8/21 - Home sweet home...

For those of you just reading the blog, and not getting emails, I wasn't able
to update the blog yesterday from the hospital network. Here's Saturday's update:

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Saturday, August 20, 2005
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A rare Saturday issue indeed. Son #4 is now in the regular hospital
getting better, and said he wanted me to stay over night. So, he's
sleeping and I'm watching TV and writing this update. For those who
get the email issue only, I forgot to tell you that I posted some
pictures of son #4 the other day. They're at
www.artistmelody.com/pcmc.htm

We've had one heck of a week. There have been ups, downs, sideways,
and inside outs. But, we've had some really caring people helping
us out. Praying, calling, and really caring. Family help of course,
but a friend of mine who I've known since HS is a great example of
little things that count. He's had several children up at this
facility, so he knows what's needed in a care package. He brought a
bag full of goodies. Drinks, chips, munchies, and a good book too.
It wasn't huge, it wasn't expensive, but it was really thoughtful,
and we really really appreciate it. We've also had the church
Relief Society bring in dinner for the last several nights. What a
blessing to come home and have a home cooked meal waiting for us.
These are just awesome folks! And then there's the guys where I
used to work with at front line support. I still work with them
online, but since I left there almost a year ago, half of them are
new faces. They took up a collection and sent son #4 a huge stuffed
dog and sent quite a bit of gas money to boot. The dog has made son
#4 smile a bunch in the last 2 days, and the gas money has made it
easier not to cry when filling up the tank. Thank you so much
everyone!

Now, and update on son #4. They moved him into his own room about
noon today. He's off sedation, but still sluggish. He's moving both
sides about the same, but he's pretty weak. In this hospital
they've found that if they let the kids order food `room service'
style, that they eat more because they're getting what they want,
the hospital saves money because there is less waste, and because
the kids order when they want, they don't have such a rush during
meal times. So, son #4's first "wish" food was blueberry
cheesecake. He ate the entire piece. Through the day he's had
cheese and crackers, lots and lots of Gatorade, a scrambled egg,
half a piece of toast and a little ice cream. He can't sit up by
himself yet, so there's a lot of help involved, but he's getting
better. We're still waiting for the pathology report to tell us
what kind of tumor he had. But, "The pathologists don't work on
weekends." So it will be at least Monday before we find that out,
maybe longer.

Anyway, I found a lot of medical humor on the web today. I'll share
a few in the email version. But one caught my eye;

A well-known rich businessman's wife broke her hip. The businessman
got the best bone surgeon in town to do the operation. The
operation consisted of lining up the broken hip and putting in a
screw to secure it. The operation went fine, and the doctor sent
the businessman a fee for his services of $5000. The businessman
was outraged at the cost, and sent the doctor a letter demanding an
itemized list of the costs. The doctor sent back a list with two
things:
1 screw $1;
Knowing how to put it in $4999;
$5000 total
The businessman never argued.

That makes me wonder. I have a maximum insurance out of pocket
amount that I'll be responsible for, but can you imagine how much
this whole thing will cost? We've been here a week today, and they
still have the bone flap to put back in, and he hasn't even started
any kinds of treatment yet.

Maybe we should have a contest to see who can come the closest on
just the hospital procedures. Hmm... I wonder.

Anyway,
Enjoy today's Jokes!
Marty

p.s. A reminder; I can't access the site to update the web log from
this network, so the blog won't be updated until tomorrow. For
those getting this by email, enjoy a few medical jokes.

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Reader Comment Section:

Hundreds of emails. Hundreds. I can't answer most of them. Sorry.