Happy Spring First!

My first Crocus this year! 3/18/14

There are hints that it’s real, the crocus bud photo taken in my driveway Tuesday, for instance. But then again the National Weather Service is calling for a mix of rain and snow Friday night into Saturday and the high temperature is not expected past freezing on Sunday. Okay, sure, that is what spring is like in the Midwest but yanno two years ago this time it was in the 80s and breaking records. That’s right, folks, I’m a fair weather Global Climate Change fan; break the records I want broken.

It was baseball horror yesterday in Cactus Ball. Aroldis Chapman, fire-throwing closer for the Cincinnati Reds, was hit above left eye by a comebacker line drive. Pitch was 98 mph that hit back at 112. It happened so fast and with such force. There was lots of blood and Chapman was carried off the field on a stretcher; it could’ve been a lot worse. Doctors say the area above the eye where he got hit is the strongest part of the skull. Other places on the face or head could have caused much worse damage or even death. Aroldis will have surgery to repair crushed bones and a titanium plate over that part of the skull. He may be back on the mound as soon as the end of May or beginning of June. I guess we’ll see then how much psychological damage that hit did. In the meantime prayers and good wishes are sent from all over the baseball fan world for a strong recovery without complications. Scary stuff.

This is been a busy week in Naniland! I had a couple of doctor appointments and a transportation presentation/forum that goes with a volunteer committee I’m on. Two of the three days that started the week included relieving me of a few quarters for Mike & Ikes! Any time seeing the doctor includes Mike & Ikes it’s easier to handle anything they tell you. Yes, my inner child comes with me that the doctors’ office. She doesn’t get so cranky when she’s got Mike & Ike’s.

Adult Nani and discovered I really like the free coffee in the clinic one of my doctors is at. That clinic always smells like a coffee house when I go in and I usually have things timed so that there is not enough time to get a hot drink before the bus. Monday my appointment ended an hour early so I decided to get a cup of coffee. The coffee machine that dispenses free coffee when you hit a button has a container on top with beans and when you press a button to fill the empty cup it grinds a cup’s worth of beans and brews it into your cup. You read that right; it grinds the beans and brews a fresh cup of coffee for free. I said it before and I’ll say it now you may think “so that’s where the rising medical costs are going,” but I think if a medical professional is examining me, poking me with a needle or prepping me for surgery I sure would rather they had a cup of that coffee on their way to the office than a cup of Foldger’s! This is on the campus of the same hospital that has a fantastic coffee bar in the main hospital. I think UTMC is onto something in the relation of good care and good coffee. Well, you know maybe that’s it. At any rate I’ll start making sure I add extra time before the bus for coffee now.

Things are going pretty well in my fundraising efforts for Walk MS. Considering how late I joined I can’t complain. The walk is Sunday, March 30 and I’m going to do the mile route with my power chair and David is going to walk with me as my moral support. Please don’t think that only a mile in the powerchair is a small feat; a few years ago it might not have been a big deal for me to walk a mile but in the chair I can get tired after an hour of shopping. I will be sure to bring my camera to get photos of Walk MS.

Finally here’s my "telethon pitch" for my Walk MS fundraising: I’m asking for $5 donations. Every dollar helps with programs for coping with symptoms, new medications and research to ultimately find a cure. If you’d like to send a gift of any amount check out my Walk MS page. If you can’t donate at this time you can help the cause by forwarding the link to my page. Thank you and bless you for your help!