Lucky Day!

Some of you might not consider today (Monday, that is) as having been a lucky day for Mandy and me because it wasn't without a snafu, but overall, things went quite well.

We left here around 7 a.m. and headed west -just following good old Horace Greeley's instructions , ya know. ("Go west young man, go west." Okay, we read that as "Go west, young woman" I suppose, didn't we?)

And, we arrived at McGee Hospital at 9:45 a.m. -made great time -and I was 45 minutes early for my first appointment. (Yes, to those of you who know me and know Carrie -she is actually my daughter even though she was a week late arriving in the world and has been late for most everything every since then though. I am usually fairly punctual.) I figured we'd have to wait no matter what time each appointment was set for so came prepared with my current tabletopper embroidery project with me.

Even though the office was pretty full when we got there and I pulled the embroidery out to begin working on it, I was called back to meet with the doctor within only a couple of minutes of waiting. He spoke to me about the problems I'm experiencing, the diagnosis that forced my doctor here to refer me to the specialist(s) in Pittsburgh, he checked things out himself and then, sat down in his office to talk to me and to Mandy -explaining what he recommends, what he will do if I opt to have the surgery (which I will do) and got things in gear for the surgery to be scheduled and to take place.

I have to say both Mandy and I were very impressed with this guy -Dr. Krivak -and his thoroughness as well as his general attitude which showed he has a great sense of humor as well as very much taking his job and my health issues quite seriously. My kind of doctor that way in that I feel comfortable with him, confident in him and he was making wise cracks back and forth with both Mandy and me during the examination and consultation.

Next up was a follow-up appointment with my previous surgeon -Dr. Hughes -who, we learned about two weeks ago will be leaving UPMC the beginning of July and is moving to Gainesville, Florida to a much larger practice and a big jump in responsibilities there too. We teased him a lot about how unfair it is that he is leaving us behind and that Mandy and I are both trying to figure out a way to move to Florida just so I can keep him on as my surgeon! Best blue eyes ever this guy has got! And so nice and compassionate a doctor he is as well. Yep, we definitely are gonna miss not having him around to take care of any of my problems from here on out.

By 3 p.m. we were back at McGee Hospital to meet Dr. Eid, the third doctor I was set up to see today. He, like Dr. Hughes and Dr. Krivak, made both Mandy and I feel quite comfortable in his recommendations about the surgery.

Bottom line is that it will happen -at least the hysterectomy will definitely take place and the hernia repair is the one that still hasn't been carved in stone as to whether they will do that or a partial repair (if you will) or what exactly.

But at any rate, I have to return to Pittsburgh at a date in the near-near future to have some other necessary tests done that are considered to be the rule to go by for pre-operative procedures -a cardiogram, bloodwork, of course, and CT scans too plus some other procedures deemed needed due to previous surgeries I've had done in the past 7 years. Then, shortly after that stuff is tended to, they will set a date and time and I go back to Pittsburgh -again -but the second trip I will stay and they will cut -and cut -and cut! Okay, maybe not THAT many times but you get the picture I hope.

We stopped and did a little shopping on the way home at Pittsburgh Mills -got some good buys, had a nice time looking around that mall too. And finally, around 7:30 p.m., we were on our way back home.

We made very good time coming home too until, that is, we stopped in Clearfield so Mandy could use their restroom there and pick up a copy of tonight's paper too then.

When she came back to get in the car and leave, she glanced out the window and to her surprise -and shock -she saw steam -lots and lots of steam -coming up and out from under the hood of her car. It was then that she realized when we came down the ramp at the Clearfield exit and were behind a big truck, she'd said how she was so glad that the smoking smell she detected was apparently coming from that big truck and not from her little car.

Except that wasn't the case after all as she jumped out of the car and ran around to the front of the car to take a look and it was then that she began jumping up and down like a maniac (doing what we refer to as "The Ertmer Dance" (usually done in pure anger and tonight was no different) and all the while she was shouting one obscenity, over and over and over again -F***!

There was you see a huge puddle building up under the car at the right front and spreading quite nicely then too in the parking area at the Sheetz store on Rte 879.

About that time, a state cop pulled up in a parking spot there and he showed us just how nice and helpful the state police can be as he called in an officer assist call to one of the local towing services for us! (Talk about irony though. This trooper also just happened to be the trooper who pulled Mandy over about 2 months ago and ended up giving her a ticket for not wearing the corrective lenses that her license has stamped on it as being required!)

Thankfully, Mandy was able to contact a friend who came over and picked us up and brought us on home -down to the house -where Aunt Carrie was waiting patiently for our arrival and Maya was sound asleep in the brown recliner and Kurtis was curled up in Aunt Carrie's arms -also out like the proverbial little light!

So, though I still don't know when -exactly -this surgery will take place, it will be in the near future. And yes, I am looking forward to getting it over and done with and begin healing again, getting back on my feet and enjoying -hopefully -a goodly portion of the summer with my walks with Sammy! (And no, I'm also not looking forward to all of this either -I'm not really a glutton for punishment but rather a realist and what will be, will be, ya know!)

I have a little bit of other news tonight too -things I had planned to write about yesterday but didn't get around to doing a post after all.

Here's some photos I took of some things around here that made me very, very happy!
Finally, it happened! I've been watching -and waiting (not very patiently either, I might add) for the mountain laurel bush at the front of my house to finally begin to open the buds on it and this weekend, it finally began to bloom! Here then is the first blossom on that bush and boy, that really made me very happy to see that happen!
And here's a bunch of mountain laurel bushes blossoming away -about 2/3rds of a mile down the road from my house on the road to Peale. There's a patch that I would estimate to be between 60 to 100 foot in length and probably about 8 foot wide too, at least, of these beautiful bushes all in full bloom. What a gorgeous site it is to see them as they are surely one of the prettiest flowers of all when they do finally decide to break bad and bloom.
And finally tonight, I give you this picture of one of the two big planters I have out on my deck and if you look very closely, you will see that there are three little tomatoes that have formed and are getting bigger too by the day as well as one nice little pepper that has emerged from the blossom stage for me too now!

And the rest of my garden -lettuce, green onions, carrots, beets, bush beans, summer squash, broccoli and more tomato and pepper plants as well -are all growing quite tall for me!

Isn't summer just grand though?

And aren't Mandy and I just the luckiest people ever that the car waited until we had pulled into to the Sheetz store before erupting and spewing water and antifreeze all over the place and NOT doing that to us while we were still down in Pittsburgh@???

Yep! Sure looks to me like it was a darned lucky day.

Agreed?