Intrusions from the Real World...
Sep. 15th, 2004 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mrdreamjeansSince I left the Live Journal Picnic on Saturday, my life has continued as a dream sequence, an escape from the real world. I've written at length of the perfection of last week and how much it means to me. It will remain so in my heart and mind for years to come.
Seattle has been a continuation of the all of the forces of good-will that combined to make the past few days so happy for me. I attended the wedding reception of Jesse and Mae on Sunday and visited Pikes Market with my host David on Monday.
On Tuesday, we attended an auction, a first for me and I actually bid on a couple of items. (I kept thinking I'd accidentally run up the price... be like the episode of Golden Girls where the three ladies inadvertently bid against each other every time they scratched their noses:)
Also on Tuesday, I attended Bearaoke at Guppy's in West Seattle. My friends Jonathan, George, Don, Woody, Kevin, Gary and Brendan and Marvin (UrsusNoir on LJ) gave me a great big welcome! I sang three numbers, one of them a duet with Jonathan. Gary asked me when I was moving back home (meaning Seattle). I do miss this beautiful city when I'm not here.
Today, I've packed a bit (though I'm leaving Friday), mailed some pix of the LJ Picnic to the MuffinMan via snail mail and a couple of cards to Daniel in Germany - one a birthday card and the other an anniversary card. (If some of you remember, I wrote about Daniel and his spouse at length a few months ago.)
I'm attending a track meet this afternoon. My friend Cheryl's daughter, a high school senior, is one of the top long-distance runners in Washington. She's being pursued by Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale, Duke and the University of Michigan. It doesn't hurt that she is a wonderful musician, a National Merit Scholarship finalist and has a 4.0 GPA! I've known her since she was three years old and am a very proud surrogate uncle!
Tonight I'm attending a production of "Jumpers" at ACT. My young protege Matt is playing Tarzan. I am also going to connect with two friends who are on the backstage side of the tour of "Hairspray". So, the blessings continue....
However, real life is beginning to intrude. My mom had arthroscopic surgery on her knee today. She came through it fine, despite them finding more damage to the cartilage than expected. More problematic is that routine tests show my mom isn't receiving proper care from our primary doctor for kidney problems.
Her creatine and BUN levels are double what they should be, she often has a lot of swelling in her legs and ankles; she has a sister with colitis and a brother who died of kidney disease. My folks, as most seniors are, are very reluctant to change doctors.
A couple of years ago, the same doctor make a miscalculation in the dosage in one of my dad's diabetes meds. It made him more vulnerable to the possibility of stroke and he had one in front of me that October. My sister, brother and I have not quite trusted this doctor as much since.
We will have to have a family conference on the issue when I return. It would be hard to make a change to a new doctor after 20 years, but my best friend from college is a wonderful doctor in nearby Navasota, Texas and I think we should all move to him. We'll see.
I'm wishing mightily for the return to good health of my mom and dad, my host David's mother (heart attack) in Maine; a quality of life for my Seattle friend George's mother in her last months (liver cancer); and my friend in Houston, Diana's, successful recovery from hip replacement surgery yesterday. (Yes, I've also been following up via phone on all of this.)
I'm still on an emotional high from my wonderful 12 days on the West Coast. I will use my memories of this special time as an emotional fortress.. wrap myself in emotional steel... hold the memories up and honor them in the spirit they were created, offered and experienced....my personal buffer from intrusions by the real world.
Seattle has been a continuation of the all of the forces of good-will that combined to make the past few days so happy for me. I attended the wedding reception of Jesse and Mae on Sunday and visited Pikes Market with my host David on Monday.
On Tuesday, we attended an auction, a first for me and I actually bid on a couple of items. (I kept thinking I'd accidentally run up the price... be like the episode of Golden Girls where the three ladies inadvertently bid against each other every time they scratched their noses:)
Also on Tuesday, I attended Bearaoke at Guppy's in West Seattle. My friends Jonathan, George, Don, Woody, Kevin, Gary and Brendan and Marvin (UrsusNoir on LJ) gave me a great big welcome! I sang three numbers, one of them a duet with Jonathan. Gary asked me when I was moving back home (meaning Seattle). I do miss this beautiful city when I'm not here.
Today, I've packed a bit (though I'm leaving Friday), mailed some pix of the LJ Picnic to the MuffinMan via snail mail and a couple of cards to Daniel in Germany - one a birthday card and the other an anniversary card. (If some of you remember, I wrote about Daniel and his spouse at length a few months ago.)
I'm attending a track meet this afternoon. My friend Cheryl's daughter, a high school senior, is one of the top long-distance runners in Washington. She's being pursued by Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale, Duke and the University of Michigan. It doesn't hurt that she is a wonderful musician, a National Merit Scholarship finalist and has a 4.0 GPA! I've known her since she was three years old and am a very proud surrogate uncle!
Tonight I'm attending a production of "Jumpers" at ACT. My young protege Matt is playing Tarzan. I am also going to connect with two friends who are on the backstage side of the tour of "Hairspray". So, the blessings continue....
However, real life is beginning to intrude. My mom had arthroscopic surgery on her knee today. She came through it fine, despite them finding more damage to the cartilage than expected. More problematic is that routine tests show my mom isn't receiving proper care from our primary doctor for kidney problems.
Her creatine and BUN levels are double what they should be, she often has a lot of swelling in her legs and ankles; she has a sister with colitis and a brother who died of kidney disease. My folks, as most seniors are, are very reluctant to change doctors.
A couple of years ago, the same doctor make a miscalculation in the dosage in one of my dad's diabetes meds. It made him more vulnerable to the possibility of stroke and he had one in front of me that October. My sister, brother and I have not quite trusted this doctor as much since.
We will have to have a family conference on the issue when I return. It would be hard to make a change to a new doctor after 20 years, but my best friend from college is a wonderful doctor in nearby Navasota, Texas and I think we should all move to him. We'll see.
I'm wishing mightily for the return to good health of my mom and dad, my host David's mother (heart attack) in Maine; a quality of life for my Seattle friend George's mother in her last months (liver cancer); and my friend in Houston, Diana's, successful recovery from hip replacement surgery yesterday. (Yes, I've also been following up via phone on all of this.)
I'm still on an emotional high from my wonderful 12 days on the West Coast. I will use my memories of this special time as an emotional fortress.. wrap myself in emotional steel... hold the memories up and honor them in the spirit they were created, offered and experienced....my personal buffer from intrusions by the real world.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-15 01:51 pm (UTC)Anyhow, do embrace those memories and keep them close to your heart for eternity.
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Date: 2004-09-15 01:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-15 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-15 03:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-15 07:52 pm (UTC)Glad you had a great trip!
no subject
Date: 2004-09-15 07:57 pm (UTC)Perhaps one way to approach the subject of a new doctor would be to suggest pursuing a second opinion. An 'outsider' could review the situation and agree or disagree with the diagnosis. That could then either confirm your siblings concern about trusting the current doctor, or confirm your parents trust in their currect physician.
Either way, I hope that your Mom's recovery from surgery goes well and that everything works out ok.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-15 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-15 10:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-16 09:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-16 09:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-16 09:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-16 09:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-16 09:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-16 09:25 am (UTC)However... she'd rather ignore the reality of her kidney disease which is much more dangerous than the arthroscopic procedure on her knee or the hip replacement many years ago. I'm not judging her. I think we all get a bit wonky when we are faced with our mortality.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-16 09:29 am (UTC)I will hold on to the sheer pleasure of walking in Golden Gate Park, the dances, the hugs, the sharing of information and sentiments till our paths cross again.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-16 09:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-16 07:14 pm (UTC)