Breeding, Tubefeeding and Greeting

Stan Here:

Probably guessed it didn't you.  Just cannot resist a little rhyming and chiming with this post.  For potential first time grandparents this was kind of a big day for us.  Alden called and told us that an ultrasound told them that the baby they are going to have is a girl.  As far as I know there are only two options on this one and we will take this result. Perhaps for us, given some of our history, there was some concern. Some of you that know our history know that Deb and I had some real problems many year ago in losing 3 pregnancies to Potters Syndrome which is a genetic disease that results from the lack of kidneys in the fetus. The concern was that somehow this might somehow pass to our children.  But the ultrasound showed plenty of fluid and what looked like a kind of nice looking girl who was thinking she might come out around June 20.  I started playing the name game today.  I texted Alden and thought of this kind of neat name "Teeka".  He texted back that he thought they might name the baby themselves but until they get that done I can announce that Teeka is going to be a very welcome child in this world.  Free Babysitting at 1133 Silverstone.  Just in case they did not know.

So much for Teeka, on to Mieka, She was kind of proud to be selected today for a new assignment.  She was picked today to teach full time in a 3rd grade class in the school she is working in now. Most of you know she took a position there as a para-pro at the start of the year. She had been offered a few jobs around the country but elected to stay in this area where teaching jobs are tight.  So today she was selected to teach a third grade class for someone who was on pregnancy leave till the end of April.  So she goes full time and I think that is what she wanted. I feel good for her and I also feel good for the kids she will teach.  I have reflected in the past that she has a real passion for this and now she gets her shot in a school she likes.

Ross plays this week for the Lansing Symphony who are doing a concert with Beetles Music.  The lead guy is not feeling that well and asked Ross to play the lead on "Penny Lane" which is one of the more demanding pieces in trumpet literature. Deb and I have been married 38 years on February 8. Since she cannot go out to dinner we are gong to Lansing to hear this concert on Saturday. It used to be that we would always be a little nervous for something like this, but I think these days have past so we are just looking forward to this.  The Lansing Symphony is a fine group and they play at the Warton Center on MSU Campus.  We are looking forward to this as getting out has not been on the agenda all that much. It is kind of a big deal because a lot of medical stuff has to go along and be thought of for a trip like this.

Anyway, with all this good stuff we did have one thing that gets our attention.  One of the critical measures in this whole cancer game is the CA125 count and that was up some to 89.  We had been warned that it might be up some but it was high enough for the docs to order testing of this in a month rather than in three months as ordered before. Not a huge alarm but enough to get our attention.

The tube feeding for Deb is having some problems. She still has some severe problems with nausea and vomiting and has tried so hard to get that all working like we expected.  At the same time she is sick of sitting around and now she is going to just gut it out and get out and wait it out for some more medical direction. She has some more appointments next week to perfect the whole deal and that gets me on to the greeting part.

She came along last night to a class I have been teaching at church.  The greetings were emotional and warm and for the first time in many moons she is out wandering around again.  Not always all that easy but it beats all of the alternatives.

Send me some good girl names and I will forward them to Alden.

Stan