My coworker's really scary pregnancy came to a successful conclusion this week!

They found a hole in the baby's diaphragm at about 5 mos in, which could have been disastrous for his organ development, especially lungs. (The other organs slip through the hole into the chest cavity, potentially causing all sorts of damage to themselves and crowding out the lungs. )

Having remarkably made it this far, they were standing by to take him directly from delivery to surgery. But Alex came out screaming and breathing on his own, and after a few days observation is already at home. Nobody even thought that was a possibility. I can only imagine how relieved and joyful they are.

Some good news about Tim's dad: he had the evaluation Thursday morning with the case manager from the Council on Aging. One of Tim's brothers was there, along with one of the sisters-in-law (not married to the brother who was there, though that's not really relevant). This SiL has been through this process with her own mother, who has severe dementia and is in a nursing home now, so she was a good advocate to have there.

He was adamant that he doesn't want the meal delivery service; SiL said he had a really visceral reaction to the topic, basically recoiling when it was brought up. So they dropped it.

He agreed to the LifeAlert button thingie, and to have a cleaning person come out once a week for an hour or 2. And they're going to send out a handyman to put a rail in the bathroom wall to help him get in and out of the shower. (The boys kept offering to do that, and he insisted he was fine and could just grab the windowsill or the towel rack if he needed to. [Which is a head injury waiting to happen.])

So that's a promising start. I wish he were getting the meal delivery, but he needs to be on board with it, or else he won't eat them, and that would be a waste.

We will need to remind him to actually WEAR the LifeAlert thing, but I think he'll be able to create a new habit. And everyone is super relieved about the grab bar in the bathroom. Also, he desperately needed a cleaning person and just never hired one. He thinks the house is clean, but he has cataracts (that he refuses to get surgery for), so he doesn't actually SEE the dust, etc., that builds up. Or the ick in the kitchen. So this is good.

Next step is convincing him that cataract surgery is a good thing. No one is sure why he's refusing to get it. My dad loved it. After 60+ years of needing glasses for nearsightedness, now all he needs is reading glasses.

Feel free to tout my delight with my cataract surgery and that not just old-old people get them. Mine were probably a result of pale blue eyes vs high-altitude ultraviolet exposure. I barely wear my reading glasses unless I'm dealing with very tiny print--God bless the font adjusting abilities of ereaders.

ION--surely we live in a golden age for shopping in hidebound conservative towns. I just bought a Magic Wand off of Amazon (I couldn't bring myself to buy it off of Wal-Mart.com, some things I just don't want to see in Wal-Mart packaging)

Feel free to tout my delight with my cataract surgery and that not just old-old people get them.

We've told him about all the people we know who had it and were so happy with it. He stubbornly says "I don't need it." But apparently he's even having trouble reading now. I think a big part of his resistance is if he admits he needs it, then that means he's old. He has to admit he's declining, to himself. I think there's a lot of denial going on. Which I get, but at the same time -- he's having trouble *reading*. What the hell more is it going to take to get him to have surgery?

Our plan is to find out if any of his siblings have had cataract surgery, and if so, to enlist them to tell him how great it is.

he admits he needs it, then that means he's old.

Oh, god, did I ever have that. It helped that the eye doctor frowned and said "You're too young for cataracts, but there they are. Huh."

I am going to be a fussy, cranky, impatient, sharp-tongued old woman. I want things exactly the way I want them, the food will never taste right, and they're never gonna get those pillows adjusted just right. I apologize for this in advance. I'll also have sudden fits of gratitude and be prone to spontaneous compliments; I know because I am that way already (I'm the other way already too, I'm just self-aware enough to suppress it).

Yay ltc and healthy babies! Hi Cindy!

I have a bite guard thing I never use because I feel like it just means instead of grinding my teeth together, I grind them against the guard? Which doesn't help me not have pained jaw muscles in the morning...

My dad told me at my birthday dinner that he thinks my stepmother has multiple personalities. And then, went back to eating lasagne. My thoughts were like a. Thought it was just one that didn't like me. and 2. Shouldn't there be treatment or something?

It has become clear to me that I grind my teeth more during the day than I do at night.

I never have jaw pain in the morning, but I do notice the clenching during the day.

Today, I'm walking around with the molded trays for a teeth whitening folly I did a few years ago. It is making the grinding a much more conscious thing. Not sure it if will help in changing the habit, but data is useful.

Shouldn't there be treatment or something?

Multiple Personality Disorder is extremely rare and there's some thought lately that it doesn't exist. So, knowing your Dad, I think he's just flummoxed by a person having more than one mood.