Rochester 2009

Rochester was a blast! It was so great to see so many of my friends. We've all gone our own various directions, but we still enjoy each other's company the few times of the year that we come together.

Check it out - I'm on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN33EkfC2Mo

Been keeping very busy lately. I'm joining another chorus, working on a website (http://sherilynandfrankiem.com) and helping with the local theatre group again.

My friend, Jen was so great to me for watching my two dogs this past weekend! It's no simple task to keep those love bugs from stepping on you all day! And she had a house full of other dogs, too!

Rachacha!

Rochester, here I come! Looking forward to the wonderful adventures that invariably occur during DCA weekend. I'm sure I'll be posting about it when I get home!

A Simple Idea, Superbly Executed...

A Simple Idea, Superbly Executed

I heard this phrase today, and it really makes me think... I think that it's people who can figure this out who are the ones that can get ahead in today's business world. And it may even be better than winning the Mega Millions, which I wouldn't mind, either... Fingers crossed.

Birthday Sundays!

I think Ron's birthday on Friday finally marked the end of the stream of weekly birthday celebrations at Bahrs landing!

Of course, I won't know because it's back to rehearsal on Sunday nights! Looks like I'll have to get my Sherilyn and Frankie fix on Saturday nights instead!

Sick... But trying to stay positive!

I have some kind of summer cold, but I'm going to force myself to be happy because Faith's feeding tube is gone!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!

Also trying to remember... The journey IS the destination!

That's all I got for now.

Self Doubt

I hate self doubt... hate it hate it hate it...

But today, I feel full of it. I just have a creepy feeling that if circumstances had gone differently in the last 6 months, I'd be traveling a different road. There's no way to verify this without making waves I don't care to make, so I'll just leave it at that. I guess this feeling is a good thing, though because it is allowing me to make, what I think, are better decisions - the type that will get me to where I want to go. Without this feeling, I might have made a decision that I think would be a mistake to make.

I'm just very frustrated that for all the things that I can do that I know other people can't do, I worry about the things that I struggle with. Sometimes, I wonder if I should take a step back and just stay in my comfort zone. Unfortunately, I would be very bored.

So, onward and upward! I know all of this is for the best, so I just have to keep moving, one foot in front of the other.

What just happened?

Okay... I'm still working on processing the day I just had.

I went to Columbia Presbyterian thinking that I was going to sit in a waiting room all day, write a requirements document, see a sleeping baby and maybe have a nice meal, but the day didn't quite go that way.

My niece, Faith went in pretty much as scheduled for her cath, and my family including my mom and dad, Billy and Erica, and her parents started the waiting. The woman from the front desk had told us that things were going well and they would be finished soon. I sent a message to Ron saying everything was good.

Then, Dr. Gloom and Doom walked in. He said that he didn't see enough evidence that Faith's veins were growing... That it would be unlikely that she would survive the third surgery, and transplant is not an option because they only transplant the heart - not the veins around it. She wouldn't survive that operation either. I watched my brother's wife beg the doctor to fix her daughter. That Faith is her world, and she can't live without her. To not let her baby die. We looked for some form of option that we could take as a next step. There was none. He said that Billy and Erica should try to make things as normal as possible, and we would "see what happens." Basically, eventually (read anytime from the next 3 months to the next 18 months), Faith would outgrow these veins, and she would not be able to get enough oxygen into her blood. She would fall victim to some illness she wouldn't be able to shake.

Hours later, we find out a different story. The surgeon was able to expand one vein to normal size through ballooning, plug up a spontaneously grown vein that was sending un-oxygenated blood back to the heart, and now we are back in the game. No stints (read pieces of metal that can never grow with the veins) added at all. Assuming all goes as it should, Faith will be a candidate for the 3rd surgery. From close to 0% to 50% in a few hours.

I got to see the sleeping baby. Color is now in her fingertips because the blood is flowing (closer to) properly. Amazing.