In Carlsbad

Made it safely to the West Coast where the weather is as beautiful as always--actually a little better this year so far with little June Gloom. Have been trying to get reoriented to the condo here and getting it ship shape.   I love being back in California.


Yesterday I went to a memorial service for Virian Sturdevant who was a contemporary of my Mom's.  She died peacefully at 104 years young.  Virian was my Cub Scout leader.  She was a sharp as a tack until the end.  Those who spoke at her service indicated that when they saw her shortly before she died, she was reading the sports page of the LA times and she could discuss what she had read.  Virian was the mother of Don and Sara.  Don was my best friend from about 1st grade through high school.  A lot of my high school friends were at the service and it was fun seeing them all.  I think we will be getting together with several of them this summer.


Tomorrow Val arrives from Texas.  She will be here most of the summer.  Next week we will be driving up to Stanford to introduce my grandson, Christopher, to the school.  I would love for him to apply.  I haven't been back to the campus much since 1959.  I understand that it has expanded tremendously with many new buildings.


Here at the condo, a family of bluebirds has made a nest in roof tile of the adjacent condo.  I see the parents making continuous trips back to the nest with mouths full of worms.  I got a couple of pictures I want to share here.

Bringing Home Dinner

Heading for Home

Off to Carlsbad

I leave on Saturday to fly to Carlsbad. Val will follow in about a week. I'm just about packed and ready to go. It will be good to see Craig and his family.  Kathie was in a bad car accident and broke her leg and ankle in multiple places requiring surgery initially to stabilize things and then will require additional operations to make the ankle functional. The car was totaled and all the airbags deployed. She is lucky to be alive and we are all thankful for that.


Today was Stephen's graduation downtown Houston. This is a milestone. He is the oldest grandchild of all the Nies brothers (tied with Will, Boyd's grandson). Stephen has attended Stephen F. Austin high school, a good public school in Fort Bend County west of Houston. His HS class is about 600 students and the diversity of the class is quite amazing. I have heard that his high school is one of the most diverse in the country. As an example, Stephen went to senior prom last week with six other "kids" and he was a minority of one. The others were all the other colors. It is a reflection of what is happening nationwide, but here it is accentuated.  I think it is great.


I'm going to post a few pictures taken of my condo from across the lake and also to show a neat sculpture that we got at the local street art festival "the bayou city art festival" that is held twice a year in Houston. It is a wind sculpture and the slightest breeze will send it spinning. It is up on the top terrace and is quite mesmerizing. 


I will continue to post occasionally since several people have said that they appreciate it and it is an efficient way to communicate.

These are the condos. Mine is the second from the near end

This is the condo 

Fourth Floor Terrace with sculpture

Here it is on a SS curving base

Still Doing OK

When I wake up in the morning (or more often than not in the middle of the night) I always wonder whether the back pain that radiates to the left buttock will return that day.  So far it hasn't. I am not pain free, but the really awful pain has not returned.  I'm hoping that the steroid has calmed the inflammation and that the cycle has been broken. So if I'm lucky, maybe I can have a summer free of that pain.


I'm starting to think about getting out to Carlsbad. I will be flying out this year on June 2nd. I'm looking forward to being there and spending time with Craig and his family. Val will be coming later in June and spending most of the summer, but she has to come back at least once. We have several things planned for the summer.  Joel and Judy Bedford are celebrating their 50th anniversary a the end of June. They are having the party in Saratoga, Wyoming. So we are planning to fly to Denver and rent a car to drive to Saratoga. Afterword we plan to go to Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks for a few days. We were unable to find any lodging in Yellowstone and will be staying at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton and make day trips up to Yellowstone. Val has never been up there and I haven't been to Yellowstone since the fire.


I'm also hoping to take Christopher up to tour Stanford this June. I would like him to apply and continue a family tradition. My mother, Boyd, and I went there.  I don't think legacy helps much, but it can't hurt. 


Toward the end of July there is a Board of Directors meeting for Lexicon Phamaceuticals, a company based in the Houston area. I am on the board and the July meeting will be held in Princeton, NJ where Lexicon has an office. I'm hoping that I can extend that into a trip to NYC for a few days--still tentative.


And then in August I would like to take Val up to Seattle to see my special friends Len and Alansa, my brother-in-law Jimmy and Teresa, and possibly get up to Vancouver to see my friends, Karen and Bob Rangno, whom I haven't seen forever. No real plans yet and we'll need to coordinate with friends, but I hope it happens.


So a busy summer. I've been debating whether to keep writing this blog, but I do hear from folk that they look at it once in a while, and I feel more comfortable with this than Facebook that I haven't figured out and not sure I want to. So I guess I will continue my infrequent notes.

