Happy birthday to Millie!

Today Millie is 3 years old.  Thankfully, she has settled down a lot and has truly become part of the family.  It was touch-and-go for the first couple of years, as she has been a real challenge.  At times we wondered if she'd make it to 3!  Millie is what our vet calls an "oral" dog, meaning that she expresses every emotion and instinct through her mouth.  And her mouth is full of HUGE teeth.  Yes, she's a biter.  But finally she has grasped the fact that biting is not acceptable behavior, and she has much more self control.  We still have to keep a very close eye on her when she's with the little ones because she has no concept of her size (90 pounds) and power.  But she loves the grandkids and they love her.  It will be a happy day when the kids are large enough to deal with her on their own.

Millie really is a very sweet girl.  She's just a little more high maintenance than some of our previous dogs.  But she loves and trusts us, and we couldn't imagine life without her.  The most helpful thing we can do for Millie is to wear her out.  Visits to the dog park where she can run and play are crucial for this high-energy girl.

So happy birthday, Millie!  We hope you have many, many more wonderful years ahead of you.  We love you very much, sweet girl!!

And the verdict is......

I've been called for jury duty many times in my 60 years, but not until recently did I ever have the privilege of actually serving on a jury.  What an experience!  I loved every minute.  The case was a medical malpractice lawsuit, and it couldn't have been more tailor made for me.  The most difficult part of the week, aside from deliberating with my peers to give the best decision possible, was keeping mum when familiar medical terms, medicines, etc, were mangled and mispronounced by well-meaning lawyers.  I kept wanting to raise my hand and make corrections.  Thankfully, I was able to maintain my decorum and not embarrass myself or others.

The case involved a thoracic surgeon who had removed part of a lobe of a woman's lung for possible lung cancer.  She had the classic symptoms: middle aged, 35 years of smoking a pack a day, weight loss, coughing up blood-tinged phlegm, family history of cancer.  Her initial chest x-ray showed a definite abnormal area.  Her family doctor ordered antibiotics but after several courses she still wasn't improving.  She had a CT scan which showed the abnormality as suspicious for cancer, but an inflammatory process could not be ruled out.  She was then sent to a pulmonologist, who ordered a PET scan.  A PET scan is normally used in staging cancer, not as a diagnostic tool, but in this lady's case the medical team used it to narrow down the diagnostic possibilities before opening her chest.  The PET scan showed approximately the same results as the CT scan.  It was looking pretty grim for the patient.

Two weeks later, the day before her surgery, the patient went in for the usual preoperative lab tests and chest x-ray.  This is standard procedure for most, if not all, hospitals and surgery centers.  The next day she had a wedge resection of the lobe of her lung, and the suspicious area was removed and sent for pathology.  It turned out, fortunately, to be pneumonia, not cancer.  The patient recovered and returned to her normal life.  Happy end of story, right?  Not quite.

Fast forward to 14 months following her surgery.  The patient developed shingles and some other problems not related to her surgery.  From that point on she began complaining of constant pain and limited ability to do the things she was accustomed to doing, like reaching, bending, lifting, etc.  She testified that she could no longer do housework or gardening.  She just wanted her life back.  Her husband testified that he just wanted his wife back.  They blamed the surgeon and the very invasive procedure she underwent for the removal of the diseased lung tissue.  They were convinced she never needed the surgery in the first place.  Their reason?

The chest x-ray taken the day before her surgery was normal.  Clear.  Devoid of any abnormality.  But no one, including the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, and the pulmonologist, ever looked at it before her surgery.  In retrospect, knowing that she had pneumonia and not cancer, this is a critical piece of the puzzle.  Had they looked at the new x-ray, taken 3 weeks after 2 rounds of strong antibiotics had been completed, might they have postponed the surgery and performed more testing?  The surgeon testified that he would have changed nothing.  She had a serious spot on her lung that needed to come out.  His defense was strong; he had several sophisticated diagnostic tests showing a high probability that the area was cancer.  But shouldn't the patient have had ALL the information at hand in order to make a decision whether to go ahead with the surgery or not?  That was our dilemma.

We listened to a week's worth of opinions and observations of very highly respected doctors and medical personnel from both sides.  The patient and her husband were suing the surgeon for pain and suffering (separate suits seeking separate amounts of money for each of them) due to his negligence, i.e., his not looking at the preoperative chest x-ray.  When the judge charged us, the jury, to begin our deliberations, he told us to weigh all the evidence we had been presented.  Our verdict would be based on the "preponderance of the evidence", or which side was more convincing.  We retired to the deliberation room with a foot-high stack of evidence to ponder.

