We love rheumatology!

We have now found "our" department at UCONN Health Center. Mother got her second(or seventh, eighth) wind after the steroids. It seemed a bit too miraculous to me between her state Sunday night and Monday when I got there...so I hope the status can become a bit less roller coaster like. And the good news, bad news is that I am on call to do "transport" back to "the home". Always scary to me.

As mother takes all the attention, father is off to the VA in New Haven to have a brain scan. He is developing some "quirks" that are unsettling to him. One thing is making lists of names. As you move around their house, you see scraps of paper with names written on them - from Steve Brennen (the best man at his wedding) to Elton John to Dorothy Hamill. He will wake up in the middle of the night and start "listing". Good news, bad news - both parents are veterans.

I did not take the night off last night. I did stay at work until 4:30 p.m., took a short walk on campus, watched a few minutes of the girls' soccer game and then headed over to the hospital. Sister #1, 3 and brother rounded out the evening group. Obviously, I could not divert myself to go to book club.

Announcement of a school wide staff meeting on Oct 28. We will see what the news of the day is going to be. Maybe they will be shutting the school down and that will answer some of my issues for me...don't think so, but a girl can dream that life will take care of life for me...

But back to rheumatology - not only did they provide relief for my mother, but they "diagnosed" that all her daughters will have back hands as they older. I looked a bit pitiful as I waited outside mother's room holding my hands out and flagged down the doctor to have him take a look at my hands - I shared with him "but not me", and he looked down at my hands and just chuckled...I will be researching a "heal thyself" approach to arthritis.

My real birthday is tomorrow. Yikes. Glad I postponed it to another date, another month.

Sad about the Broncos last night, sad that our soccer team was behind at halftime, sad about people who signed contracts for heating oil thinking things were going to skyrocket and now are ending up paying more than they would have if they had just held tight...we are so jacked around these days on so many levels. I have so much work to do once we get this mother thing under control. Elderly parents, living in New England, personally living without health insurance by choice, working at a job where people seem to be "just of the mark" in their ability to make things make sense - mentally, emotionally, physically and financially,

Frosty cold to add insult to injury in my life...But in the grand scheme of things, I am still a lucky girl.

Have a good Tuesday. It is a challenge each morning to remember what day it is...