Thursday, June 23, 2011

[day +1, round 2]

Good Morning and Greetings from Hoosier Land!

Here we are, again, in room six.
Kurtis is getting fluids.
Chauncey is at dog camp.
Indiana is humid.

Kurtis continues to do better this round than the last - he has been able to keep his mouth sore pain under control and thus remain outside of the hospital walls.  We're both hoping that he'll be able to stay out of the hospital for the whole time this round.  One thing that has really been helping him so far are some pain pills.  Last time he wasn't really taking them, but this round, he has been a lot better about taking the pills he needs to take in order to keep things under control.  Today he seems quite chipper and acting like his normal mouthy self, so that is refreshing.

Last night, Kurtis' mom, sister, and niece arrived and we were able to visit with them some.  Kurtis still gets tired easily, and since they got in sort of late, we didn't have too much time with them yesterday, but today when we're home from the hospital, we will get to see them more.

Yesterday went well.  Around lunchtime, Kurtis suddenly had an intense craving for chicken fingers.  It is my job to find such things and so after a list of daunting directions from one of the nurses on the unit, I headed off - toward the people mover - in search of the McDonalds that resides in the Riley Children's hospital.  I was fortunate and did not get lost in the twisting hallways or the large glassed in above ground walkways. 

While walking through one of these walkways, I pondered to myself why it was really necessary.  I mean, it gets cold here in the winter, but not that cold.  I mean, it's not like we magically transplanted to northern Alaska here, people.  But then, upon seeing a man walking in a full suit, it hit me.  It's not for winter.  It's for summer.  For the ungodly humidity-heat-of-death-why-do-people-even-think-about-living-here air.  It's not for the cold.  In fact, I am surprised that the winter here isn't celebrated for being at least the complete opposite of what is happening now.

ANYWAY.  I found my way down to the McDonalds which was completely packed with parents of kids, heath staff and kids in wagons. And Amish families.  Yep, small children running around in overalls or dresses, speaking the German-ish dialect that the Amish are known for.  Half of the 'patrons' of McDonalds were Amish.  So, while waiting for Kurtis' chicken (it had to be made fresh since he is so special) I took some "I'm a spy and can take covert pictures with my iPhone" pictures.  When I get bored, apparently I take on alternate personas.  Or I watch too many shows like NCIS and Criminal Minds.  Or both.

Eventually, Kurtis' magical chicken was done and I wandered back through the hallways and above ground walkways back to beloved room six.  The entire way, I went all history/social studies on myself and decided that I needed to know why there were so many Amish people in the hospital.  In my infinitely large amount of science wisdom, I decided that it must be a genetic issue since the Amish are basically all from one set group of German-Swiss that migrated to the United States with their Amish/Mennonite faith. 

I did some research and learned that there were only 150,000 initial immigrants and Amish people now suffer from something that is apparently called the "founder effect" - meaning that rare genetic flaws are able to show up since the marriage pool is so small.   I've read some articles about the strange genetic flaws that happen and the culture that keeps the Amish from preventing such flaws.  All quite interesting.  In fact, I am sure that is what everyone wanted to wake up to - a history/science lesson.  Next up - the Revolutionary War!  We'll learn all about the Stamp Act and the beginnings to the Sons of Liberty!

Just kidding.

Other than all of that, I'm not sure I have anything to report that is of interest.  We got to see a picture of our house today thanks to some of our lax girls that are taking care of the lawn (AND IT LOOKS AWESOME THANK YOU!!!) and that made us happy/miss home.  I'm ready to mow the lawn and trim the roses and eat my raspberries!

Looks like we're down to a few weeks here - a drive home with a crazy pup - and then it's HOME! :)

I think that's it. 
Unless you're sure about not hearing about the Stamp Act...it really is quite interesting....

Lots of love!
Liz

1 comment:

  1. Great blog! I added you to my cancer blog list -"Miscellaneous - Testicular"- at the Being Cancer Network.

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