My Dead Computer, Poor Isaac, and Other Thoughts...

A week ago Tuesday, Alex, Kate and Erin left for Kentucky for the purpose of taking Kate to meet Alex's family. I took pictures in the driveway of them preparing to leave.

Wednesday morning we awoke to find that half of our giant swing tree in the backyard had come down in a storm the night before. I went out there and took pictures.

Wednesday and Thursday Isaac went to two different doctors besides getting his very first x-ray and having blood drawn; again, I took pictures.

Saturday a friend from church graciously brought Isaac a pair of crutches and taught him to use them- momentous and touching, naturally, I took pictures.

But since my computer died in the storm that took down that tree, I haven't yet been able to upload any of the week's pictures to my blog! So I will simply have to go back to mere writing about what has happened before I forget it all.

(By the way, I am using Bekah's laptop to email and check the web for pertinent information, such as the latest bumpersticker my daughters have added to their facebook profiles...)

The most urgent thing happening is that Isaac showed up Sunday afternoong telling me that his knee looked funny. His right knee was swollen twice its normal size, yet without pain. A couple of hours later we asked our friend at church, who is a Physical Therapist, to take a look at it. No apparent injury led our friend to recommend a visit to the Doctor, and soon. I was able to get him in to our new Doctor, (we are in the process of changing...) on Wednesday evening. She was very thorough, and very concerned. To the point that she had us get an x-ray and bloodwork Thursday morning and an appointment with an Orthopedic that afternoon. Isaac was brave for the x-ray and surprised with the bloodwork. "She just stuck it right in!"

The Orthopedic we saw is the very man we have been taking Bekah to for her scoliosis. He was also rather thorough, asking a lot of questions before numbing the knee with Novocane- not fun- and drawing 50 ccs of pink fliud out of the knee with a huge syringe- also not fun. What we were able to determine at that point, and by "we" I mean Dr. Cook, is that there is no bacterial infection going on, the x-ray shows no injury, and the tests run on Isaac's blood were not enough to answer the Doctor's questions.

More tests were ordered for the remanining blood and for the fluid and we have an appointment for an MRI on Wednesday. It seems that the concerns are at this point leading to Lyme Disease, perhaps. We live in a wooded area, own a dog, have recently gone camping, and Isaac often plays outdoors and finds the occasional tick on his body.

Since his knee has become rather stiff and sore he is now hopping along on crutches thanks to our good friend who was generous to bring them by, fit them to Isaac and teach him to use them.

Not only is this a lousy way to begin Summer for a ten year-old, but Isaac was supposed to accompany Kate and Alex to Kentucky this past week. It worked out perfectly for Erin to go, and they are going again at the end of this week, so we hope he can ride along this time! He has been informed of the possibility of dirtbike riding in Kentucky, so I am praying that he will be able to go. He will be so disappointed if he can't.

This leads to the next important thing that happened this week. Kate met Alex's family, and they love her. More importantly, Alex's Mom loves her. I know that my baby was so nervous about such an momentous introduction, but it sounds as if the week there was perfect. According to my girls, Mary Larsen and I will be the best of friends once we meet. We already share a lot in common, not the least of which is a love for these two kids of ours. She also has prayed for her baby's spouse for his whole lifetime and her approval of,... no, delight in Kate melts my heart.


The three adventurers are home now, another week has begun, and there is much to do. This month is flying by... I hate to see it go so quickly.