Cam's heart

I know I said I would post about birthdays. Cameron turned nineteen in March and Maddy turned thirteen three weeks later. Whew! There! I did it!



Now onto what I really wanted to post.



Cameron has slowly been getting all the things he needs to get done before he submits his mission papers. He had his wisdom teeth out, his general doctor appointment, dentist appointment, blood drawn and Four expensive shots.

At his doctor's appointment, the doctor asked about his heart murmur. I again recounted how he had had a coarctation (narrowing) of the aorta, and had it repaired at 4 days old. See here for more details. He also has a couple of valves that aren't "normal" that cause a murmur. I like to tease Cameron that we should name his heart Laman. He He. I am so FUNNY! He wouldn't completely sign him off as ready for a mission until we got the o.k. from Cam's cardiologist on the level of activity he can do.

He had his appointment with the pediatric cardiologist on Monday. Interesting note-- because Cam has a congenital heart defect, he will always go to a pediatric cardiologist. Even when he is eighty-three, he will be sitting on the little table with the space theme room and the latest Disney movie on the t.v. screen to pass the time.

Cam has been going to these appointments every year or two his entire life. I am pretty familiar with the process, and nothing has changed much over the years. Cam has two valves that are not normal. His aortic valve is bicuspid, it is supposed to be tricuspid, and his mitral valve doesn't open and close like it is designed to do. I like his doctor he is very thorough and has a great memory. He can remember subtle changes from previous years. There was nothing new or different at this appointment, other than he gave his approval for him having no restrictions as a missionary. He also told me that his heart is different than normal, but it works well.

After he signed the papers, and gave him the o.k. to walk eight hours a day, I looked over the forms again. I was desperately trying to find the box where he could check that said Cam's heart was strong enough to handle the door slams and rejections he was sure to get. Sniff sniff.

The move

I have been a very delinquent blogger. I have so much to post, I don't even know where to begin! There is the move, of course, the unpacking, (which is far from done) two birthdays, missionary preparations, Easter, and discovering that we have been using our septic tank for weeks without it being "ON"! Who knew???!!!

I will start with the move. Tom is not one to ask for help. He likes to brag that he and I moved our piano by ourselves in one of our moves many Moon's ago ( literally and figuratively). Our backs were younger and stronger back then, and our brains were younger and dumber too. I was most grateful when I saw SEVERAL strapping young men show up with large trucks and even larger trailers. They made quick work of loading and unloading all of our stuff from one place to another.

Let the unloading begin!

Even with the heavy lifting, he can still smile for the camera!

Without the help of this guy, and a couple of other handy men, Tom would still be working on the wood floor. One night, at midnight, Tom tried to get these men to go home to their families. Scott finally agreed to leave.

Jory, (another wonderful man who went without sleep for us) looked at Tom and said, "He'll be back. He got hungry and ran to Taco Bell."

Sure enough, he came back and stayed until 2:30 AM cutting and gluing. Every time my foot steps on the beautiful warm wood, my heart is filled with gratitude for their kindness and sacrifice.



Some of the "strapping young men!"

This man, the father of this girl , brought my husband to tears. He saw what needed to be done, and did it. He saw some construction garbage and loaded it up and hauled it to the dump. He discovered a pitchfork that Tom had been meaning to fix for years. He bought a new handle for it, but it didn't fit. This wonderful man took the pitchfork and handle to his shop, cut the hole to fit and made it better than new! He also wrote Tom's name in the metal of the handle. Tom was moved by his generosity and thoughtfulness. So was I.

Next: Birthdays!

Home

We are HOME! Of course, right now, it doesn't feel very homey. The boxes and stuff waiting to find a permanent home are getting in the way of sitting by the fire and enjoying my new surroundings. Little by little, we are slowly unpacking. The kitchen is functioning, except for the gas range that has yet to be installed. Our builder has confidence that Tom could convert it to propane. The instructions are unclear, so we are waiting for more parts, or a professional. Either way, it looks like about a week before I will have a cook top. Luckily, I have an electric frying pan that has been getting plenty of use the last few days.

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Tom called me this morning to tell me Cam's car died, he had taken it to work so I could use his truck. He said it was making a horrible knocking sound and then quit, he had to walk a block-and a half back to work. He asked me to come get him to tow the car with the Suburban. I wasn't that surprised. We belong to the "how many miles can we squeeze out of our cars" club. I drove out to work, picked him up and went in the direction he told me to go.

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After more than a couple of blocks, I said, "Wow, you walked really far!"

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He grinned, and said, "I thought this was a great way to get you to go out to lunch with me."

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He was very pleased with himself for pulling off a great prank. He gloated all the way to Wendy's and back. I fell for it because it is so unlike him to do anything like this.

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Next year sweetie.....next year;)