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good and bad
Jul. 17th, 2007 10:37 am.
I forgot to mention that between my sister being diagnosed and getting a mastectomy, her husband went for a ride on a motorcycle and wiped out, getting a painful collection of road burns. Ambulance guys said that they have picked up several motorcyclists from that spot -- a turn, somewhere in the Poudre canyon. Luckily, Harleys have a feature where the speedometer locks up in the event of a crash, and the needle indicates that he was going 28 mph, so it's fully covered by insurance, meaning they will pay "only" $500 for the experience.
Less fortunately, his brother died of a heart attack a couple of days ago. It would be really nice if crappy things stopped happening to my sister's family now. One of my nieces will help my brother-in-law (he's covered with scabs and bruises) as he journeys to the funeral of a beloved relative, and the other will help my reocvering sister.
Things here are going considerably better. Thanks to the selfsame sister, I am getting a little bit of layout work, which makes me feel less like a bum. I got a plea for help finding a file from my old office, and sent the file on down. I also talked to my old boss and found that she is in semi-retirement, working one day a week. Lucky for me that was the day she was in the office. I expect to call a friend down there and find out what else is going on in the old place.
Sarah's butterfly emerged from its chrysalis when we weren't looking, probably early Monday morning. I called up to the place where we got the caterpillar and milkweed plant, and they said it would be okay to leave it in the nylon mesh sleeve until Sarah got home so she could see it and watch it fly away. Sarah was, predictably, a little sad to see it go, but she wanted it to be able to "go find its family." It landed on my leg before heading off to one of our neighbor's trees. We tried to encourage it to land on Sarah one time, but, well, you know butterflies.
Sarah didn't get home at her usual time because she finally had her eye appointment. We were right that she doesn't see as well as she should. She has lazy eye. Two lazy eyes. The eye doctor told Cathy it would have been nice to catch this a couple of years ago. As Cathy said, how could we tell she didn't see sharply? She's pretty observant. The doctor agreed, sadly, that we had no way to tell. Usually amblyopia is detected with the aid of family medical history -- it'd be nice if this could be the last time we find ourselves wishing we had some for her.
Sarah's not thrilled about the prospect of glasses, but they might help her learn to read faster. Being able to see the letters seems like an advantage. We'll see if she needs them while playing. She's also been having nightmares around 3:00 am. Monday early morning, she dreamed of a dinosaur so big it stuck off the planet, and Cathy went to her room to help soothe her. This morning it was my turn, and I stayed in there for about an hour. She didn't tell either of us what she dreamed about.
On Friday, Sarah and I went out to look for a tree she could climb. We looked in the grove on the far side of our back fence, but didn't find any likely candidates. We came up to Brett & Raisa's back yard and saw Raisa, so I put Sarah up on my shoulders to talk to her, and then we went in and she played with B & R for a while, and I sat around and indulged in parent chat with Bill and Debbie. Everybody seemed happy to see us, and Raisa tried to trade Brett for Sarah.
On Saturday, we all went to Wilbraham to see the Circus Smirkus (20th anniversary), a high-school (and sometimes younger) summer circus that was pretty entertaining. We went with two other mothers and three girls, part of our informal network of playdates with other adoptees from China. After the circus, the girls played in a backyard pool and screamed a lot, and then we had hot dogs and hamburgers.
On Sunday, Sarah and I went to the dollar store for a cheap toy or two. She chose a pirate (not of the Caribbean; just a pirate) figure and a helicopter. The helicopter, which flies when you launch it by pulling a string, has proven fairly durable so far, and well worth a dollar.
.
I forgot to mention that between my sister being diagnosed and getting a mastectomy, her husband went for a ride on a motorcycle and wiped out, getting a painful collection of road burns. Ambulance guys said that they have picked up several motorcyclists from that spot -- a turn, somewhere in the Poudre canyon. Luckily, Harleys have a feature where the speedometer locks up in the event of a crash, and the needle indicates that he was going 28 mph, so it's fully covered by insurance, meaning they will pay "only" $500 for the experience.
Less fortunately, his brother died of a heart attack a couple of days ago. It would be really nice if crappy things stopped happening to my sister's family now. One of my nieces will help my brother-in-law (he's covered with scabs and bruises) as he journeys to the funeral of a beloved relative, and the other will help my reocvering sister.
Things here are going considerably better. Thanks to the selfsame sister, I am getting a little bit of layout work, which makes me feel less like a bum. I got a plea for help finding a file from my old office, and sent the file on down. I also talked to my old boss and found that she is in semi-retirement, working one day a week. Lucky for me that was the day she was in the office. I expect to call a friend down there and find out what else is going on in the old place.
Sarah's butterfly emerged from its chrysalis when we weren't looking, probably early Monday morning. I called up to the place where we got the caterpillar and milkweed plant, and they said it would be okay to leave it in the nylon mesh sleeve until Sarah got home so she could see it and watch it fly away. Sarah was, predictably, a little sad to see it go, but she wanted it to be able to "go find its family." It landed on my leg before heading off to one of our neighbor's trees. We tried to encourage it to land on Sarah one time, but, well, you know butterflies.
Sarah didn't get home at her usual time because she finally had her eye appointment. We were right that she doesn't see as well as she should. She has lazy eye. Two lazy eyes. The eye doctor told Cathy it would have been nice to catch this a couple of years ago. As Cathy said, how could we tell she didn't see sharply? She's pretty observant. The doctor agreed, sadly, that we had no way to tell. Usually amblyopia is detected with the aid of family medical history -- it'd be nice if this could be the last time we find ourselves wishing we had some for her.
Sarah's not thrilled about the prospect of glasses, but they might help her learn to read faster. Being able to see the letters seems like an advantage. We'll see if she needs them while playing. She's also been having nightmares around 3:00 am. Monday early morning, she dreamed of a dinosaur so big it stuck off the planet, and Cathy went to her room to help soothe her. This morning it was my turn, and I stayed in there for about an hour. She didn't tell either of us what she dreamed about.
On Friday, Sarah and I went out to look for a tree she could climb. We looked in the grove on the far side of our back fence, but didn't find any likely candidates. We came up to Brett & Raisa's back yard and saw Raisa, so I put Sarah up on my shoulders to talk to her, and then we went in and she played with B & R for a while, and I sat around and indulged in parent chat with Bill and Debbie. Everybody seemed happy to see us, and Raisa tried to trade Brett for Sarah.
On Saturday, we all went to Wilbraham to see the Circus Smirkus (20th anniversary), a high-school (and sometimes younger) summer circus that was pretty entertaining. We went with two other mothers and three girls, part of our informal network of playdates with other adoptees from China. After the circus, the girls played in a backyard pool and screamed a lot, and then we had hot dogs and hamburgers.
On Sunday, Sarah and I went to the dollar store for a cheap toy or two. She chose a pirate (not of the Caribbean; just a pirate) figure and a helicopter. The helicopter, which flies when you launch it by pulling a string, has proven fairly durable so far, and well worth a dollar.
.
