Would You Like Fries With That?

I just spoke with Mom, who shared the details of a very eventful morning. She even said, "here's something for your blog." That made me laugh.

So, this morning she and her faithful companion, Judy, headed out to a doctor's appointment where Mom got her flu shot and was assured by her doctor that the vast majority of her current health woes are all stress-related and will most likely disappear once this period of high stress ends.

In celebration, Mom and Judy decide to swing by the local McDonald's for some pancakes. All is well until they pull up to the order window and the car window won't go down. Judy somehow manages to order while nearly standing in the car and yelling through the crack in the window. That works and they're told to "drive around." Uh...no. The car is dead. Completely dead. As they're instructed AGAIN to drive around, they explain their predicament - but can they still get those pancakes?

Almost immediately, several burly McDonald's employees hustle out to the parking lot and push the car into a parking spot. But what about those pancakes? Mom noticed that it was nearly past time for serving breakfast - oh, and her oxygen was running low, too. In the midst of calling for a tow truck, the pancakes were procured. Fortunately Hugh has a long-running relationship with a mechanic in Hagerstown, who graciously drove Mom and Judy (and the pancakes!) home and then returned to tow the car. Something tells me the car is in good hands.

After having a late breakfast and refilling her oxygen tank, our intrepid ladies ventured back out to visit Hugh. They found that they spent a lot of time trying to convince him that his strides are more than satisfactory. Apparently Hugh feels that he should be in triathlon form by now. It's taking all the resources of home and Homewood to convince him that he's making more than sufficient progress. According to his nurse, he's able to wash himself, dress himself, and get around. Amazing to all but Himself.

He is scheduled for more bloodwork tomorrow and they've started him on Iron supplements to alleviate the anemia. Hopefully his levels will improve soon and that will give him more energy and a slightly more positive outlook.

The father of friend of mine from work underwent triple bypass surgery only three days after Hugh. He's 78. On Sunday night, he collapsed and was rushed to the emergency room where it was determined he had a stroke as a result of a blood clot. The doctors were basically convinced that he was "done for." Then, amazingly, he woke up and seems to have made a full recovery. The doctors literally called it a "miracle." I'm sharing this only because we're so LUCKY that Hugh's recovery has been so uneventful.

He'll go back to see Dr. Gammie on the 9th of December at which time they'll do an MRI and give him a good once-over. I think they'll be delighted with what they find.