Scattered Thoughts . . .

Lukey went sailing last year for the first time and he loved it! I have already posted a video and photos a year ago showing Lukey's first time sailing. As the only other person in the boat for this milestone, I can tell you that Lukey was excited and proud of himself. Lukey and I sailed quite a bit until Uncle Adam arrived... on leave from the Air Force. After Uncle Adam arrived at the lake, he stepped up and gave me a little break from being the tireless skipper and sailing instructor (thankfully) . During Lukey's second week of sailing, he started sailing with Uncle Adam when the lake was suitable for a very young beginner. We had a lot of heavy gusting and changing wind so conditions were not ripe for beginners all the time. When the weather was suitable for fast and wet sailing, Uncle Adam went out solo as Lukey enviously watched from shore. When the wind and lake conditions were on the calmer side, Uncle Adam gladly brought Lukey out sailing. I happened to re...

It is almost a year beyond when this occurred but here is the long awaited video of Miss Mac kenzie kayaking with Gee! (Scroll to the bottom of this post for the video.) It was a beautiful sunny day but one more optimally suited for sailing because it was so windy. Adam was out on the sailboat so Sheila and I headed for the kayaks with Lukey and Kenzie. The kids kept track of Adam the entire time we were out there and Adam whizzed by us a few times to say hello.  As we got dressed for the kayaks, Lukey grabbed Papa's NASA ballcap and Kenzie decided to wear Gee's large-brimmed hat. In hindsight, we should have packed the top of Gee's hat with a t-shirt or something so it wouldn't keep sliding down over Kenzie's face. This year, we have hats and stylish sunglasses for the kids.  The lake on this particular morning was very choppy which made any video I captured with a camera mounted on the bow of a kayak very bouncy, wobbly and, unfortunately, almost nausea...

I've had Systemic Mastocytosis episodes ranging in severity from 1 to 10 over the past decade and a half. Some episodes are worse than others but they are all quite debilitating.  Some episodes last for weeks, some for days, and, on the rare occasion, only hours. The symptoms of these episodes are varied but always include physically, mentally and emotionally debilitating symptoms, a lot of pain, and even life threatening symptoms. Last night, however, I experienced a type of episode which was new for me. Many other patients experience this type of episode often but it was a first for me. I don't think this means much since each patient presents this illness differently. Last night, my breathing became difficult rather suddenly and then I quickly noticed that swallowing was difficult. I definitely knew this was not a good thing! Within about a minute, I realized that my throat was swelling and closing.  I quickly grabbed my bag of medications as well as my emergency...

I shot a few still images before I shot the video that I posted in my previous blog entry... here are a few shots of the kids... You always need a few Air Force aircraft on hand for air defense and force protection...  

We have the kids here with us today... they chose to play with the old wooden trains today rather than the new electric trains... Later, the kids will be helping Gee make a cake and then they will be helping me make some meatballs and tomato sauce...  then they will help Gee make a garden salad (and probably eat half the cucumbers rather than put them in the salad)...  It should be a good dinner!