YES - STILL ALIVE

To say that the past several weeks have not been extremely busy would be a lie. So, updates have been non-existent. But much has gone on - and I'm still committed to describing the rest of our Kaua'i trip among other things, so I'm taking a quick breather and doing some posting.

JUDY HAS FOOT SURGERY

Tuesday morning, Judy Korynasz had reconstructive foot surgery at Legacy Emmanuel Hospital in Portland. Instead of having artificial reconstruction, the doctors utilized bone tissue from her hip to rebuild depleted structure in her foot. The surgery went very well, though Judy took a bit longer than expected to wake up afterward. We have since learned that mildly low blood pressure was to blame.. nothing too serious.

She should be home tomorrow, Friday the 4th. They originally expected her to be home today, Thursday, but several factors may be contributing to the delay. First, foot reconstruction requires a longer healing period before she gets to begin walking in physical therapy. The healing process is more delicate and unlike her knee replacements, she will not get to begin walking immediately after her surgery. She is more than likely going to have to wait at least two months. You have your work cut out for you, John!

Second, her care at Legacy Emmanuel is apparently not as diligent as she received at Medford, Oregon's Providence Hospital. The doctors and nurses rarely come by and, when she presses the call button for nurse assistance, they take up to a half hour to check in on her. I have to say that Providence is, indeed, a superior health care provider. Finally, her occasional low blood pressure might also be contributing to her day-longer stay. Again, it's nothing serious but remember: hospitals make more money the more time you spend in them.

We look forward to her returning home for the remainder of her recuperation (how's that for alliteration? - and a rhyme to boot).

MOM AND DAD UPDATE

It looks like they've found five acres of land overlooking the Columbia River in Woodland, Washington. They plan to have a Lindal cedar home built, with a central "great room" full of tall, large windows to maximize views. Sounds great to me. I did a walk-through of the property a couple of weeks ago, Dad with his machete in hand. It's a nice piece of dirt, no improvements whatsoever, but plenty of privacy, a small seasonal creek on the periphery, and plenty of space for a nice woodlands garden and a pottager, to say the least. I'm excited for them. And apparently, the home will only take six months to build.

This weekend, Mom was in Montana at some big antique fair. I'm sure I'll get the full report soon and when I do, I'll provide details. Apparently, she and Jim Ed picked up some sort of Vegas-bound hitchhiker. We'll see what that's all about soon enough.

And regarding the Washington State car registration fiasco. Mother went in to the Washington DMV to register her truck. Because she listed the date of her permanent relocation to the beginning of her apartment lease, April 1, State law requires that she pay the balance of sales tax on her new truck because she purchased it in a different state and moved within two months of that date. Well, the WA sales tax rate is 2% higher than the New Mexico rate, so she was charged $1,200!

I told her to go back and tell them that because you had not yet decided to actually make Washington your permanent residence until you purchased land - anyone can rent an apartment anywhere on a temporary basis - she should not list April 1 as her new residency date. She did just that and they gave her money back. Moneygrubbers. And the fact is, if Washington didn't work out for them, it's not their primary residence.. both of them are on the move most of the time and Dad could just as well claim Tulsa as their primary residence because he's there more consistently than than she is up here for longer periods of time due to his job.

BABY UPDATE

I can honestly say that there is little news about the baby other than the fact that it's growing like a weed. We figure it's now over three pounds and adding half a pound every week or so for the next few weeks. Jill is in her third trimester now and is definitely getting a bigger belly, but she's still comfortably mobile. Gardening has become a problem as she can't bend over to pull weeds, plant things, etc. so easily, however.

Each night we talk to the baby some and we're able to feel its little head pressing against the top of Jill's belly. We play with it a bit.. pressing here and there and usually getting a reaction of different movement. If it could speak, I suppose it would say "Cut that out, will ya?!" Or something along those lines. It apparently has a developed sense of hearing and can identify bright light, so we're going to be a bit more diligent about talking to it, reading to it and playing music - Vivaldi, precisely.

Since I don't have any ultrasound pics yet scanned, here's a 3D ultrasound image of a 30-week fetus for everyone to see.. the kid should look something like this: