Ruby Lane Update

I'm so glad that I am able to change the title. For those of you who are not familiar with Ruby Lane, well, it's the street that mom and dad live on. I'm liking the connection between Ruby Lane/Ruby Slippers/and "There's No Place Like Home" ... Stay with me here... The best news of the day is that Dad was sprung from the hospital. They got home around eight or so. He had a shower, dinner, and was drinking a cup of coffee. Yay for him and mom. Yay for Ruby Lane.

So ... this is what we know ... Earlier this evening, Dr. India and Dr. Infectious felt he was ready to be discharged, but they needed the Pulmonologist to buy in on the deal, he was the deciding factor. Still waiting for the path labs to come back, and mom never did actually "see" the cardiologist. His BP was so much better today ... 113/61. I'm pretty sure this is better than mine. The pneumonia is also much better, his cough is better and productive, and he is no longer short of breath when he does cough. Another bonus. No more choking on his Fruit Loops. Which, by the way, prompted the decision to hit Urgent Care last Friday. He will remain on the antibiotics for the pneumonia, lucky for mom it's not intravenously. She was hoping she didn't have that task. :) The lab results of the biopsy will be going to Dr. Infectious, he said they would call mom, but suggested that she just go ahead and call on Friday to see if they were in. He said he might forget. Don't think this is a problem. I'm almost positive someone will remind her to call. (This is also coming from the same doctor who checked in on dad last night, but dad wasn't in his room at the time. And, well ... he told mom he just forgot to come back. Great. ;)

Dad is feeling better, very anxious to get the results. They are both completely exhausted but so glad to be home. And despite everything, dad still has his sense of humor: Today in the hospital the nurse came in and said, "Ricky ... did you move your bowels today?"

Dad's response? "Yeah, I moved them into the bathroom." Thought it was funny, and I already warned mom that this would be shared.

Oh, and dinner was a fried egg sandwich - at home. And I KNOW there is ice-cream. I bought some before I left. He should be set.

So I'm pretty sure the prayers and good thoughts are working! Thank you all! Please keep them coming! We're not quite out of the woods yet, but I can see the clearing up ahead. Cam's pretty up on things around here, because he asked if we were still praying for valley fever. Yes, we are.

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It's hard to think about normal routines when events such as this are going on, but you still need to keep going. Or at least try anyway. Sometimes the normal routines help in that it prevents your mind from wandering into areas that shouldn't be visited. Positive thoughts are good. Counting the blessings we've already witnessed and experienced are good. Thinking about the pileup of laundry is good.


Cam came home from school today with some Scholastic book orders. Four, to be exact. I only remember getting one? Anyway, they have an amazing appeal to them. At least in my book. No pun intended. I remember as a kid my teachers passing out the Scholastic book orders filled with all sorts of books, posters, and sometimes games. But I never wanted the games. The flyer smelled good, and I think I enjoyed the smell of the paper as much as the books for sale inside. (I LOVE the smell of paper, the glossy junk postcards that come in the mail are awesome, and books especially. Should I really be admitting this? Walking through a Barnes and Noble is equivalent to smelling fresh bread, chocolate chip cookies baking, or even daphne. Bath and Body Works has NOTHING on Barnes and Noble.) I couldn't wait to get home to view the orders. With my pen I would circle the ones I wanted. Mom would review my selection (I don't ever remember NOT getting at least one book ...), she would write a check and the next day my teacher had my order. When the books arrived, which took FOR - E - VER, the teacher would place the stack of books bound together by a huge rubber band right before school was out. I couldn't wait to get on the bus and look at them all. Then I'd get home, smell the books again, and start to read them. I was lucky if I had any left for the next day. :) I get so excited when Cam brings home a book order. It still has that same smell and the same great books, by the way. He gets out his highlighter and finds the ones he wants. We narrow it down to a few - something else I recall. So, tonight I wrote a check for the Scholastic book order. We've got Diary of a Wimpy Kid #2: Rodrick Rules, Horrible Harry Bugs the Three Bears, Miss Daisy is Crazy, and Barack Obama: Our 44th President. Quite the variety I must say. Nothing like a well-rounded selection of reading material. He thought the biography for kids of our new President would be interesting, especially since he "was around when he was elected." I couldn't agree more.

Bryan went to play racquetball this evening. Cam usually accompanies him and plays with his racquetball partner's daughter. They ride bikes or collect tennis balls from the nearby courts. I'm glad I'm not there because I'm pretty sure some of those are still "in-play". Oh well. Shelby likes it. Our stock of tennis balls is taking over the pantry. I stuck around here to get some more work done, and much needed tasks like laundry, and laundry, and laundry. We had pepperoni pizza for dinner (we added mushrooms to my side, and Canadian bacon for the boys). We watched a great Suns game, and I am ready to hit the hay. It's been a long day. But a darn good one.