Done Whining

Thanks to all who indulged my pity party of last week. I am officially done whining and things have taken a turn for the better. The blood work is back and Holden is not suffering from cancer; he has hyperparathyroidism, a disease that, though serious, is treatable (see the doggie blog for more info). We only have to drive 20 miles to the NC State vet school for his treatment, while some folks have to travel to other states to get care.

In other news, my ankle is progressing, albeit slowly. I can actually distinguish between my toes and less than a quarter of my foot remains colored red/blue/purple. I'm still using crutches, but I can at least envision a future that involves walking. :)

The kitchen is still in the same shape, but I'm getting better at crock pot cooking. Craig also took pity on me and got me some fancy chocolates. As my mom likes to point out, my hubby is a mensch.

Calgon, Take Me Away

Please accept this blog entry as an apology to all of you whose emails and phone calls I have neglected to return. It's been a crazy week... first, I took a nasty fall while running on Saturday and twisted my ankle really badly. (I could hear the sound of ligaments tearing.) This resulted in a trip to the ER to check on the baby (fine) and make sure the ankle wasn't broken (it wasn't). Meanwhile, the house is in a state of chaos, with all of downstairs moved upstairs while the bamboo floors get installed. We have no kitchen; instead, just a toaster, microwave, and crock pot, and I do dishes in the guest bathroom sink. This situation is especially difficult to navigate on crutches. Today, things got particularly stressful. Holden's vet called to say that the blood test from his check-up the other day showed elevated levels of blood calcium. I know I shouldn't panic just yet because it could be a bunch of other things besides cancer, but hey, this is me and stress is something I excel at.

So now, I've returned to bed, the only place (besides the master bathroom) untouched by the remodeling effort, and I'm missing both ibruprofen (banned during pregnancy) and chocolate (impossible to access my given the house chaos and ankle situation). And I just want say, this sucks. There, I feel better now.

3 Degrees of Separation

Setting: The Beach Shop & Grill (a local greasy spoon), Topsail Beach, NC

Cast: Howard (brother), Maya (sister-in-law), Nate (Howard's grad school roommate; also friend to Craig and me), Hallie (Nate's wife), Craig, me, our waitress

[After Howard deliberated for quite a while about what to order for lunch, with much patience exhibited by the waitress...]

Howard: Where are you from? You don't sound like you're from here.

Waitress: New York.

Maya: Where in New York?

Waitress: Long Island.

[Much back and forth about location specifics by the New Yorkers followed. This segued to a discussion of how the waitress got to Topsail Beach (her husband owns a home repair business). Craig then asked the waitress her last name in case he needed to look up her husband. She responded and started to head towards the kitchen.]

Waitress [walking away]: Oh, but my maiden name is better - Colavito.

Suzanne: Oh, like the olive oil?

Waitress: No, that's Colavita, with an A.

Howard: Like Rocky Colavito?

Waitress: Yes, he's my uncle.

Nate: No way!

Howard (loudly): BULL$*&@!!!

[Other diners turn towards table.]

This led to an extensive back and forth between Howard, Nate, and the waitress, with the waitress needing to cite statistics about her uncle before Howard and Nate would actually believe they were only a few degrees of separation from a baseball great.

Despite sunny weather, visiting with friends and family, yummy food, and fun in the water, I think this encounter will be Howard's stand-out moment from his trip to Topsail Beach. More photos here.