The good, and the not-so-good

First of all, I want to give a huge thanks to all of you who were so supportive in your comments to this post. I've had a bit of a rough time, but knowing that you are praying for me and for my family helps a LOT. So, thanks!

Now, as they say, on with the rest of the story.

Can I tell you how exhausting it is to sit and wait for the phone to ring? Man, and I'm really bad at the patience it requires also. Good thing that my dear friend E invited me to go shopping with her yesterday, that broke up the morning at least. (THANK YOU!) And it didn't really help that Jon would call to see if I heard anything at what seemed to be hourly intervals. "No, honey, I haven't heard; but I'll call you as soon as I do!" Aaaaahhhhhh!

Mom called me just before 2pm yesterday. The long and the short of that story is that now in addition to his recent diagnosis of prostate cancer, Dad has Crohn's. They suspected that may be the case with the CT scan that he had in the ER on Monday, but yesterday's test confirmed it. And his doctor said that from what he had seen, Dad should have been having trouble for quite some time, as there is "significant narrowing of the colon" Thankfully, his symptoms on Sunday were the very first indicator that there was a problem.

Now, while manageable with medication, this wasn't on his "short list". But he's maintaining his sense of humor (which I love about him) and calling Crohn's his "July disease". Mom told him that two major diseases this year were PLENTY and that he needs to stop!

There will be some trick to getting a medicinal course that works for him though, for two reasons. He has taken dilantin for trauma- induced epilepsy since 1977 AND he's starting radiation therapy for the cancer at the end of next month. But Mom was fairly confident that the doctors can find something that will work for him, even with all those factors to keep in mind.

He's having a colonoscopy some time today and then if all goes well, will probably be discharged from the hospital tomorrow.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, that was the "not-so-good" news. Now for some good news.

I love my mother and father-in-law. That's some good news right there, I'll tell ya that. LOL I love that they live close enough to visit, but far enough that they don't come every day; but that's another post.

The long and the short of this story is that they were having some minor trouble with their 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan and were thinking about trading it in. And yesterday, they actually went to purchase another vehicle and the small dealer they went to didn't want to accept the van as a trade. So they drove it home.

Jon was talking with my FIL and then called our mechanic, who has told Jon that despite what FIL's mechanic said, it is probably NOT the transmission of the van where the problem lies, but rather a belt or motor with the heating/cooling systems. (Based, of course, on only what FIL told Jon seems to be the problem.) "There's a loud noise if you run the a/c or heat, but if you don't, it runs flawlessly." Huh. And I put more stock in Roger's opinion when I found out last night that his van is a '97 Dodge Grand Caravan. So, I'm thinking he knows. Roger is fairly confident that the repair is something that Jon could do himself for around $150.

The short of this story, and it was supposed to be...I'm sorry, is that if WE want the van, all we have to do is go pick it up. That's it. And I asked Jon if he knew how much they want for it and he told me "NOTHING!"

Oh, my goodness, I did the "happy dance" right there!

Now, it's pretty high mileage, but for FREE, who cares! Woohoo!

We hope to go pick it up on Saturday after watching Matthew march in a parade.

Oh, and in other good news, my BFF Carrie called me yesterday to tell me that she's PREGNANT! She had a miscarriage this spring, so she waited this time to tell me. And that's her thing, and that's okay! She's already into the second trimester and I am THRILLED!

Whether it's good or bad, is there such a thing as "information overload"? I feel like my head is going to explode! LOL