Aunt Flossie is Home

My Aunt Flossie came home from the hospital today. She had a minor heart attack. Quite a bit of fluid was extracted from around her lungs, and they checked her out for a stroke; in addition, she had an angiogram yesterday to survey heart damage.

It appears that there is nothing wrong with her except that she had a minor heart attack – no major blockages or heart damage, and no other underlying conditions.

Now if we can just get her to implement the lifestyle changes that the doctor has prescribed . . .

Our First Two-Egg Day

Yesterday, the chickens laid two eggs. Since getting good eggs, we have been seeing a few soft-shelled eggs here and there. Because I do not believe that our chickens will lay more than one egg per day, I have been waiting for this day as confirmation that both chickens are laying. Both eggs looked good. We may be getting at least enough eggs now that we don't have to buy any, and may be able to give some away. (Alex has been hoarding the eggs to give them away – he wants a dozen so he can give them away. I've finally convinced him that you can also give away 6 eggs, by cutting a carton in half.)

Show and Tell

This morning, I took Alex's Soap Box Derby car in for show and tell. I parked the trailer in the covered outdoor basketball court and set the car up behind it – with three trophies and a plaque leaning against the wall. Alex's class came out single-file (with Alex in the lead), then he came up front by his car in front of the entire class, including three teachers and said, "This is my Soap Box Derby car".

We have been trying to prep Alex for this show and tell. Every night this week, we have asked him what he is going to say about his car. We made sure he knew all the stats . . . the track is ¼ mile long, the cars weight 200 pounds and go 35 miles per, we have raced everywhere from Salem to the Canadian border, etc . . . etc . . . etc. And all he could think of to say was "This is my Soap Box Derby car". Then he clammed up. After a few seconds, I started quizzing and prodding him – he responded well. The kids (and teachers) had lots of questions . . . "How many races have you been in?" (Nearly every weekend this summer); "Are you a fan of the Oregon Ducks?" (because the car is green and yellow . . . no, he is a fan of the color green); "Who came up with the car's name, Green Slime?" (Alex did); "Why did you think of that name?" (because the car is green and looks like slime); "Is it a foot brake or a hand brake?" (a foot brake, but Masters Cars have a hand brake); and, of course, "How can I get into racing these?" (by giving your parents a Salem Soap Box Derby Association business card to your parents . . . here, we'll leave a stack with Mrs. Gallo).

Alex then got into the car to demonstrate the racing position; I lifted the back end to demonstrate the slope of the hill. I exaggerated slightly and lifted the wheels to waist level. Alex told me that is how steep Poulsbo is, but not the rest of the tracks. He would know. Then I gave the car a strong push and Alex demonstrated the brake.

With the help of the teachers, Alex paraded the trophies in front of the class, and then they asked if they could touch the car. I said absolutely – I would have let them sit in the car, but there was no way to let all of them sit in it, and not enough time for the entire class to sit in it.

Finally, after 5-10 minutes, we were done. The kids went back to class; I packed the car up and went back to work.

Home from the Hospital (and IKEA)

After picking Alex up at school today and having our Parent-Teacher conference, we went straight to the hospital to see Aunt Flossie. As we arrived, they were wheeling her out of her room for a procedure. She was a little drugged up – what I got out of her and the nurse wheeling her out was that she may not have had a heart attack, but that there is a bunch of fluid on her lungs. They decided to drain the fluid, and then do a stress test tomorrow to find out about a heart attack. She would be out for about an hour.

We then went to IKEA, which was our original evening plan, to buy Alex a Küllen wardrobe and have dinner. This is the first time we've had the meatballs at IKEA in a long time . . . We all three had the meatballs, and they were very good. Our weekend plans (in addition to going to the Forestry Center with the scouts) revolve around taking EVERYTHING out of Alex's room, including his bed and all the shelves, then putting up his new bed, this wardrobe, and possibly a large bookshelf (in addition to the closet organizer he's already got), then put stuff back in . . . but ONLY what he can put away somewhere.

Right now, Alex generally is not allowed to watch television or play after school until his homework is done and he has cared for his chickens, duck, and dog. He doesn't know it yet, but starting next week that list is going to grow to include his room being clean. If it's a daily thing . . .

From IKEA, we went back to the hospital. Aunt Flossie was much less drugged, and seemed to have much more energy. We found out that she did, indeed, have a heart attack, and that the stress test tomorrow will show just how bad it was. The water on her lungs is something ELSE that is wrong with her . . . she says they removed about 2 quarts of fluid from around her lungs. We visited her at the hospital for about 45 minutes, and then had to head home to get Alex in bed.

On the way home, we forgot that my truck was still parked at work (Tiffany picked me up at work for the conference). A couple more trips across town, and we finally made it home for the evening.

Parent-Teacher Conference

We had the teacher conference after school today that we have been dreading slightly. Tiffany and I both went, and Alex sat in the school office and did his homework. We didn't tell him exactly why we were there – just that we were talking to someone.

We talked to his teacher and the school counselor for about 20 minutes about Alex's socialization. Mrs. Gallo does not seem to be seeing the negative social behaviors that Alex has exhibited in the past. What little issues she has seen seem to be getting better. He seems to be behaving well. Neither Mrs. Gallo nor the counselor were overly concerned that Alex seems to be playing by himself, especially after we explained that he has always been somewhat of a loner, and does often play by himself, or with one other student, and that he has always been slow to make friends.

We also discussed extracurricular activities. Of course, they encouraged as much involvement as possible, both for Alex to make friends and for us to become a member of the community. (We had already figured all of this out) The counselor, however, said that she thinks, because we are planning on quite a bit of extracurricular involvement anyway, it would be a good idea if Alex stays with the old scouts – because he is so slow in meeting new kids, the counselor thinks it is important for him to maintain a good connection with his old friends. I think this means we will be joining 545 with Avery, Chandler, PJ, and now Aaron.

Aunt Flossie’s Heart Attack!?!

We just found out my Aunt Flossie is up at SWWMC, and has had a heart attack. It sounds like a small one – she went in the hospital yesterday, and she just got the diagnosis today. In addition, they've found a black spot on one of her lungs.

She has surgery tonight about 6:00 to biopsy the lung spot and to run a catheter into her heart and survey the damage. This is all minorly invasive stuff, but still no fun.

We're going to go visit her after the conference with Alex's teacher, and hopefully before her surgery.

Lubed up and ready to race!

The Slick 50 One Lube just arrived!

This is the PTFE-based lubricant that seemed to work well on Alex's spindles. Unlike other PTFE-based lubes, we didn't have any debris on his spindles at the end of the day, and he did very well the weekend that we used this.

I couldn't find it in any local hardware or car parts store, so I had to order it from McMaster-Carr. They didn't have the little squirt bottle that I had tried originally – all they had was a 12 ounce aerosol can. In fact, the Slick 50 website says that this is only available in a 12 ounce aerosol can, so maybe that little squirt bottle was a sample and not available retail, or was very old and has been discontinued.

Anyway, we're now set to run FAST on October 10-11!