Mom's follow up.....and...Snow

Hi, Everybody,

I took mom back to Dr. Schneider today for her follow up check up.
This morning, she said that her left arm started hurting her last evening and it was quite sore. Amy has been a great 'on-call' nurse for mom but because of the symptoms that she has been experiencing, we decided to take her back in for her follow up visit rather than wait till later in the week. Dr. Schneider (Jim) was pleased with her progress. She had lost 4# since last week's visit, her 'shortness of breathe' had improved and the vein in her neck no longer appeared distended. He did not know what was causing the pain in her arm, but felt certain after a thorough examination that it was not heart related. He sent us to have her blood work and x-rays redone so that he could compare them with the ones we had done last week. He also ordered an echo-cardiogram which we will have done tomorrow.
Overall I would say that she is feeling better than last week, and I think the medication he has her on will help to keep her from retaining fluids.
I think all of this has made her a little tired, but other than that I think she is doing quite well.

I will use this blog to keep you posted on her -(among other things). Checkback often to keep up with her progress.

The snow is beautiful. Yesterday I felt like I was stuck inside a snow globe and someone was shaking it constantly. Hope you all are able to enjoy it, though. We have been enjoying watching the neighborhood kids sled ride and snow board in the back yard. Kim and Amy and the kids were over one day last week, and we really enjoyed watching all of them! They have had a perfect year for it. Some of the kids built a snow ramp yesterday (probably from watching too much olympics) , but can't seem to get it all perfected yet. I heard tonight on the news that we will perhaps have more on Sunday......ssshhhh! don't tell Kim.

We talked briefly with Todd this afternoon. I hope he will be able to post some pictures of what it looks like in Washington. He said he had a 15 foot pyramid in his side yard. It is where the city has 'dumped' a lot of the snow that they have scrapped from his street. All is well with him and Ken is continuing to slowly improve. That is of course always good to hear.

Linda, I was not able to find a picture of the bird you were talking about. We have a plethera of starlings or grackles or whatever you call them. They are driving us nuts!!
I have had a yellow bellied sap sucker who has been visiting regularly. He/she is not particularly beautiful, but I just love to say....."yellow bellied sap sucker". Try it....it's fun!

Larry, I am still looking forward to something from you and Trenda. I know your hours are crazy right now, but perhaps soon.......

That's it for now. Stay warm and be careful when you venture out in the snow. bj