It only took us about an hour and a half.  Although the patient had some valid charges against the surgeon, when we had considered all the evidence it was unanimously clear that there was no malpractice.  The surgeon had carried out what he considered, in his educated and experienced opinion, to be the best course of treatment for this patient.  A chest x-ray is probably the most basic, primitive of all diagnostic scans currently available.  Even a clear, "normal" x-ray can be inaccurate.  The surgeon didn't go into the woman's chest just because he was scalpel-happy and giddy with power.  He did it to save her life.  We did not find him negligent or responsible to pay the woman and her husband damages.

A week later, I'm still certain we made the right decision.  It wasn't an easy one.  The woman clearly has some pain issues that will probably plague her the rest of her life.  But there was no concrete evidence to prove that her current condition was caused by the surgeon's negligence.  I wish them all well.  The attorneys for both sides did a fabulous job, and I would hire either of them in a New York minute.

It will probably be a few years before I'm called for jury duty again.  If and when I am, I will not hesitate to serve.  It's a privilege unique to our country, and I will be honored if I am ever chosen again.

What's wrong with this picture?

Well, technically nothing.  This was taken May 14th, the night before the Cribbies left for their summer at Kanakuk.  At the time, Leo was 20 1/2 months, Zoey was 3, and Ruby was almost 14 months.  It's obvious the 3 cousins love each other and enjoy being together.  Togetherness is a very good thing in our family, because in January 2011 this group of 3 little ones will increase to 5!  That's right, they are each expecting a new sibling.  We are over-the-top excited!!  Erika is due with #2 on January 12, and Jenni is due with #3 on January 26.  Since historically Erika has been late and Jenni has been early, there's the likely possibility that the 2 babies will be born even closer than 2 weeks apart. 

Jenni and Dave do not find out their babies' sex, so we will be 100% surprised by Baby Cribblet.  Erika and Josh like to find out the sex, so we'll know ahead of time (at around 20 weeks) if Baby Wieselet is male or female, but we won't know any names until after these babies are born.

This is Jenni's and Erika's dream come true, because they've always yearned to be pregnant at the same time.  I don't think any of us ever expected them to be so closely pregnant together but God knows best, and we are all very happy about the timing.  We all feel so tremendously blessed to be given these precious new lives to nurture and love.  Stay tuned for updates!  Woohoo!!!  Am I a happy Grammy or what?!!!

It's a small world after all

This is the house in which I grew up, located in Endwell, NY.  We moved in when I was 1 year old, in 1951.  My father, grandfather, and uncle built this house by hand.  It was a solid, cozy, comfortable home, and I have many happy memories associated with it.  My mother sold the house to a family in 1972 when she, my siblings, and I moved to Florida upon my graduation from college.  In the years since, whenever I've visited my hometown in upstate New York, I've always driven past the house and sometimes dropped in on our former neighbors, but I've never been back inside the house.

Fast forward to the present.  I work out at Curves in my current town in the Dallas area.  I also work there as a circuit trainer 1 Saturday every month.  My last shift was a week ago.  As I was performing my Curves duties, one of our regular ladies, Marge, came up to me and started chatting.  One thing led to another, and she told me she had recently returned from a trip to New York, where she had visited the gravesite of her late husband.  Marge is nearly 20 years older than I, but she's a tiny bit of dynamite.  She's funny, smart, active, and a joy to know.  She's originally from Vienna, Austria, so the adorable accent only enhances her charm. 

As we narrowed down the parameters of Marge's NY destination, it became apparent that we shared many common links.  She had actually been in my hometown!  Now, New York State is nowhere near as large as Texas, but it's not a tiny state.  She could have been anywhere, but she was in lowly Endicott.  Crazy!  We spent the better part of an hour talking about favorite restaurants, shopping, churches, schools, people, etc.  Then Marge mentioned a cousin who lived in Endwell, the small town abutting Endicott where my house is located.  Narrowing down the location even more by using Google maps on the computer, we soon realized that Marge's cousin lived on the street where I grew up.  (cue music from "The Twilight Zone")  I asked her which end of the street--there is a flat end and a very hilly end.  She said the flat end.  Okay, this is getting freaky now, because I lived on the flat end. 

At that point I told her the actual house number, and Marge got out her address book.  Yep, you guessed it.  Her cousin bought my family's house all those 38 years ago, and she still lives there!  You can imagine how Marge and I looked, with our jaws scraping the floor.  Incredulity doesn't even begin to describe it. 

Think about it.....2 virtual strangers living in north central Texas, and 1 of the strangers' cousin lives in the other stranger's childhood home in upstate New York.  What are the odds? 

I can't wait to have more conversations with Marge in the future.  Who knows what other odd connections we might discover?!!

