Good News on Mom's Tests

It turns out that my mother is the perfect patient for the kind of tests she had today - endoscopy and colonoscopy. She did a great job with her prep, drinking down the ucky liquid in 3-1/2 hours when told she had to finish in 6. She said it didn't taste that bad to her.

And after the procedures today she said "nothin' to it!" She had feared the worst, and she hardly felt a thing thanks to the great sedative they gave her. Her throat was a little sore afterwards but that's to be expected from the scope they put down to look at her stomach. The sedative made her a little weak and wobbly, but that cleared up very quickly once she was able to have some lunch.

Best of all, the tests showed nothing to worry about in her stomach or colon. That means we still don't know the cause of her anemia, so she has to get another simple test on Monday. After her success story today though I'm expecting great things.

Go Mom!

Time Off

I'm taking a few days off work this week. Mom has a doctor appointment tomorrow and then an endoscopy (upper GI) and colonoscopy on Wednesday. I think she's pretty nervous about the procedure. I'm glad it will be over for her soon. Hopefully the results won't be anything unexpected.

I'm looking forward to a little change of pace and getting some things done I haven't been able to get to while working.

Snow and Ice

We've been having some uncharacteristically cold and wintry weather here in Seattle. As I recall it started with yet another blustery windstorm with a little rain, then the temperatures dropped.

Here is a photo Walter took looking down the street from our apartment complex. This was taken on Wednesday - the day the snow began. There was more snow the next day, but not too much. I think we had just about an inch total.

The temperatures dropped quickly though and all the snow we got compacted into ice and is still with us.

In the City of Seattle it dropped to 19 degrees last night. As I write this it is 29 degrees and that was the high for the day. There have been more snow flurries today, but so far as I know nothing appreciably adding to what's on the ground.

Since I have to drive to Olympia in a couple days I'm glad there is no prediction for a big dumping of snow. In fact it's supposed to start warming up.

I hope you are keeping warm out there. Remember - dress in layers!!

Flags for Ford

Tuesday, January 2nd was a day of mourning for Gerald Ford, our 38th president who passed away December 27th at age 93. As is this country's custom, flags were flown at half mast in remembrance.

On the morning of the 2nd I went out for my first walk of the new year. I had recently discovered that I could take videos with my camera and post them here to this blog. We had a storm coming in that day, and the morning was quite blustery so flags were flying in the wind. On my walk I go by the North Precinct of Seattle's Police Department. There I stopped to take note of the flags flying at half mast. I thought it would be nice to post a brief video of it here. So I went back home to get my camera.

When I take photos with my camera it is not uncommon for me to turn the camera sideways if it's more a vertical image than a horizontal one that I want to capture. So that's what I did - I turned my camera sideways and took the video. Imagine my dismay when I transferred the video to my computer and I had to tilt my head in order to view the sideways video!

Turning a video is not as easy as turning a photo. But I looked up instructions on the internet and figured out how to rotate my little movie. If I was stuck with a sideways movie I would have posted it anyway, as I know President Ford was a forgiving man. :) But that was not necessary.

Here is my 10 second video of the flags flying at half mast for Gerald Ford. Rest in peace, Mr. President.

Eye Report

I thought I posted on the blog last month about Walter's vision, but it looks like I did not. Walter had a setback with his vision decreasing since the first of December. It was rather scary because he seemed to have lost any gains made from the surgery. At his appointment in late December the doctor said the transplant still looked good, but the eye was red and the surface of the cornea was rough. He wanted to make sure we weren't on our way to rejection, so he increased Walter's dose of the antirejection drug to three times a day.

Walter went back to the doctor last Friday . His vision is "marginally improved" from last time. Of course I am hoping this will be a trend and it will just keep getting better until he at least has regained the sight he had after the transplant.

The doctor cut back a little on the antirejection drug. The antirejection drug increases eye pressure, and his eye pressure is too high. It's a balancing act with the meds to keep his eye pressure in a safe range yet keep the graft healthy so the eye won't reject it. Who knows how long it will take to see where Walter's vision ends up. For now we wait...

Who Says I Can't Do Video?

I mentioned before that I did not have a way to post videos in this blog. Walter got a camcorder a few months ago, and I haven't taken the time to figure out how to get videos from the camcorder to the blog. We don't have high speed internet access at home so it would be a multi-step process.

But while we were out at Zoolights on New Years Eve there were so many cool animated vignettes that's when I remembered that I can take small movies with my own digital camera. The process for transferring video from my digital camera onto the computer is very quick and easy just like uploading digital photos. And I figured out that once the video is uploaded, it's an easy task to post it here.

