The Marek Times

Ok some days are just crazy. Today is one of them. Ben has been sick for over a week now.  We phoned the pediatrician to make an appointment only to find out that Dr. W passed away just recently.  We were very sad to hear that.   He’s been a friend of the family for a long time.  He was actually Merv’s pediatrician.  He will definitely be missed.

So, once I got over that shock, I phoned my doctor to see if they could see Ben.  No such luck.  They said take him to Emergency.  No way!  I’m not going there.  So I decided to take Ben to the medicentre near my folks place.  I took off from work (I didn’t want to wait until tonight, because it would be too busy) and picked up Ben and my mom and drove to the medicentre.  They were closed due to a water main break.  What the heck?????  So, off to the next one.  Meanwhile, Ben’s totally pale and the Tylenol is wearing off and you can tell his temperature is climbing again.  Did I mention it was over 103 this morning?

Ok, so we get to the second medicentre and you should have seen the crowd.  The nurse says take a seat, which frankly was a joke, since there was standing room only.  Obviously, they were handling the crowd from the closed clinic as well as their own.  But somehow we managed to make it out of there in a little over an hour.  All in all, not that bad.  It turns out that Ben has an infection in his sinuses and fluid building in his ears.  Poor little guy.  No wonder he’s miserable.  He’s on antibiotics now and we’re to continue with the Tylenol for his fever.  I hope he starts feeling better soon.

On another note, we’re still waiting to hear from Genetics.  I called last week and Dr. B was away on holidays.   Maybe he’ll get a chance to call this week.   Maybe not today though.  I’ve had enough for one day.

No news is good news, right?    Still haven’t heard anything back from genetics.   I’m sure they won’t find anything but I hope they call soon anyway.   I have a very good imagination and I’m trying very hard not to be a total hypochondriac.   I have enough neuroses without that one.

It’s Friday the 13th!  I just realized it.  Oh well, I’m just happy it’s Friday.  And the weather is finally nice!

So yesterday we had our appointment with Genetics.  It was totally weird.  They are obviously used to examining very young patients.  The doctor listened to my heart with a neonatal stethescope.  It was kind of funny.  Anyway, the point of the appointment was to examine me and Merv and see if either of us exhibit any signs of heterotaxy or situs inversus (the backwards, left to right thing).  The doctor seemed pretty confident about Merv, but isn’t quite so certain about me.  He said he couldn’t say for certain which side my heart was on or whether or not my lungs were normal.  I’m sure everything’s where it’s supposed to be, but we got sent for chest x-rays anyway.   So once they’ve had a chance to look at those, they’ll get back to us and probably want to examine Ben too.  I asked a lot of questions and it seems they are thinking the situs inversus may be linked to the X chromosome.  It sounds like very interesting research.

Wouldn’t it be weird to find out that my heart was on the wrong side?  Or that my lungs were backwards?  I’m pretty sure that’s a VERY remote possibility, but it’s interesting to think about it.   I wonder how many people are walking around all backwards inside and don’t even know it.

I can’t believe this weather!  Yesterday it was sunny and 0 degrees.  Today it’s -30 with the windchill.  I’m so tired of the cold now.  I’m usually one of those crazy people that prefers the cold winter weather (I hate being hot), but even I’m sick of the crappy weather.  And there’s sooooooo much snow.  When will it be spring? 

This Thursday we have an appointment with the folks at the Genetics Department at the hospital.  I have no idea what to expect.   I’m not sure there’s a lot they can tell us about Marek.  Or maybe they found something.  I don’t know.   I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.   I’m not even sure what I want them to say. 

I’m still working out on the elliptical almost every day.  It’s kind of neat because I compete with myself to get better ’scores’ (as counted in either calories burned or distance).    I’m now at a point where I can work out for 45 minutes without feeling like I’m throw up or pass out or something.  And it’s funny – there’s a comedian, John Pinette, who talks about the chant he uses when he’s on the elliptical (“Raviolis and a nap, raviolis and a nap” – his reward if he survives the workout)  and I’ve discovered that that chant is perfect for my rhythm.   Fortunately, it doesn’t suit my attitude anymore.  I’m actually enjoying the crazy workouts.  Hopefully that’s a good sign that I’ll keep it up.  I’m seeing results in my blood pressure, so that’s keeping me motivated too.  What else am I supposed to do when it’s blizzardy outside?

Calgary was great.  We ate well, we swam in the pool and I spent a ton of money at the Williams and Sonoma store.  Lots of good kitchen stuff.  We also made a trip out to Canmore, which is always nice.  The air is always so good there.  All in all, it was an awesome mini-vacation.

The trip almost had a rough start though.  On Thursday after work, my car suddenly started making a funny noise.  And the further we drove the worse it got.  And then the car started shaking.  We stopped a couple of times to get out and look, but couldn’t see what was wrong.   We hadn’t gone very far, so we drove slowly back to Merv’s shop.  Well, it turns out that we were missing 4 of the 5 bolts that hold the rear driver’s side wheel on.  Apparently, as we drove they started falling out one by one.  Good thing we made it back before the last one fell out!  That would have wrecked my car.   We had taken the car in to have a flat tire repaired the day before and I guess they failed to properly tighten the bolts.  They were appropriately horrified when we told them what happened.  But no damage was done and we were able to get new bolts in time to get going as planned on Friday morning.   Craziness!