Judy's new splint

We went to the doctor last Wednesday and they took the "soft cast" off of Judy's arm and custom made a splint or removable cast for her. They took out the sutures and "glued" some strips across the cut that they made. She has a metal plate in the wrist with two long screws and about three short ones. She had a lot of pain after it came off. I think that this was from being in the cast for two weeks and then the moving, poking, and building the new splint. Two photos are included one with the old "soft cast" as I call it. (An "L" splint with a lot of bandages around it.) The other has the new splint or removable cast that she can spread open enough to slip off.

News from North Carolina

Yesterday when I went out to go to the 'Y' for a biking class there was an enormous amount of smog around. You could smell that it was woodsmoke. Later in the paper it said that there is a forest fire up around Linville Gorge (if you saw "Last of the Mohecans" you saw the gorge) and the smoke has been blown all the way down here. It seems to have set off my allergies. I have been whiffling and sniffling all day. Have a sinus headache too.

I am still using the sleep apnea machine but it is hard to tell if it is doing any good. It certainly doesn't make the difference the therapist expected it to. In a few weeks I go to a specialist to see what he can tell me. In the meantime I will keep using the mask, because while I can't actually tell any difference I haven't fallen asleep at the wheel while driving to Boone and back since I started using it. That all by itself is worthwhile.

Laura has had a bad cold for the last week or two. It simply won't go away and she is pretty disgusted with it. Other than that there is not much going on. Just another quiet week at Wilkesboro.

Our Friend Maggie in Ireland

I spoke to her dad on Tuesday and Maggie and Mary are having a great time in Ireland. He says that Maggie loves Ireland and doesn't want to come back. Her web site is here, or you can click on the link over there ----> below Joey's blogs. Here is the latest entry:

Well, Maggie and I are in Ireland while poor old Martin is stuck at home. We're in a lovely cottage in West Donegal with a stunning view of the sea. I'm taking an Irish course, and she's just having fun. We're hoping to go to Kilibegs this weekend for more fun and seafood, if the weather and bus schedules cooperate!

The General

I received this picture of our long, lost relative and thought it would an interesting post.

Our Trip to Denver

This is the view of the city from the Denver Museum of Science and Nature.
Here's evidence of our visit with Jarred, Sheldon, Mollina, and Buster, the dog (not pictured). They live in Arvada, a beautiful place just a few miles from our hotel. This was taken in their massive back yard.
Here, we are at Red Rocks Amphitheatre waiting to see John Mayer. Diane is really excited, as if you can't tell.
We went to the Rocky Mountains for the whole day. We stopped here to have a picnic lunch. That is snow on the ground behind us. We were joined by chipmunks who clearly did not read the sign that said not to feed them.

Pictures Abroad

Hi everyone! I promised Dad I would post some pictures from my trip and since it IS Father's Day, I figured I better follow through.

This one my friend took in Edinburgh. We went there for a couple of days to visit our friend from undergrad who lives there.

My other friend took this one of the Millenium Bridge in London. We walked across it after visiting the Tate Modern.

I took this picture looking out from Trafalgar Square. You can see Big Ben in the background.

And here we all are. I really had great time. Okay, I hope these find everyone well. Bye!

The Beach

Meghan and I went to Grand Shores at Redington Beach where Jackie and Art have the time share. This year Meghan and I rented a unit for the whole week. The weather was wonderful and it only rained 1 time and that was at 3:00 a.m. Meghan got use to the Gulf and really enjoyed going in the water this year. Meghan also enjoyed spending a few days with Olivia (Lynda Sue's granddaughter - Susie's daughter). It was very, very nice. Jackie has many more pictures than I do and I have posted some of the ones she took (a couple pics are mine). Maybe she will post some more.

Mother was also able to come over one day. Art went over in the morning and got her and than I took her home about 4:00 p.m. I think she had a good time and got to visit some with Doris (Art's mother).

I will post one of Jackie's pictures that I think is adorable of Meghan peeking around the door when Jackie came knocking right after her shower.

This picture posting doesn't seem to be going very smoothly. I cannot get the pictures and the words to go where I want them. Oh well, you will get the drift.

