Joking

My son is working on his sense of humor. Truth be told, he's stealing jokes from Webkinz.

I'm working on a new magic trick.

You are?

Yeah! Throw a pumpkin in the air, comes down squash!

I can't wait until he gets funnier. :D

The Egg Artist

Happy Easter!

Michael is Home!

All is well. I've got about a million questions to ask him...what are his limitations? Does he have to change his diet? What did the pathology reports on the kidney and mass have to say? How's the other kidney? and Most Importantly - how does he feel?

I think right now the most important thing for him is to let him rest - after all, who can rest in a hospital? I told Jeff I'll wait a week or two before I call him. Give the poor man a break. :D

Michael

My brother had surgery yesterday - a nephrectomy. Here is a link to his blog for more details.

I didn't realize how anxious I was about the whole thing until Jeff called to let me know he was okay. And then I realized I had been subconsciously holding my breath the entire day.

Oh, I tried not to worry. I got up at 5 and thought, "Heck. It's only 2 am there. They're not even up yet." Got to work at 8 and thought, "Let's see. Surgery is at 7:30 HIS time, 10:30 mine, so there's no point in worrying yet." And at 10:30, "They just started. I'm not going to know anything for at least a couple hours." And at 11:30, "It's too soon to start worrying...I'll take my lunch at noon like normal." And at 1:30, "Hmm. It's been two hours, but if they had to take the whole kidney, it'll take longer, so there's no point in worrying yet." And at 2:30, "Jeez. I wonder why he didn't ask the doctor how long this stupid surgery would take." At 3:30, I left my desk to make a copy, jammed the copier, fixed it, came back to my desk and got Jeff's message. And promptly burst into tears.

God I'm glad that's over. Who, me? Worry?

Anyway, the good doctors removed the mass that was growing inside him along with his entire right kidney. They believe it was cancerous, and are running tests. Mike is doing well, and will be hospitalized for three to five days. Further bulletins as events warrant...

Hockey

For the first time in four years, we were able to attend a Sabres game. (The cost of the tickets is ridiculous, and I cannot afford to take us.) We received tickets to suite seats as a gift. It was a great game - Sabres won, and Ian was practically walking on the ceiling he was so happy. And it wore him out.

Conjunction Function

Soooo, I went to the Math Lab at ECC for another session with Kate the Math Goddess.

"What are we working on today?" she asks.

"Well. We have functions that are inside functions and outside functions combined, and the outside functions with the inside functions are multiplied by the first derivative of the inside function, BUT, if the inside function or the outside function is a product of two functions or a quotient of two functions, the product rule for functions or the quotient rule for functions has to be used before the outside and inside functions can be multiplied by the derivative of the inside function, AND if any of the functions are raised to a power, the power rule for functions has to be applied."

She didn't even blink! "Oh," says she, "You are differentiating composite functions."

Now why isn't as easy as she makes it sound?

JT said...
Memmmoorrrriiessss!

Serena said...
An Elvis tune!

Memories...pressed between the pages of my mind....Memories....sweetened thru the ages just like wine...

Nah. He couldn't have been thinking about Calculus. :D

Colon Issues

Today I am prepping for my first colonoscopy, which takes place first thing 7 a.m. tomorrow. I think that's a great time slot for something like this - nothing worse will happen to me the rest of the day! And I'm making this entry before the meds kick in...

Anyway, Ian's grandfather called and mentioned he is having one tomorrow, and my neighbor called and asked me to get her mail because she is having one tomorrow, and two friends of mine just had theirs last week... I feel almost like I'm joining a club.

Further bulletins as events warrant.

Dolores said...
Hi Kelly, I have just been reading your blog. I am so glad everyone is or had a colonoscopy. I have a very dear friend she is 46 with three children and a husband, who is I hate to admit very very sick and in the hospital heavily sedated. She had her first colonoscopy in Aug 06, had surgery and found it metastasized to her liver and pelvic area.

Serena said...
I'm so sorry to hear that! As tests go, the prep is murder, but in the long run, the knowledge gained is worth it. Your friend and her family have some tough times ahead. I will keep them, and you, in my thoughts.

It's Still Winter.

Here he is, making snow angels, rolling around in it like it is money or something...


I am the King of the Mountain!

He began shoveling the yard. I'm not sure why.

Here he is, 'helping' Steven:

Steven (one of the boys Ian takes Aikido with) asked if Ian could join him and his buddy for a walk around the neighborhood to see if they could make some money. Ian made $2. (Only two people hired them - everybody has snowblowers these days!)

Space Food

We were sitting in the Olympic Restaurant having breakfast. I had my usual corn beef hash and eggs, and Ian had pancakes and sausage. (Yes! Breakfast sausage! He has decided now that this is the only meat he likes, so I'm going to make sure he gets it. Makes a change in the protein choices from peanut butter and cheese.)

Mommy! I have a great idea for what we can do when we are home on the weekends!

You do?

Yeah! We can make space food like the astronauts have!

Why?

Well, it's cool! You have to eat it like Go-Gurts.

But how would we eat sausage?

Like this!

(He picks up a sausage link gently with both hands and demonstrates a peeling motion like he is holding a banana.)

It would be really hard to eat, though.

Why?

Well, there's no gravity in space!

Yeah, but why would that make your sausage hard to eat?

He delivers the next statement like, 'Duh, Mom':

There's no gravity in your mouth, either!

JT said...
and I guess this would also mean no gravity in his little head too...LOL

Serena said...

I think you're right! :D

I have to be so careful when I laugh... I don't ever want him to think I'm laughing AT him, but sometimes he's just so funny!

The BOSS

Our seats were behind the stage, which I really wasn't sure of, but turned out GREAT. My seat was at the top of the stairs, so there was no one behind me, and plenty of leg room. I stood the entire concert - It was great! Practically everyone did. And at our seats, it wasn't obnoxiously loud, either. You could hear fine, and you could hear the crowd singing along, too. So many people in the same room who knew every single word to every single song... It was incredible. I took a picture of the video screen that was close to where we were sitting. The set up was very well-thought out, so even if you didn't have a good seat, you could still see.

The concert was AMAZING. He started at 8:30 and they played until 10 to 11. Not a lot of chitchat - just song after song after song after song. I swear he did something off of every single one of his albums. Absolutely AMAZING. Worth every penny of the $100 ticket.

Here is one of my favorites off of the new album, Magic:



After the concert, I dumped Chris. Another story for another day.

Michael said...
>So many people in the same room who knew every single word to every single song... It was incredible.
Yeah - it is a really cool feeling to be in a large crowd all moving in the same direction.
One of my favorite memories is being at a Judas Priest concert, surrounded by all that testosterone rage roaring "HEY! HEY! HEY!" in unison, right on the cusp of exploding into violence... Whoa, wotta rush!

Serena said...
Yes! I'd never felt that before at a concert. It was incredible, just amazing...

Bowling with Jeff

JT said...
hhmmm.. now I wonder would bowling with the "cooler" Jeff be better?

Serena said...

Absolutely! He would love it!

JT said...
I know!! How 'bout... IRONING WITH JEFF!! :D

Serena said...

He's not tall enough! :D