back down into the basement from the living room, dining room, and bedroom. It's amazing to be able to see the floor again in those rooms. And, as a special bonus, they also helped us empty the PODS unit, which was removed from our driveway yesterday. Hooray! What a relief. Thanks to Ken and Freddie, and all the HKs, for their unbelievably helpful contribution to getting that done! Oh, and we're having some fun, too. On Monday, all the boys went disc golfing at Ranch House in Ken Caryl. On Tuesday, Bob and I took all the kids to Elitch Gardens. That's Tyler, Dorothy, and me in the pic, on the XLR8R ride, which was very thrilling! Wednesday was a quiet clothes shopping day at Cherry Creek, for me and Mikele and the kids. Today we're heading out to Water World!

Monday Musings

We had our first relatively quiet weekend at home, in a long time. Nobody came by to work on anything! Oh, there was some excitement. I took Mandy out for her morning outing, and she was sniffing around the rocks at the neighbor's house, and suddenly jumped back, very agitated. I saw a wasp come flying out of the rocks at about the same time. She completely forgot about needing to use the grass, and slunk back into the house, periodically rubbing her nose with her paws. I called the Animal ER, and they were very concerned about the possibility of a bad reaction to a bee sting. They said that many dogs have a strong allergic reaction, especially at this higher altitude. She seemed to perk up after a few minutes, and really wanted to go out again, so I took her for a 20 minute walk down on Lee Gulch, watching for signs of swelling, or a rash, or difficult breathing, but she seemed fine. On the way back, I talked to a neighbor who mentioned a friend's dog was swollen up for weeks after a bee sting. That got me concerned again, so just to be safe, we took her to Animal ER, but after one look at her, and knowing it had been 45 minutes since the event, they recommended taking her home, and just monitoring her for symptoms. She seemed fine the rest of the day. Now I'm wondering if maybe the wasp just buzzed around in her nose, and frightened her, before flying away. Or maybe a wasp sting isn't as bad as a bee sting, or something like that...

We're trying to adjust to our new life with dialysis at 6am. It's always a race. We rarely get her there before the designated time, although we're usually within a few minutes. This morning, we were daydreaming about a day when we'd leave the house early enough, to be able to stop somewhere for a breakfast sandwich. What a concept. She's supposed to eat a few ounces of protein before dialysis, and it's hard to get that done, when we're just rushing to get ready to go, charging up the oxygen bottle, taking the dog out, all that stuff.

We're looking forward to a visit from my sister and most of her family! She's arriving tomorrow afternoon for a performing arts conference, then will be arriving Friday night. I guess her oldest, the newly certified lawyer in the family, will be hunting for work, now that he's got that crucial bar exam behind him.

Dang that foot

K's ortho doc called me (what a great guy) to report he removed the full contact cast on her right foot. This was the first of several weekly scheduled inspection and change appointments. He was very disappointed to find the wound was quite macerated, and she had another large blister on her heel. So we're kind of back to the beginning (pre-holidays), on the long winding path to healed up feet. On the good side, her left heel is looking much better. I hope I don't jinx things by saying it, but it seems like it's mostly healed up.