Judy's surgery

It was a long day for Judy Friday. We got to the center at 12 o'clock and checked in with all the paperwork. Judy was back in the bed and I went back around quarter to one. The surgery was supposed to be at one, but the doctor was running late and didn't get there until around two. I went out to the waiting room and they got to work around 2:50. About two hours later they finished up. The doctor came out and talked to me and showed me some photos of what they had done (x-rays). They had pulled the larger bone out to its original length and put a metal plate to splint it along with some pins. She has a splint along the outside of her arm, but with all the wrapping around it to cover the arm it is just the same as a cast, but a little softer. It was after six when we were able to get Judy loaded up and drive away. She had gotten nauseous and thrown up a lot. They put a little medical patch behind her ear, and by 11 last night was able to drink some coke and eat some rice soup that her sister brought over. With the food in her she was able to start her medications. One medication was an antibiotic, and the other one for the pain was oxycodone (the good stuff. I hear that Rush Limbaugh recommends it.) When the "block" in her arm wore off this morning, and before it was time for her second dose of medicine she said "Oh it really hurts me." She is laying down now and resting.

Judy broke her wrist

Just an update on Judy's condition. She fell backward on Tuesday evening and put her left hand out, landed on it, and broke the wrist. I took one look at it when I came in and took her to the walk in clinic to have it looked at. (Something about how the hand was crooked with the arm and all the swelling.) They took an x-ray and said yes its broken, get in to see an orthopaedist.

We went today to a doctor. After they looked at the x-ray, and before they had even seen Judy they were checking to see when they could get her in to have surgery on it. The nurse that saw Judy before the Doctor came in was amazed that she was not taking any pain medication for it. (They had given us a prescription for "something strong" but we never got it filled, and she didn't even take the Tylenol today.) The nurse said "Look at that x-ray. How can it not hurt?!"

So now we have an appointment at 1 PM on Friday to have them fix it. They are talking metal plates, screws, and associated hardware. The fall compressed the one bone and now its fractured and set back about a quarter inch further than it should be. That's what makes her hand bend off to one side. Her big gripe is that she has to be off from work utill things are better.

Our Anniversary

Yesterday was our eighth wedding anniversary. To celebrate we spent Monday night in Blowing Rock at a bed and breakfast called Gideon Ridge. We got the smallest and cheapest room and it was still quite nice! You can see all the rooms here and see our room, the French Room. Laura was impressed that the bathroom was stocked with Arveda products. I was impressed with the quality of the peanuts and fudge left in each room.

That night we wandered through Blowing Rock and finally decided to eat at the Six Pence Pub, which is just that: an English style pub. We both ordered exactly the same thing - Guinness soaked beef stew in a bread bowl - but I had a Guinness beer and Laura has something called Speckled Hen beer. It was very good, by the way.

The next day we went back downtown to pick up my hat, which I had left at a shop to be cleaned. They gave it back to me rather sheepishly and admitted that they had not been able to clean it - "Sir, you need a new hat!"

We drove over the mountain along a windy little road to Foscoe where I used to live and then back to Wilkesboro. We'll have to do this again, in about a year or so.

The Quigley family

I've mentioned our little friend Maggie, or Maeráed as the Irish would say, often on the Not Mayberry blog. Her parents, Martin and Mary, are going to adopt a little Vietnamese boy this summer. All the paperwork is done and Maggie is busy coloring a bunch of drawings that will eventually become patterns for a quilt showing a Vietnamese children's story about Uncle Toad and how he has to travel up to meet the King of Heaven to stop a drought.

They have started a family blog for their travels this summer. Next week Maggie and her mother are going for two weeks in Ireland to study modern Irish together. Then they will all go to Viet Nam whenever their adoption is approved and an infant is selected by the authorities.

Since we are so close to Maggie and her folks I thought I would provide a link to it along with the link to one of my blogs and the two that Joey keeps up. The correct name of the blog is Clann na gCoiglich, which is Irish for 'The Quigley Family." Hope you all enjoy them.

A few more photos from Virginia

Not going to write much with these, just show the photos. If anyone needs any information on them leave a comment.

Mother had a fall

Just got back in from the Memorial Hospital Emergency room where Jackie and I had taken Mother, and I thought I should write a report for everyone. Mother had a nasty little fall tonight. She said that she had been getting a numbness that would start in her left foot and work its way up to her hip. She could usually get a hold of something and rub it and it would go away. When she was going to Dr. Zamore this week she was going to ask him about it, because it was happening more often. Will tonight she was out in the room where she couldn't grab anything, and she fell and hit the left side of her head on the chair. It left a bump the size of a small egg near her temple and broke the skin (no surprise), and she bleed all over everything. She got to the phone and called Jackie. I was notified also and we went by and got her up. She never passed out, was very lucid and could talk about everything. We took her to Memorial to get the head looked at and have her checked out. They got it cleaned up and bandaged with no stitches needed. The Doctor had a CAT scan run to check for any internal damage, but that was all fine. They gave her some Tylenol and a prescription for an antibiotic. Jackie took her home and was going to stay there tonight. So all in all things look good considering. I'll try to get to bed now.