Life Happens

Thank you to those of you who stopped by during my absence to inquire if I'm OK. Yes, I am OK, but life has been somewhat hectic here in the city. Several times I sat at the computer and thought about posting, but just didn't have the energy to type, nor could I seem to put my thoughts together in a coherent way.
However, it's time to give you an update, and hopefully it will be coherent! Here's how life has been happening.

Reorganizing projects (still in progress), garden planning (how to plant more vegetables in a postage-stamp-size lawn), the usual homekeeping duties.

Four-year-old grandson jumped off a Lego table and broke both bones in his right forearm on March 23. He did not need surgery, but he did need to be sedated to have the bones set. My daughter said the staff at Children's Hospital - St. Paul was wonderful.

On March 27 and 28, grandson and granddaughter stayed overnight with us while their mommy and daddy went to A Weekend to Remember marriage conference. Believe me, the broken arm has not slowed him down much, and we had a couple heart-stopping moments that weekend. Fortunately his cast, which is hard fiberglass, extends to just under his armpit; and his arm is bent at the elbow with the cast shaped around it. That's a very good thing because he fell down a few steps (arm didn't hurt, head did since he bumped it on the wall).

He also fell backwards over a little footstool and landed right on the elbow of his broken arm. His sister started to scream ~ I'm not sure why except maybe she thought he hurt his arm again. I was thinking along the same lines, although I didn't scream. I picked him up and said, "Oh, Buddy, did you hurt your arm?" "No," he said, "my butt!" Oh man! Like I said, the long cast is a good thing. Praise the Lord for the pediatric orthopedist who understands little boys will be little boys, broken arm or not, and they need long arm casts!

Aside from all that excitement, we had a really wonderful weekend with the kids. But Papa and I were exhausted when they left.

The doctor saw grandson a week ago. They x-rayed his arm and changed the cast. It's still long and still fiberglass, but it's green instead of purple. He likes the green better, he says. We were so thankful to hear that his arm is healing well and are praying and trusting the Lord for continued healing.

As for me, I went to the dermatologist to have a rash around my eye and a dry red spot on my nose checked. I was most concerned about the rash, which is periorbital dermatitis. Getting it to heal requires a course of antibiotics taken twice a day for one month. I'm about half-way through the month, and the rash is disappearing.

The red spot on my nose, however, turned out to be more serious. The pathologist called it actinic keratosis with appendageal involvement. As I understand it, it's like a squamous cell carcinoma. So last week the spot was removed.

The doctors used a Mohs procedure, in which they remove a very thin layer of skin. Then while I sat in the waiting room, it was examined for cancerous cells. A second layer of skin was removed where cells remained. Altogether, I had to have three layers of skin removed. The worst part for me was getting the local anesthetic in my nose. Ouch!

Stitches were put in and remained for a week. They were removed just yesterday, and the doctor said the scar should disappear in two months. And I believe it will because it has healed well and looks pretty good already. My husband said I had a good seamstress, and indeed I did. My nose is still tender, but it feels much better with the stitches out. I'm very thankful that only stitches were needed. Sometimes skin grafts are required if the lesion is deep.

Well, I've rambled long enough. I hope you'll forgive me for being away so long without an explanation. Thank you again for your kind words and concern. I appreciate them so very much.

Blessings,
Wanita