Scattered Thoughts . . .

O ur furnace was fixed this afternoon and it is now heating the house again so that is very good news. There is one more part he wants to replace...  just a small contact cap that goes in the ignition transformer... but he didn't have one on his truck.  He is off tomorrow but said he will stop by in the morning to install a new contact cap.  I don't really know the name of this part but it is an electrical contact point in the shape of a small cap so I'm calling it a contact cap here.   This older corroded contact cap is giving us inaccurate resistance readings.  These readings give a reading in ohms indicating the brightness of the flame.  The lower the resistance, the brighter the flame.  He adjusted the fuel pump to get the best resistance numbers possible but he's thinking the numbers will be even lower with a contact cap that is in better condition.  This is important because the ignition control box will shut down the furnace if these readings are too high.  Too h

I figured I would add a short health update here this evening.   I'm still waiting on some of the results from the bone marrow biopsy to come back but I think most of the results have come back at this point.  One pathology report is actually hidden from me and has been hidden from me for the past week which likely means there is something in that particular report that needs to be discussed (ie, not the best of news).  I meet with my oncologist again in three weeks, I think...  maybe in two weeks.  For some reason, the 18th of April is standing out in my mind though so it is probably in three weeks.  Naturally, until I meet with my oncologist, I will have no definitive answers.  Actually, I still may not get any definitive answers when I meet with her since we're (well, really our health professionals) still learning about this crappy illness.   That being said, there are some concerning test results that have come back since my biopsy.  Some of my numbers are worse than when

I only got about two hours of sleep last night due to furnace problems and this furnace nonsense is seriously affecting my health.  Our furnace is still not working as it should.   I nursed it all night long last night to keep the house above 60 degrees.  Then it failed to ignite again this morning, twice.  I tried bleeding the line but that produced no air.  While bleeding, it did ignite, again.  It then failed to ignite again on the next cycle...  and again...  so, sometimes it ignites, sometimes it doesn't...  sometimes it loses ignition in mid-cycle, sometimes it doesn't.   In the meantime, we've called the fuel company and they are sending someone as soon as possible at no charge.  No charge for this service helps alleviate some of the pain of this ongoing problem but this is still frustrating and nerve-racking.  My health is still quite poor so any little thing seems to trigger significant health issues setting me back in my recovery.  Stress is a known trigger.  The

W e celebrated two birthdays yesterday.  Sheila and Ellie share the same birthday so Sheila took the day off from work so we could celebrate together.   Ellie didn't know that we would be spending her birthday with her so Sheila, Will (Pop) and I surprised Ellie by showing up at Echo science and nature museum on the Burlington waterfront.  Whitney simply told Ellie that they were going on a birthday adventure.  When Ellie and Whitney walked into the museum, Ellie immediately saw us in the lobby and greeted us with a big smile on her face.   Gee had previously purchased a "5th Birthday" tiara and a sash and it was gift-wrapped for Ellie to open when she arrived at the museum.  Before we left the lobby, Ellie had opened this first gift and put on her tiara and sash.  Everywhere we went, people wished Ellie a happy birthday and commented on her tiara! In this next photo, you can see that Ellie was pleasantly surprised by finding us waiting for her at the museum... Ellie is o

S ometime in the near future, I plan to write a blog entry more specifically about Sue, Sheila's mom, than I am writing here in this blog entry but, in the meantime, here are some photos of everyone who was with us after Sue's funeral at Will and Sue's home.  Actually, this blog entry is not about any stories of Sue at all but really about the family celebrating her life after the funeral was behind us. These photos inserted here in the blog are small and highly compressed so they are not suitable for printing or even for sharing online.  Additionally, these photos here in this blog also have a shadow border on them which makes them even less suitable for sharing or printing.  That shadow border is designed to fit my blog and, honestly, looks quite goofy when used anywhere else so, if anyone wants a full size copy of any of these photos, just let Sheila know and we'll email you a more suitable copy.   Sheila, Will and I went to the funeral home one morning before the f