Two years

Yesterday was exactly two years after Sally's death. It has gotten easier to handle the loss, but on the actual day, it was still hard. I try to remember all the many years of good things and to not dwell on the last few days or weeks in April/May, 2010.  Lorrie and Craig share my feelings, but I think that we are all doing pretty well.


Val and I went up to Austin last weekend to see some of her friends.  It is a fun city to visit--maybe the best in Texas.  Their motto is "keep Austin weird".  And it is--in some ways.  Just before leaving, I noticed a dent in the tailgate of our SUV and I can't figure out what happened.  I think it may have been damaged in the hotel garage somehow.  Anyway, the car is now in the shop being healed.


Speaking of healing, my back is still improved.  In the past two weeks since the epidural steroid injection, there has been some return of back pain on the left, but the bad "nerve" pain radiating into the left buttock has not returned. So I am still pleased and hope that it will remain as is for a while.  I am not doing anything that might bother it, but I do use the recumbent bike and take some walks on our lake.  Spring is clearly here with newborn ducks in the lake.

You Talkin to Me?

Epidural Steroids

The epidural steroid injection to the left lumbar nerves 4 and 5 was complete on Tuesday at an outpatient surgical center in Houston.  It was performed by Dr. Doctor! He is a spine pain specialist also trained as an anesthesiologist.  They injected the steroids and local anesthetic while I was heavily sedated, so I don't remember a thing.  When I woke up, my left lower quadrant was paralyzed, from the anesthetic.  Over a couple of hours, I got so I could at least walk as long as I didn't bend my knee.  If I tried to put weight on anything but a stiff leg, I would collapse.  But there was no pain.  By about 6-8 hours post procedure, I was moving about pretty normally. The next day there was no more affect of the anesthetic, but there was still no pain.  Today (Saturday) I remain free of the type of pain that I have had for months.  It is really exciting.  


I asked him about physical therapy and he discouraged that.  He said that what physical therapists do is often not good for spondylolisthesis. I need to avoid extension of the back, which is one of the common things done in PT and in Yoga, which I am also going to stop for now.  I can use a recumbent bike but not swimming (extension again) and moderate walking is ok.  No heavy lifting, twisting.  Anyway, so far I feel better than I have in a long time.  Hope it lasts--duration of relief is variable they say, but the procedure can be repeated. 


On target for June 2 travel to Carlsbad!  Val will come out and join me a little later.  She is selling her house and hopes that will be done soon.  Her neighbor wants to buy it (without a realtor) so it looks like a done deal. Keep fingers crossed that the pain stays away.

Update

Right now I'm in the mountains with Craig, Christopher and Gavin. Kathie injured her foot a couple of days ago and could not come. It is very warm here and the snow looks marginal. I guess that may be typical for spring skiing. I have decided not to even try to ski with my back bothering me so much.

I saw the neurosurgeon on Friday who looked at my MRI and said that I have spondylolisthesis (a slipped disk) that was causing a compression of the nerves at L4-L5. He suggested a conservative course of physical therapy and epidural steroid injections and to only think about surgery if this failed. If surgery were needed, the approach would be a laminectomy (to remove bone that is compressing the nerve) followed by a fusion of the lower vertebrae to realign and stabilize the spine. This is major surgery and takes a long time to recover from. I am going to start the conservative approach as soon as I get back to Sugar Land and will delay any decision about surgery for a while. I still plan to go to California in June and if all goes well, I will be ok for the summer and then tackle that issue in the fall.

The trip to Fredericksburg was quite wonderful. I have a few pictures posted here. We were most enthralled by Hamilton Pool, which is in the last several pictures.

Away for the weekend

Val and I decided to take a weekend trip to Fredericksburg in the Hill country of Texas. The bluebonnets are in full splendor with all the rain this year and the sparse showing last year. Turns out that Lorrie is also here in an art class. We may not get a chance to see her since she is so busy. This is an old German town in central Texas with a lot of restaurants and tourists. And it is a very pretty part of the state.

Still plan on going to the mountains this next weekend to spend a week with Craig and his family. As I said before, not going to ski much until I get my back issue sorted out. I see a neurosurgeon on Friday and will be very interested in his analysis. The data from the neurologist and the MRI indicate stuff happening in the lower back, but I don't know if anything is reparable. Probably the old back injury in 1958 plays a role. Will let you know what he says.

The condo in Florida that is in Sally's Family Trust seem to be renting well. I hope this means that there will be some profit and that this will turn out to be a good investment. I like the idea of thinking of this as Sally's condo. I think she would like the idea.