Family Movie Night...
It was the best in a long time. Tonight it was Transformers.
You know, more than meets the eye and all. I remember sort of wanting Transformers, but not getting them. I think the reasoning was it was just a fad, and you can't have everything, and besides, I had Star Wars Action Figures. Plus, Bob Kishi had all of these crazy Japanese robots that I bet would be worth a ton of money on eBay today.
Anyway, good movie. But it made me feel old. Here's how - I usually go right from family movie night to the Internet Movie Database to read about whatever we just watched. I check the trivia, and see what else the actors have been in and such. Now here's the thing - there's the hot high school chick lead, who you know is older than high school age. Then there's the kid's Mom. And as a guy, of course, you sort of imagine yourself wooing the hot female lead. It's not just me, right? Anyway...
Hot high school chick:
Kid's Mom (in the middle there):
The Mom was born in 1961. The hot chick?
1986!!
Which is, of course, the year I graduated from high school. When I told this to my young wife Rachel, she said, "Creepy." I am closer in age to the Mom than to the hot chick in movies now. When did that happen? I mean, the gray I understand, the hair loss, I am coming to terms with. And I've always had a belly.
But this...this is tough.
Anyway, let's see - To date, we have driven over 1,650 miles directly related to Rachel's accident. This has taken Tyrannosaurus Reg over the 50,000 mile mark - through the VW warranty and on in to the extended warranty I purchased. So Eva, my baby is in your hands now. I mean Marla. This mileage log started on 9/6 when I left the house for the accident scene, then to Redbud, then home then WalMart for prescriptions, then Napa for urgent care and so on right through today, and as far as we can see in to the future right now.
OK, today's trip was back to Napa to see a surgeon. And while it is really a beautiful drive, and the leaves are changing, and we did see an amazing sight or two (like this whole orchard with piles of different colored leaves under each tree that looked sort of like God was cleaning his paint brushes), we are getting sick of it.
Today we met with Dr. Huffman, a orthopedic surgeon who was great. He checked out Rachel's X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans and then examined her. He recommended against surgery saying there's a less than 60% success rate. He suggested we get a TENS unit (the cool thing we got yesterday), see a neurologist (already scheduled), and possibly a urologist. He also said that he wants her to start doing Physical Therapy exercises to strengthen her back again. So that is something of a good sign. He also said it's possible that the pain meds might be responsible for her bladder problems. Hopefully our trusty EMSI-4250 Interferential Simtulator will help control the pain and we can back off the meds and see if that problem goes away. The bad thing is he said it is going to be a long, slow, painful process of recovery. He said her already distressed muscles, ligaments, and tendons were severely aggravated by the trauma of the accident. Well, Duh. Anyway, he wants to see her again in four weeks.
I just noticed I say "We" a lot when talking about the ramifications of Rachel's accident. A lot of times I mean she and I. And other times, she and I and Jake. And a lot of you who read this have helped in a lot of ways. So it's a big "We." But in the end, no matter what we all go through to help her, she, my dear wife, my special Rachel, is the one going through it. We're just helping her along. I haven't mentioned in a while how proud of her I am. She is doing everything she can to get better. And she has bad days, of course, but she maintains a positive attitude that is amazing to me. And I love her lots and tons. I don't think I would be able to keep it together the way she has having already gone through something like this once and knowing what stands between her and feeling well again. Baby I'm amazed.
I am flying to a conference tomorrow. I have spent the afternoon and evening either pretending I am not going anywhere, or trying to make myself feel better by saying to myself, "Hooray! I'm going to Florida!" I think I've mentioned my mild agoraphobia in some previous posts. This time it is nothing like Trinidad and Tobago. But it's still there. It got a lot better once I got everything worked out as far as family and friends taking care of Rachel and Jake while I'm gone. And it's a short trip. And it's for a speech recognition conference that is pretty critical for me to attend if I'm going to stay in this business. I have a lot to learn and accomplish. Wish me luck.
Now I have to go pack and get some sleep.
The next post will be from another time zone. And hopefully it will be something positive about the Red Sox.
