Excuse me, 2003? Could you step over here behind this woodshed for a moment, please?

Health-ma and wedding-ma and prayers requested for Jill, a very dear friend of mine who is getting married next week. Seems she got an early wedding present from her neurologist, along with an explanation of why the whole left side of her body has been weak and numb for a week and a half: She has multiple sclerosis. She's been shot up with heavy-duty steroids this week to increase her chances of being able to actually walk down the aisle, but after that it's suppressive meds and an unknown future.

Jen, Deb, I may be leaning on you a little in the weeks to come. I'll try to do so gently.

I love you folks. I don't know what I'd do without you.

Major healthma requested for my friend Diana. I returned from vacation today to discover the following email from a mutual friend:

I am not sure if you are aware of the severity of Diana's situation, but it is now very bad. I know Mike hasn't sent an email update recently, but she needs URGENT prayer. I talked to him yesterday; Diana's body is giving out, and her other organs are now beginning to fail. She now needs a liver transplant AND a kidney transplant. Since she has a rare blood type, they are still waiting for a donor that matches her. There is a scale that measures "survivability" where 40=dead and 1=healthy, and Diana is now rated at a 32. Basically, she has another month, maybe 6 weeks, unless a donor is found. I wanted to let you know so that you could be in prayer for her.

Diana's "rare" blood type is B+, which I share. (I've always thought of it as at most moderately rare--it's about 3% of the US population IIRC, but I can see how it'd be an issue in her circumstances.) I'm really kicking myself for not sticking to the diet I started in January, because the one FAQ I could find about live donation said the donors have to be a healthy weight. I plan to track down some kind of expert on transplantation on Monday and find out if someone 30 lbs. overweight but otherwise in perfect health could be a candidate for live donation, and for that matter if it's still even an option for someone needing multiple organs. (I know I could theoretically spare a liver lobe and a kidney, but I'm not thrilled by the prospect.) The whole idea terrifies me, but if she dies I'd never forgive myself for not looking into it.

A little bit of good news... Charlie the dog is doing fine. We gave his owners a check for $185 last night, the sum of the donations we received. Thank you all.

I just remembered I had happy news, as well.

I am now a great-aunt. My eldest niece Angela, who's only 6 years my junior, had a daughter on July 3 named Laura Elizabeth, to be called Laura-Beth.

Today's my 16th wedding anniversary. I don't recall if I ever submitted this to the Calendar, and I apologize if this proves redundant.

Wow...just...wow.

While I was on the phone with Diana, her call waiting went off.

They think they have a donor for her.

They still have to do the last few tests/examinations to make sure the organs are healthy and good for transplanting, but they definitely have a matched donor for her. They should know by 10:30 EDT, so about 2 1/2 hours from now, and if all goes well will be doing the surgery tonight.

I'm laughing and crying at the same time, and praying very hard. Major healthma appreciated.

t on edit--I don't expect to know immediately what happened, because they won't be calling/emailing until after the surgery, but hopefully I'll hear something one way or the other by tomorrow

Not quite as serious as Susan's post, but I am also requesting health-ma for my mom. She is having surgery at 7:30 tomorrow morning. They expect everything to go hunky dory, and she should be home by early afternoon. I want it to go extra easy, though, because tomorrow is also my parent's 30th wedding anniversary. Sucks that she has to have surgery and recoop on that milestone day. But, knowing mom, she'll be home at 1:00pm and on the phone with work by 1:03pm. Nothing seems to stop her...

Also requesting healthma for my mother (insert Throw Mama From the Train jokes here).

Last Wednesday, thanks to conductors who didn't actually "conduct", my mother (who still had people behind her also waiting to disembark) was on the steps, trying to get off of her commuter train, when the train started up! She was thrown about 10 feet, breaking a bone in her wrist when she used her hands to break her fall.

She wouldn't go to the ER that night. The next morning, I nagged her into seeing her doc, who ordered an Xray. She's seeing the orthopedist today, because it's the first time he's been on duty since she was injured. I'm hoping the healthma extends to the point where she won't need the bone rebroken by him, in order to set and cast her wrist, and that arthritis won't set in her wrist. Thanks

(The rub? She was coming home early to watch my kids so I could take my youngest to the orthopedist for a hairline fracture he apparently got in his foot a month ago. We never knew he had it until he had aggravated on the 4th of July and then w/couldn't walk on the 5th of July. He, of course, is fine, but now his Nana is broked.)

Email received from Mike, husband of Diana:

The liver & kidney transplant surgery took 10.5 hours, finishing at 1 pm today (at UPenn). Diana's parents and I were able to see her starting at 3:30 pm. The doctors told us they were very pleased with how everything went. Diana is of course in some pain after having two major surgeries at once, but it is being managed with medication. She is 100% mentally "with it" and managed to mumble a few words here and there, including whispering a couple of questions about how everything went, and also the words "so tired!" I'm glad I was warned in advance about all the tubes and wires in every possible place on her body - wow.

So the worst is over, both physically and in terms of the risk of infection and other things. She should be out of the ICU tomorrow morning, and believe it or not, they want her to try to start walking around by the end of tomorrow (even though she won't feel like it quite yet!). This medical team is top-notch - what a blessing to have access to such good care.

Probably about 3 weeks in the hospital and then another month of recovery at home. By the way, little Nadia is staying with my cousin and spent the whole day smiling as usual, oblivious to everything! The kid is continuing to do so well, thanks to the faithful prayers of so many over these last 7 months since her birth.

I’m back. A couple of weeks away from the Florida heat. Vacation was a good thing. It got down to 40F at night which for me is like free A/C. We stayed at my sister’s house, which was my home in my youth.

The boys had a great time at basketball camp in Syracuse. Brendon broke his finger 23 ½ hours into the camp, but he had great fun anyway.

The first night we were home we went to a graduation party for 2 sons of girlfriends of my youth. My family lives in a very small resort area. There were 31 in the HS graduation class. I haven’t danced so much in years.

We went on a trip to Maine with my mother and step-father to celebrate their anniversary. Didn’t take a lot of pictures because we were driving a lot. Very pretty coast.

Then we partied in Massachusetts at vw bug’s home and met new Buffistas. The bug parental units are very gracious hosts. Lots of great food and fireworks.

We had fireworks 3 times. First on the 3rd with vw, then on the 4th in Old Forge, then on the 6th when the boys went to the car races with grandpa. I love fireworks.

We spent a couple days at the Enchanted Forest in Old Forge, NY. It is a sprawling place in the mountains. Storybook paths through the woods, arcades, amusement rides, and lots of water slides. Quite fun.

And I took lots of pictures. Family stuff included because the page is for non-Buffista as well as Buffista loved ones. I hope you enjoy them.