Oh Pix, how scary for you and ND. I've been in your place before Pix and I can easily recall exactly how I felt. Sending strength and good health vibes to ND.

vw, that's very interesting about the kids and the failure to play. I'm so glad you have given the opportunity to play. It's so important, so enriching and revitalizing.

I can't imagine the need to control the minds of your adult offspring.

I can imagine it as I see it play out often enough. It just seems like a fool's errand to me. In a way, raising children is a leap of faith. You have to trust that they will find their way.

I feel a little sorry for Ma and Pa Cow. All good parents want their children to have better lives than they did. They can't recognize that they've succeeded.

You give them the tools and then you stand back and clap in glee when they build something completely marvelous and their own.

It doesn't help that I stayed up until 2:45 to finishing Mockingjay and therefore haven't slept yet.

So you're probably in a SUPER mindset after finishing that, right? t sarcasm

Seriously, I'm glad the dilaudid (yay!) got the pain down, but I am hoping like crazy that they get to the bottom of this. NOW.

I wish your parents had even a tiny inkling of just how inadvertently spectacular a job they've done of bringing some deeply splendid human beings into the world.

They just wonder what they did wrong.

I truly feel sorry for them. You and your brother (and, I imagine, your sister) are a parent's DREAM. No joke.

{{{ND and Pix}}} I really hope they get everything figured out and can fix ND post hasty.

{{amyth}} and {{Trudy}} All kinds of ~ma for the 31st.

P-C: What everyone else has said. Especially:

You and your brother (and, I imagine, your sister) are a parent's DREAM. No joke.

So very much this.

Val: thanks for teaching the kids to play! I have a lot of Indian students, too, but by the time they get to me, they know how to play (which is important in my classes and in life in general) and it's because of teachers like you.

I am sorry to break in here, but I have a drug interaction question-- is Steph around?

Oh, god, ND and Pix. I'm so sorry that you're going through this! Fingers crossed that they get to the bottom of this once and for all.

ION, I dropped smonster off for a wet and rainy New Orleans adventure at Elizabeth's in the Bywater, then went to the farmers market in the Central Business District. They have muscadet fruit! I don't know what to do with them though.

Yay, vw on the board!

More ~ma to amyth's brother, Trudy's aunt and to Pix and ND.

Reading the latest, I remember someone either in Bitches or Natter had mentioned they had a relative who'd had similar symptoms to ND's and they'd turned out to be abdominal adhesions. Looking at a page on abdominal adhesions, I see they're often a cause of intestinal obstruction. (Of course this is the internet and we're not doctors but I thought I'd mention it.)

[link]

In any case, I really hope they figure out what it is soon.

Diagnosis-ma for Drew, and thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for good pain meds in the meantime.

Dylan just asked to wear underwear at naptime for the first time. Hopefully this means progress and not just extra laundry.

Pix and ND - my goodness guys. I hope that today brings answers and results. Much love and ~~ma to you guys.