You know, more than meets the eye and all. I remember sort of wanting Transformers, but not getting them. I think the reasoning was it was just a fad, and you can't have everything, and besides, I had Star Wars Action Figures. Plus, Bob Kishi had all of these crazy Japanese robots that I bet would be worth a ton of money on eBay today.
Anyway, good movie. But it made me feel old. Here's how - I usually go right from family movie night to the Internet Movie Database to read about whatever we just watched. I check the trivia, and see what else the actors have been in and such. Now here's the thing - there's the hot high school chick lead, who you know is older than high school age. Then there's the kid's Mom. And as a guy, of course, you sort of imagine yourself wooing the hot female lead. It's not just me, right? Anyway...
Hot high school chick:
Kid's Mom (in the middle there):
The Mom was born in 1961. The hot chick?
1986!!
Which is, of course, the year I graduated from high school. When I told this to my young wife Rachel, she said, "Creepy." I am closer in age to the Mom than to the hot chick in movies now. When did that happen? I mean, the gray I understand, the hair loss, I am coming to terms with. And I've always had a belly.
But this...this is tough.
Anyway, let's see - To date, we have driven over 1,650 miles directly related to Rachel's accident. This has taken Tyrannosaurus Reg over the 50,000 mile mark - through the VW warranty and on in to the extended warranty I purchased. So Eva, my baby is in your hands now. I mean Marla. This mileage log started on 9/6 when I left the house for the accident scene, then to Redbud, then home then WalMart for prescriptions, then Napa for urgent care and so on right through today, and as far as we can see in to the future right now.
OK, today's trip was back to Napa to see a surgeon. And while it is really a beautiful drive, and the leaves are changing, and we did see an amazing sight or two (like this whole orchard with piles of different colored leaves under each tree that looked sort of like God was cleaning his paint brushes), we are getting sick of it.
Today we met with Dr. Huffman, a orthopedic surgeon who was great. He checked out Rachel's X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans and then examined her. He recommended against surgery saying there's a less than 60% success rate. He suggested we get a TENS unit (the cool thing we got yesterday), see a neurologist (already scheduled), and possibly a urologist. He also said that he wants her to start doing Physical Therapy exercises to strengthen her back again. So that is something of a good sign. He also said it's possible that the pain meds might be responsible for her bladder problems. Hopefully our trusty EMSI-4250 Interferential Simtulator will help control the pain and we can back off the meds and see if that problem goes away. The bad thing is he said it is going to be a long, slow, painful process of recovery. He said her already distressed muscles, ligaments, and tendons were severely aggravated by the trauma of the accident. Well, Duh. Anyway, he wants to see her again in four weeks.
I just noticed I say "We" a lot when talking about the ramifications of Rachel's accident. A lot of times I mean she and I. And other times, she and I and Jake. And a lot of you who read this have helped in a lot of ways. So it's a big "We." But in the end, no matter what we all go through to help her, she, my dear wife, my special Rachel, is the one going through it. We're just helping her along. I haven't mentioned in a while how proud of her I am. She is doing everything she can to get better. And she has bad days, of course, but she maintains a positive attitude that is amazing to me. And I love her lots and tons. I don't think I would be able to keep it together the way she has having already gone through something like this once and knowing what stands between her and feeling well again. Baby I'm amazed.
I am flying to a conference tomorrow. I have spent the afternoon and evening either pretending I am not going anywhere, or trying to make myself feel better by saying to myself, "Hooray! I'm going to Florida!" I think I've mentioned my mild agoraphobia in some previous posts. This time it is nothing like Trinidad and Tobago. But it's still there. It got a lot better once I got everything worked out as far as family and friends taking care of Rachel and Jake while I'm gone. And it's a short trip. And it's for a speech recognition conference that is pretty critical for me to attend if I'm going to stay in this business. I have a lot to learn and accomplish. Wish me luck.
Now I have to go pack and get some sleep.
The next post will be from another time zone. And hopefully it will be something positive about the Red Sox.
posted by Eric Soderstrom at 9:12 PM
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