What Do You Do With a Scurvy Pirate?

Make them walk the plank!  I love Backyardigans and have missed them.  We have been without cable for a year and got it back yesterday.  We will have it long enough to watch the Tour de France and World Cup then will have it disconnected, again.  Or at least that's the plan.  I see reinstalling cable as a slippery slope we may not be able to climb up again.  It's so easy to become a TV bum and it's fun to boot.  We'll see how strong we are at the end of the summer. ;)

So.  Let's see.  I went to Napa with Heather and Christy, had lots of fun, drank too much wine and paid a lot of money to ship wine home that I just found in a local liquor store.  Next time I go to Wine Country I will take the liquor store's number so I can check to make sure they don't carry what I want to ship and I will not rely on the winery rep who insists, "You'll never find that in Alabama."  Apparently we're not as backwoods as you thought we were, Napa! 

We only did what we wanted to, went to bed at 8pm CA time and woke up way too early.  It was a great trip and in spite of me being preoccupied with Tater's surgery, Heather having to prepare for a huge presentation for work and Christy having motion sickness, I think we actually enjoyed ourselves.  I'm not sure as I haven't truly caught up on sleep yet, but I think we did. 

Tater's urology surgery went well.  The doctor said it was a complicated process but it was successful and Tater will not have to wear a patch to receive hormones during puberty (you're welcome, son). 

He also had a flexible bronchoscopy while he was sedated and it was the news from that procedure which threw us for a loop.  He's had secretions in his right lung that may be the cause of his constant snottiness and quick-to-bottom-out sicknesses.  We're treating that with a 3-week course of antibiotics. 

His upper airway has also done something that can happen when it is not being used, having been circumnavigated by a trach for 2 years;  it has collapsed.  What this means for any planned trach removal (decannulation), we're not sure.  It does mean we will eventually have to get more doctors on board and I'm just conflicted about it all.  The go-to guys in this field are in Cincinnati, and I would hate being so close to THE guys and not using them.  But going to Cinci means entering a new medical system that will want to run it's own tests.  It means new doctors wanting to research Tater's underlying condition.  It is difficult to introduce a child with a chronic, undiagnosed condition to experts on this level and expect to get out with a simple, "this is when the surgery will be." 

Do we really want to go down that road again?  I flirt with wanting to find more answers about his condition all the time and continually come back to no.  We have always said if he regresses, then we will pursue answers.  Is this considered a regression or is it a side-effect?  Is there a difference?  Can I make your head spin anymore? 

I know it will all work out the way it's supposed to and I have no control over any of it but I'm still a little ticked off and not very accepting of the (seemingly) inevitable at the moment.  He will most likely still have the trach removed but it may be a little farther off than anticipated and may require a couple of surgeries.  Or he could still be on track to have it removed soon.  We don't know.  One would think we would be used to the uncertainty by now but I think if you have any amount of hope, uncertainty will always upend you. 

He's happy and I'm reminding myself that's ALL that matters.  All that matters.  Let me dwell on that a bit.  Mr. A and I are heading off this weekend for an anniversary trip.  Leeda and her boys are coming to take care of our boys and we're going to sit in a hotel all weekend and not do anything but eat and sleep.  I cannot think of anything I would rather do.

Promises, Promises

Wow.  I can't even keep a promise to myself.  Last time I updated the blog I thought, "Well, this isn't bad.  If I only update once a week, that's better than nothing and it won't take long."  Yeah.  The problem is, I'm not one to mince words and if I sit down to update, I get up an hour later and an hour updating my blog seems excessive (although I can happily browse random photos on Facebook and that doesn't seem excessive at all.  Hush.)

RANDOM ALERT: Want to know one my most favorite things in the world?  I love this on The Electric Company:     I sing it to myself all the time.  It cracks me up! 

So, we have a few things going on this weekend.  Tomorrow, I am jumping on a plane and heading to San Francisco with 2 of my besties, Heather and Christy.  Heather has this job that makes her travel all over the East Coast and keeps us from hardly ever seeing her.  BUT!  She accumulates airline miles like you wouldn't believe.  And because she loves me and Christy sooooo much, she got us tickets to California for a girls weekend in SanFran and Napa for some wine tasting.  I am very much looking forward to catching up with these 2 wonderful women and drinking lots of wine.  (This trip also brought to you by the letters A, C and W.  Without Mr. A holding down the fort and Coco and Wissa stepping in for school pick-up, I wouldn't be able to go.)

When I get back Monday night, Mr. A and Tater are picking me up from the airport and we will all head to Birmingham for the second stage of Tater's urological surgery on Tuesday.  It's a day surgery and we should be able to come home Tuesday night.  Fingers crossed everything goes well and things are progressing as they should in that area. 

How, you ask, is it that I scheduled Tater's surgery for the day after I get back from a wino girls' trip?  It's because mah orgazational skilz are outstanding, y'all.  Just because I write things down doesn't mean a darn thing and I can double book like a rookie.  Oh well.  It will work out.  But if you see me next week and I'm a stressed crying mess with a hangover, please to ignore me.

If You Don't Tell Him, I Won't.

Monday-Tater is still sick.  Lungs junky with a "crackly" sound and needing the vent off and on all day.  Today-sick?  who's sick?  Not Tater.  His lungs sound clear and he's back to his normal nasal congestion.  huh?!  This kid loves him some roller coasters in the health area but I'm finding I'm too old to enjoy the ride.  Dude.  I'm tired.  And in need of a stiff drink or 10. 

Meanwhile, Mr. A is in on A MISSION to find the cause of our A/C troubles.  You know, so we don't spend all of our meager tax refund in one fell swoop with the heat pump guy.  I just heard the heat pump "pop" so I'm betting there is some cussing going on about now.  That and Toser is following him around in a T-shirt, underwear and tennis shoes with no socks.  I'm trying really hard not to laugh. 

I'll leave you with this fun bit of a night in the life of us: We live on a "Mountain" (1600 feet, so really a hill) and our property backs up to a State Park with over 2000 acres of property. There are dozens of hiking and biking trails and the weather was especially nice today so the visitors were out in full force. Apparently someone got lost this afternoon. Not usually a big deal because if you head downhill in any direction, you'll hit residential areas; you'll be far off course, but you can get help. The protocol for when someone gets lost is to position police cars and fire trucks in the various hiking parking lots around the "Mountain" and they sound their sirens at 5 minute intervals so whomever is lost can orient themselves. The main parking lot is maybe 150 yards from our back deck so we get a full view of the goings on. People with flashlights in the trees and the sirens every.freakin.five.minutes. No one has ever been seriously lost so we can afford the luxury of getting very frustrated with the proceedings.  We really are good people, we just like our quiet backyard to be quiet. I'm sure the lost person would be very appreciative of our conversation.  Plus, whomever decides to go off-trail 30 minutes before dark thinking it won't be a big deal OBVIOUSLY needs to be talked about.