August 14, 2013

Unexpected Trip to Houston

Wednesday,  August 14, 2013

This has been a long day.  Well, it still only has the same number of hours as any others, but we started it with a fun event at 7:00 a.m.  Jeff and Barbara have a house full of delightful children and they know how to make things special for them without having outlandish event planning.  Once their children turn five (I think that is the magical age) on their birthday they may select where to go to breakfast for a "family" birthday celebration.  IHOP (International House of Pancakes) is the most popular choice, but we have done Burger King, McDonald's, and Jeff and Barb's house.  If the meal is at their house, the birthday child helps select the menu.  Today it was IHOP to celebrate the 8th birthday of their second daughter.  It dawned on me this evening that she is a pure "middle child".  She is the middle child - 4th our of 7, and she is the middle girl.

This is the birthday girl with one of her gifts.  We gave her some art supplies.  She loves to draw and enjoys embellishing pictures.  If you give her a page from a color book, she will color nicely and then add butterflies, or a mouse peaking out from behind an object in the picture.  She is not the world's greatest artist (close) but she has a unique view.  When she uses my camera she has an eye for the unusual.  I believe I mentioned earlier that her older sister was making a quilt as a birthday gift.  As the quilt was in progress, the maker fell more and more in love with it.  I told her she could keep it and get something else for her sister, but she never wavered that the quilt was for her sister, not herself.  Is it any wonder why I love my grandchildren?

Here is the birthday girl on the left and the quilt maker on the right.  I don't mind admitting she had some help, but she did a lot of the work.  She selected all the fabrics to go with the floral print.  The floral print is from the shirt I was wearing when I fell and broke my elbow.  It had to be cut off of me, but I loved that shirt, so I brought it home, washed it, and saved it to use in a quilt.  We went through shelves and shelves of fabric so that she could select the colors to use in the quilt.  I cut and she sewed.  Remember I told you she was up before dawn Sunday morning to work on putting the squares together.  I finished it up that evening, except for the binding.  For some reason, that is hard for me to do and was going to be even harder with the limited range of motion in the elbow.  At church Sunday I asked a friend if she could help me out.  She picked the quilt up at my office Monday, finished it, clipped the assorted threads I hadn't done, and brought it back to me before the day was over.  I thank God for friends like that.  She did it as a gift to the quilt maker to show her how glad she was that a little girl would make a quilt for her sister.  The day did start on a fun note.  Our grand kids were all in great moods and happy to be celebrating.

Late last night, I detected a possible problem with my Cochlear Implant.  It may be nothing, but I really need the doctor to look at it and tell me if it is "nothing".  This morning after we left IHOP, once Ron got to the office, he put in a call to the surgeon's office in Houston.  Later in the day the nurse called back for details and told him she would get back to him.  She later called to say the doctor would like to see me tomorrow and gave us two appointment times to select the one that worked best for us.  So, we have an appointment in Houston tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon late.  We will leave in the morning and if it is nothing, we will start back tomorrow evening, probably stopping part way to spend the night.  It is very possible that it is "nothing" and when I told Ron that, after doing some research, he laughed and said, he will be delighted for them to say, "It is nothing."  I ask for your prayers as we travel on a hurriedly thrown together trip, both for safety and that it will be "nothing."  I will let you know soon.  I told Ron I would feel so foolish if it is "nothing" and he said, "No problem.  Nothing is fine with me."

Another problem caused by this trip is that I was to have my last Physical Therapy session tomorrow and an evaluation on Friday before seeing the surgeon next Tuesday.  Ron was also to see the surgeon Friday to have him look at his leg that is causing him almost constant pain these days.  We have had to cancel those appointments.  Please pray that those can be rescheduled quickly to help us keep progressing as we look for solutions to these problems.  My arm has felt pretty good today and there may actually be some improvement in the range of motion.  Maybe they can fit me in Friday afternoon is we get back in time.

Thank you all for you interest in my journey.  It isn't over by any means.  The hearing has been good today.   I did great with customers and the salesman.  I did very well in the restaurant this morning.  Hearing my youngest grandson ask me this morning if I brought him any Hot Wheels, was a delight.  I always take something small to the non-birthday siblings.  He loves for me to bring Hot Wheels.  The great thing was, I heard the full question the first time.  I didn't have to ask his oldest brother to tell me what he said.  Of course the sparkle in his eyes when I told him, "Yes," was a great thing, too.

During the day, I did some Immersion Reading when I wasn't busy with a salesman or customers.  We were kept busy during the day and for that we are grateful.  God continues to meet our needs and most of the customers are very patient and understanding.  The Immersion Reading is going well.  I did better hearing Bob and Vickey on the phone this evening.  So much is going right.  I don't want to focus on the bumps in the road.  I have said before, I want this blog to be an honest picture of what is happening, and right now I am checking on that bump in the road.