Croton-on-Hudson, NY
Dear Jen,
I almost missed this email! It's been quite a month and I hope not to have another like it for some time.
As we headed to New York for Four Weddings -- and a Funeral, as it turns out -- and the irony of the movie title doesn't escape me, but I digress -- John began a major attack of kidney stones. I'm told they hurt more than childbirth. You'd think so, from the moaning.
We stopped at one hospital for morphine, another for dilaudid, and yet another for another heavy drug. Then he went into renal failure, so it was back in the hospital for a "simple procedure' to get the kidney working again. Well, that didn't work, so it was on to another procedure in another part of the hospital. Two surgeries in one day, that's a tough one. Two days later, he had yet another procedure and more anesthesia.
Between the drugs and anesthesias, he was one stoned puppy, in considerable discomfort, and grouchy as hell. There was a point that I considered throwing him under the bus, but I kept trying to channel my nurturing self. Trouble was, my nurturing was what kept getting me into trouble. He's definitely a hands-off kind of sickie.
Two weddings, a rehearsal dinner, wedding brunch, and one bridal shower later, some of which I attended solo, John is considerably better, although he has yet to pass the stones, which are at this point, more like sand than boulders, having been blasted into dust. I got to be in the observation room and watch them operate the computer that controlled the laser. It's against state law, but fortunately my doctor is a laissez-faire sort and let me in. My only regret was that the stones were pulverized. I was planning on making myself a major necklace, my recent hobby being jewelry design. Now that would have been a conversation-stopper.
So all this hoopla is why I haven't written, so I hope you two will forgive me. In fact, I'm going to take some of this letter and put it on my blog, another thing I have let slip for far too long.
We are thinking of buying a house somewhere, the housing market being so depressed as to offer us an opportunity we might not have again. And yet, we're not going to stop traveling. This year has been amazing and we've gotten to see this beautiful country in a way would never have been able to otherwise.
How was your trip to Wellington? What's the story on the house? Catch me up on the boys, all three of them. My own boy is still happily single at 35. Those California types are so laid back, most of his friends, girls and boys, are still single. Haven't they heard about aging eggs? Their babies, if they ever have them, will come out bald, with pot bellies, canes, and smoking cigars. They'll be Brad Pitt at the beginning of the movie.
Summer here has been incredibly beautiful. I missed the June rain, but July is balmy and blue-skied. We are in a park on the Hudson River, about 40 miles north of NYC. A dog is barking somewhere, and at 9:26 on a Sunday morning, that's about the only sound to be heard. I'm going to take my coffee outside in my nightgown and smell the fresh air.
The dog's not interested in coming outside. He has a tick-borne virus and is very lethargic. He's going to the doctor tomorrow for a shot. It's always something.
Kisses to you and the fam.
Love
Betty