Leo's Nom Nom song

So Tony and I babysat Leo last night while Josh and Erika went to a wedding. He was tons of fun, as always. Lately when we've watched him at his house, I've taken to bringing along my laptop, since Leo loves to look at family photos and videos, and if all else fails to keep him happy, I can always resort to showing him endless streams of our family in 2 dimensions. One day not too long ago, I happened upon a very cute video called Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom, and I thought he'd enjoy it. I played it for him a few hundred times, as after the first viewing Leo kept saying "more" and making the baby sign language sign for more. It's a cute, catchy tune, and he loves the little animals.

Okay, fast forward to last night. Tony and I arrived at Leo's house, and while receiving the evening's instructions from his parents, I started taking my laptop out of its case to set up on the dining room table. Leo made a beeline for it and started insistently repeating "Mas, mas, mas!!" Erika and I looked at each other with bewilderment, since we had no clue what he wanted. We finally gave up and continued our conversation. Leo shrugged and went to play with his Papa.

After supper, Leo again went to the laptop and again pointed and very firmly repeated "Mas, mas, mas!!" I sat him down and showed him pictures and videos, still not comprehending, and he patiently waited and watched, every so often punctuating the viewing with a soft "Mas". I was thinking how brilliant my little grandson was, already knowing the Spanish word for "more" at a mere 21 months. After all, we do live in Texas. But something kept gnawing at my brain, and I knew he wasn't really asking for more. Suddenly, the light bulb came on. "Mas" was "mouse"! Leo wanted me to play the Nom Nom video for him! Once I got it going, he was happy as could be, and our frustration ended. Another bullet dodged. Happy Grammy and Leo watched Nom Nom a few hundred times, until it was time for bed. Now I know what to expect the next time, at least for this particular scenario. He's really talking very well. I'm just not listening.

Hope you enjoy the video!

America Rising An Open Letter to Democrat Politicians

This is a very important 3-minute video that explains why we conservatives are putting the Socialists in the White House and Congress on notice. It does not touch every single frustration, but it does nail the main issues. Watch, listen, digest, and remember in November.

A new room, sort of

We've been in this house 26 years next month, and for most of those years we've talked about screening in our back porch.  The house came with a covered porch with 3 sides.  All we needed to do was add the 4th wall of screen.  Such a simple concept.  It took 3 adorable little birds to finally motivate us to do it. 

Lewisville has a "mascot" bird, the purple martin.  These little guys are very pretty, with a sweet song.  They generally like to roost up high, so people buy special purple martin houses and install them on tall poles.  Several years ago 3 of the birds decided to make their homes not up high in one of the exclusive condos designed just for them, but rather on a 1/2" strip of wood under the roof of our porch.  At first we thought they were very charming.  Until they started to poop.  And to construct impossible nests of grass, twigs, and mud.  On our house.  We went to the experts, the good ol' boys at Lewisville Feed Mill, who sold us an assortment of rubber and plastic owls and snakes, guaranteeing the expulsion of the purple martins.  Yeah, right.  The birds and reptiles became fast friends.  The birds were no more afraid of the owls and snakes as I am of oatmeal.  We tried everything.  Squirting them with water from spray bottles (they loved it).  Hanging CDs from string (classy) after being told the mirror effect would scare them (nope).  Letting Millie out to bark at them and loudly clapping our hands and shouting at them.  Our neighbors were worried about our sanity, but the birds just mocked us.  Finally we strung up some clothesline across the porch and hung up an old sheet, thereby not only blocking the view to the pool but also designating us the trailer trash of Clarendon Drive.  Something had to be done.

It was time. Time to finally screen in the porch.  Tony got busy with tape measure, pencil, and graph paper, designing a wall of wood and screen.  After a few minor roadblocks, mainly due to lack of construction experience, he was ready to buy the materials.  Josh offered to help and supply some very cool power tools, which Tony is now coveting.  It's amazing how easily a project comes to life if one has the proper tools.  They worked pretty much all of 2 Saturdays and a few hours of a Sunday (with extra hands offered by Dave), and our open-sided porch is now a lovely, open-air room.  And the birdie problem is solved.  A win-win for the Leos.  The guys also installed a screen door to the garage access.  All we need to do now is paint the wood to match the house trim.  When it gets cooler, we'll paint the concrete floor, install a ceiling fan, and hopefully buy some end-of-season sale furniture.  It will be a nice place for the kids to play, or to enjoy a book, or to have dinner or breakfast.  And it will be permanently poop free.

Thanks, purple martins, for motivating us to finally tackle this project.  Hope you enjoy the condo we put up for you, 'cause Casa Leo is off limits for good.