Below is a very short video taken at Zoolights. This animated light display has a very Northwest theme. You will see fish (I think they are salmon) swimming in one direction in the water. Then you will see an eagle swoop down from the top right and grab one of the fish before exiting stage left.

What's fun about video as that you get sound too. As I mentioned in my last post, Zoolights is at the zoo. And the zoo means animals. In this video you will hear some howling in the background. You would be correct that howling has little to do with salmon or eagles.

As it turns out, this particular display was set up right next to the coyote area. The coyotes are not on display during Zoolights as it is nighttime, but they are awake behind a fence. Many of the young humans in the area figured out that there were coyotes behind the fence and if they (the humans) howled, the coyotes would howl back. That's the soundtrack you hear - human and coyote howling.

You can click the big button below to view the video here or if you would like to see it a bit larger click here.

Zoolights on New Years Eve

The last few days have been pretty crazy, so I'm a little behind on my posts. On New Years Eve Walter and I went to Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma to see Zoolights.

Zoolights is a dazzling light display they do at Pt. Defiance every Christmas season. I think we went the first or second year they did it (19 years ago) and have been several times since. I highly recommend it. Of course it's especially fun with little kids, but even as adults we just love it.

This year's display included a large rainbow, a representation of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, some spectacularly lit trees, and to go with the zoo theme many animal scenes - both static and animated.

I took a bunch of pictures including the one above. If you would like to see more, click on the photo for a slide show. By the way, depending on your screen resolution you may find it easier to see everything on your screen if you press F11 for full screen. I know that helps for me.

Who's Walter?

When I first started this blog, my husband was nervous about privacy issues. So nervous in fact that he asked me not to use his first name. Well I tried that, and I couldn't do it. I didn't like saying "my hubby this" or "my husband that." To me it sounded like I didn't know my own husband's name.

So I proposed a compromise with him. You see, my husband goes by two different names. His first name is Walter, his middle name is Clay. While growing up in the South his family always called him Clay. When he became an adult and went out on his own, he decided to start using the name Walter. That's how I know him - as Walter. Once in a while I call him Walter Clay. Our friends also know him as Walter. But his family still calls him Clay. I asked him if I could refer to him as Clay on the blog, and he agreed to that. That's why some of you who know me might wonder why I say Clay on the blog when I'm talking about Walter.

It has been more than a year since I've started the blog now, and I have convinced Walter that it would be a good thing to call him here by the name I know him - Walter. In future posts I will do just that. I didn't want anyone to be confused and think I have two husbands. There is only one Walter Clay. :)

I'm Going to Be a Great-Aunt!

We got a wonderful surprise in my sister Petra's Christmas card this year. She writes that my nephew Roberto (we call him Boyboy) and his wife (they married earlier this year) are expecting a little one in June.

Congratulations Boyboy and Roxanne!! We are really happy for you. I can't wait to meet the newest member of the family.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you and your families, everybody! How do you celebrate? Do you stay up and watch Dick Clark or the Space Needle countdown? Do you get together with friends? Do you go to bed early?

I don't think Clay and I will be "partying" per se, but we are hoping to check out Point Defiance's Zoolights this evening. It should be a fun time and a good test for our fairly new camcorder. Unfortunately I do not yet have a way to share videos here on the blog. That's something planned for the future though.

My favorite thing about the new year is that it is an opportunity for a fresh start. Like a brand new clean piece of paper we can choose how we want to write or draw on it and what we want it to be. Some people make resolutions, others clean house, some use it as a time for setting goals.

I just love the newness of it.

Happy New Year to you!!

Greetings from Jim, Kristina and Elena

Here is another of the wonderful pictures I got in my pre-Christmas mail. I meant to post this one quite some time ago, and the busyness of the season slowed me down.

Not only did Jim, Kristina and Elena send along the greeting card with this photo, but they also did one of those creative family newsletters. I love holiday newsletters. There was something in this one about tater tot casserole. I might have to get that recipe.

Thanks Jim and Kristina!

A Few Pictures

Last night we had a good time visiting our friends Wayne, Michelle and Nikka. This picture shows Wayne, Nikka and Chip (aka "Beastie" the dog).

You can click on the photo to see it larger, and then you will be able to use the Next and Prev links to get to more pictures from the evening and also a few pictures from Christmas when we visited my sister Jozi.

Leg Getting Better?

Well, my mother says her leg is getting better. It feels better to her, which is a good sign. Unfortunately she can't really see it and I haven't yet had a chance to talk to the neighbor who did see it. The doctor gave her one set of instructions (change the dressing daily) and Mom has her own ideas (it can wait until you come down in 3 days). It can be frustrating. I guess I should be happy she's feeling well enough to be so strong willed.