Best Day Ever!

Today was exceptional. Yes, truly glorious. 

We started with Physical Therapy. For those who do not follow our every move, I had surgery on my hip at the end of August and am crutch bound. Now I have been crutch bound before, twenty one years ago to be precise, but being older, heavier and out of shape changes the way one can move on crutches. When I was last on crutches it was due to me being strong enough to blow an Achilles tendon. I was riding a hundred miles per week on my bicycle. I don't think I could ride to the local cemetery and back now. PT and the crutching in and out of the building in the rain wore me out.

We followed this with a trip to Primary Children's Medical Center (PCMC) for Andrew's cardiology appointment. Since I am not allowed to put weight on my leg Naomi insist I drive the 2001 Mazda 626. This car is named 'Maher-shalal-hash-baz', which means 'Destruction is imminent'. Upon arriving at PCMC I found the car would move forward when I put it in park. Which was odd. When shifting into neutral it would also move forward, and in reverse it would move forward. Oddly, it had waited until we were in the valet parking to have this interesting failure of gearbox. I turned it off to see if it would reset. It did not and since cars will not start when in Drive, we were stuck.

Naomi and Andrew went in to queue up and I called the insurance company and arranged a tow. The hobbled in  to the waiting area. I decided to wait for my wife and son as they took care of xrays and blood draws. To amuse myself I talked with a twelve year old boy with Downs syndrome. Cirrus Rain was his name. He was great fun. We talked of where he lived and he gave me detailed instruction on how to drive there. He asked my weight, 270 pounds I replied, then he asked his mother's weight, she demurred. He stroked my arm and noticed how hairy I am. I pointed out I shaved my face that day and he stroked it and  pronounced it "Soft as a baby's butt". Soon we saw the doctor and then I crutched my baby-butt-soft face out to the drive to find a way home. 

Here is where a good day becomes great! Just across the street from PCMC is a light rail station. Yes, the pinnacle of mass transit was withing my grasp. Of course 100 yards on crutches looked like a distant spec on the horizon. It took me about as long too. We transferred down town to another train, finding the right station and Trax route with the help of a nice couple. There a polite veteran named Gordon helped keep me from falling as I tried to get on the next train. 

At last we reached the central station. Not bad, except for the distance from the Trax to the Frontrunner train that would take us to Woodscross station. Another eternity go me to a bench to wait for the next train. Only a forty four minute wait. I passed the time by calling my boss, coworker, transmission shop and my sister Mary who lives in Phoenix and we feared was washed away in the heavy rains. All was well in work, shop and dell and we settled in for an uneventful ride to Woodscross. 

Salvation was waiting at the station. Dave Thornell's mini van was waiting at the curb, only two hundred yards away. I stopped to rest only once. Upon reflection, skipping breakfast was not a good idea. I got home at about 3:00pm, ate a sandwich, rested for half an hour and then logged in for work, about three hours later than I planned. 

I have muscles in my back I did not know about, and they all want attention tonight. The arms are sore, but the back is speaking louder. Of course I overdid and the hip hurts too.

What made the day so glorious?  

We made our appointment, a mechanical failure any sooner and we would have missed that. Andrew's cardio appointments are worth a little discomfort. 

I got to meet Cirrus, a memorial delight all by itself. Seeing his mother's discomfort and humor about his questions made it even better.

Andrew loves trains, taking three to get home made his whole day. He was very good during the entire long adventure. So was his mother, a real trooper.

I saw the kindness of strangers, and though a little embarrassed to need the help am very grateful for it.

The Thornells are my new personal heroes for the day, no, week, year, decade. He and Linda do not get the praise the deserve. 

To top the day off Claudia mowed my lawn for me. Good neighbors and friends make my day. I'll top my day off with a Lortab nightcap and call it a day well spent. 

Head Gaskets and Hernias

Yes, you read correctly. Today’s topics are Head Gaskets and Hernias. They deserve capitalization due to the price that each commands. About a week ago I took my truck “Chucky Bob” in for a standard oil change. I decided not to do it myself for two reasons; I don’t like working in the cold and I was sore. I have a naval hernia and felt it tear a bit a day or so before.  I got bad news on Chucky Bob, he has blown his head gasket. This explains why I sometimes smelt radiator fluid as the coolant can pass into the cylinders. Unfortunately, this is not a simple fix. You have to pull the head, the top of the motor, along with all of the pieces parts that attach to it, like the injector system and air conditioning. Then you can replace the gasket. The head needs to be machined to get a perfect fit, the timing belt realigned, the head reinstalled and torque to the proper tension, and then you put back on the pieces parts, including the AC unit, which requires a full recharge of refrigerant.

Now doing such a job might be fun, if I were retired, had lots of time, another working vehicle and good friends to work with in a fully heated and outfitted garage. I don’t and so the boys at C.J.’s Automotive got the job, and enough money to take a nice trip with the family to Mexico.  C.J.s is a good shop here in Bountiful. Not only can they replace your head gasket, but if want to buy a silenced firearm they have the licenses to do that too. They are a class 3 firearms dealer: machine guns etc. I wish I could spend the money on the head gasket on toys. It would be much more fun.

The day I took the truck in I saw my doctor. He recommended a surgeon, who recommended a Friday surgery.  Since a simple cough could cause enough pain to nearly put on the floor, I decided to take his recommendation. So while the truck is having the head gasket replaced, I was having a bellybutton nip/tuck. That is even more expensive than a head gasket. Another family vacation down the drain; however they did give me drugs. Of course I don’t like the drugs. They make my head groggy. Today is day five and I have taken 7 pain pills. I guess I’m doing well, but am surprised how tired I am. I suspect that is as much from the surgery and the pain as from the drugs.

Andrew is very worried about my Steristrips. He keeps signing ‘no IV’ and ‘Dr.’ in the past tense. He makes notes for me that saw “Bandaid off”. He will be very relieved when these come off. I did a nice job of keeping it from him for two days, but I shower him most mornings and Monday am he spotted it. There is not fooling him when it comes to Drs.

All in all it has been an expensive week! I guess I just high maintenance. Who knew?