So S is more or less the same -- still on the ventilator, still having difficulty keeping her blood pressure up, and her fever keeps hovering around 99 to 100.

The good news is that the edema in her lungs has gone down considerably, and none of her cultures have produced any evidence of infection, so she may not be sceptic after all (it seems that there's still plenty of guessing going on).

She's been making tiny incremental steps of improvement every day. Now that it's four days out, and there's a bigger big picture to look at, she's definitely improving. The difference between now and four days ago is remarkable.

That being said, she's still not out of the woods by any stretch. Hopefully they'll actually be able to take her off the ventilator soon, as there's always a concern that the longer a person is on a ventilator, the harder it is to take them off of it.

Some biopsy and easily treatable results ~ma would be appreciated for my mom. She just got carted off to surgery and I'm hanging in the waiting room.

I haven't fallen off the planet; I was in Columbus for the weekend, and when we got back Sunday, we had the high-wind storms (which I understand other parts of the country have had) (also, I'm not trying to imply our windstorms were worse than Hurricane Ike was in Texas), and we haven't had power for over 24 hours and have no idea when we'll have it back on. It's wild, y'all -- it looks like a tornado went through: [link]

Work was cancelled today, and I'm at a library right now, to check e-mail and such, so I wanted to check in just in case anyone noticed I was absent.

The uni finally came through with titles for those of us teaching as full-time non-tenured faculty, which means that now I don't just act like a professor, I actually am one. Associate Professor as of this fall.

My brother just called me from Scotland. I'M AN AUNT!!!!!!

Amelia Joy was born on Saturday. She was 6 lbs 1 oz, 19 inches long, with blonde 'peach fuzz', blue eyes and long fingers. She ended up having to be born C-section; however, all went very well. (Thank you Royal Infirmary)

Mother and daughter are doing wonderful and should be discharged by Wednesday. Father is thrilled and can't wait to send photos.

It certainly is a BIG year for him! In a short amount of time he has become a father, is finishing his dissertation, and is turning 30 on the 29th. Plus, at the end of November they are moving back to the states and he hopes to be installed in his first church in January.

We, too, are part of the 100k people without power right now. We lost power on Sunday afternoon and it's not expected back until Friday. We don't have telephone, and we're cooking over a coleman stove in the backyard. The kids think it's the best fun ever. The public library's internet is down, but I finally found a coffee shop that has access. Power~ma much appreciated.

Edit: By the time I got home from the coffee shop, power had been restored. Thanks!

I'm also without power, and have been since Sunday night. Crews here are estimating service will be returned Sunday, but I'm really hoping for something before then. There's also no power at my job, so I've been working half-days (kind of nice, but frustrating). Power~ma, if you please?

Wow, that ~ma is pretty strong stuff! When I got back to my apartment tonight my power was back on!

Good luck to everyone who's still without!

Before anyone else asks me, yes I have already seen this.

Well, it's official. Dial just canceled my contract for the Carmen young adult novel.