Left Isis
Right Isis
             

April 10th, 2009

When my mother was beset with continual annoyances, she said she was being “nibbled to death by ducks”. I’m having that feeling right now. We’re still waiting for something to happen with Don’s stones. Thus far, he still feels just dandy. In fact, he’s more energetic and moving around the house and yard more than he has since he became ill. Turns out this is a mixed blessing. This morning he was walking out of the kitchen when one of his tubes got caught on the corner of the cabinet and gave him a big painful jerk. He couldn’t see it himself, so he asked me to look at it for him. It looked to me like the tube had pulled out of the hole in his back about an eighth of an inch, and the sutures seemed stretched. The tube appeared to have a kink in it, as well, up close to the incision. There was no bleeding, and he said it didn’t hurt, past the initial tug, but it scared me, and I suggested that we drive to his urologist’s office right that minute and ask if the nurse could have a look at it.

He, on the other hand, wanted to call the doctor’s office and ask about coming in, but of course, he could only get the answering machine. So, he called the home health care office, and they contacted one of the home health nurses, who came out and had a look. She concurred with my diagnosis, such as it was, and added that the site looked a little irritated. She changed the dressing and redirected the tube to straighten out the kink, and told us that if it starts to weep or swell, or if the tube stops draining, to go to the emergency room, but she expected that it would more than likely be okay. That was six hours ago, and none of the above awful things have occurred. Naturally, he picked the Friday before Easter to cause trouble, so that if anything does go amiss, it’ll be over a holiday weekend. Don feels fine, as usual, but I’m in danger of a stroke.

It’s windy here today, windy and warm and dusty and slightly disturbing, which doesn’t help my nerves any. If I had enjoyed weather like this, I would never have left Oklahoma. (where in fact many of my relatives and friends are at this moment breathing smoke and trying not to burn up.) This is the kind of weather which, if it persists, drives one to grab a butcher knife and chase the children around the barnyard.

On to more uplifting topics. Notice the navigation bar, above. See anything different. Web mavin/brother Chris Casey added direct links to the two other writing blogs sites I contribute to (or, to which I contribute, if you prefer correct grammar over awkward sentence structure.) You can now check out all my musings as well as my blogmates’ without having to go to the trouble to type in those pesky web addresses! Just click on the name of the site and you’ll go right to it.

My next event – and in fact my final event for a while, since I haven’t been able to make plans lately – will be at Velma Teague Library in Glendale, AZ, at 2:00 p.m. on April 22. So if you’re in the area, come by and take this increasingly rare opportunity to get a gander at me in the flesh. I’ll be talking about my new novel, The Sky Took Him.

I expect that my dance card will once again begin to fill before long.

Happy Easter!

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