August Dump

I know, I know. I fell off the wagon again with my posting. What else is new? : ) 

At the beginning of August Andrew and I were in Ohio for his muscle biopsy. I was able to fly out for a few days and see beautiful Columbus. The night before his procedure we met up with a really good family friend of Andrew's parents whom I had never met. We all went out to dinner and walked around a nice shopping center about 10 miles away. The next day we had to get up at like six to get to the hospital, which would have been fine if we weren't on west coast time. Columbus OH is three hours ahead of where we live and you wouldn't think it a big deal, but in the wee hours of the morning it's a huge adjustment. The procedure room was really chilly so you can see Andrew needed some blankets, cute huh? I was able to stay in the room during the biopsy which they normally don't allow, but I told them I worked for an ophthalmologist. They caved. Afterwords we walked around the hospital a bit to get some coffee, pick up his prescriptions at the pharmacy and take a few pictures. I wheeled him next to this cute wooden owl and he said "I wonder how many kids puke on it?" Nice. The next day our flight didn't leave until like eight at night so we walked around downtown to see if there was anything to do... well there was nothing, but we saw the captial building, a cute bed and breakfast/inn thing, and got followed by a creepy jeep down a deserted side alley. After that we just hurried back to the hotel. And by hurried I mean slowly because of Andrew's leg. At the airport he was really hurting, so I just kept him on lots of ibuprofen, but the airline staff upgraded us to economy comfort class and gave us a whole row to ourselves. That was great because he could stretch out his leg and not worry about anyone bumping it. In Minneapolis we caught our connection - me the old-fashioned way of hoofing it, and Andrew got a ride on the cart. He blew past me, ha! I went up to the ticket counter to see if we could get seats together, I told them my husband had minor surgery and anything to help would be appreciated. They put us in first class! Andrew had never been in first class before so he had a great time. Once in Seattle we spent the night at my parents house and the next morning we flew out to Pullman. That afternoon Andrew's family came into town from their two-week long roadtrip. We played mini-golf at this cute little course we found between Pullman and Moscow and went out to dinner together. It was nice just to see everyone again, even if for only a few hours.

 My sister came out to visit us for a weekend in August. She drove all the way out on a Friday morning and I took off from work at about noon. Andrew had to drive a cab that night so the two of us went to the mall and I think we shopped till we dropped. CJ had to buy something in every store almost, and I just bought some betta fish for my office desk. The next day we went up to Silverwood (I had never been). CJ and I went by ourselves and we were only there for like 5 hours or so, but we still had a good time. We love roller coasters! I'm so thankful to have a sister, we really enjoyed our day despite some heat, terrible people, and lines. Andrew picked us up from the park and took us to his aunt and uncle's house in Sandpoint for his aunt's 50th birthday. His whole family was there so we got to spend some time with his grandma from Montana, mom, dad, Tony and Amanda, and a few uncles and cousins.Again, it's nice to see them if even if only for a few hours. The drive home was a stressful one - I'm always on deer watch but for some reason I couldn't stay awake (it was only 8:30). We stopped and got a McDonalds mocha to keep me vigilant, CJ was sleeping in the backseat dead to the world. The drive took about three hours and we never got out of the rain and thunder and lightning; harrowing to say the least. We told CJ when we were back at the apartment and she couldn't believe we didn't wake her up - we couldn't have even if we tried, lol!

This last weekend my grandma came out to visit the Palouse for the first time. That means she got the full tour: my office, vet school, Pullman, Moscow... we did a lot of driving! We ate a lot of great food, had some great conversations, went shopping, played with my cats - we had a really nice time. I can't wait for her to come out again, maybe in the Spring when the fields are green and the weather is milder? I think everyone needs to experience the seasons here, they are so spectacular.  I really enjoyed having her around for company because Andrew flew out on Saturday night back to Ohio. He was injected on Monday with the gene replacement and so far he seems to be doing well. They kept him overnight for observation to make sure he didn't have any reaction but he's on his way home now - I can't wait to see him! He got twelve injections in each leg and has to go back periodically for testing to determine progress, if any. Keep sending your prayers our way! We're hoping for major results and can't wait to see what happens!