Christmas is a holiday that we celebrate not as individuals nor as a nation, but as a human family. – Ronald Reagan
Up and at em… We are off for a 9:00 AM appointment to see the vascular surgeon. We gave him the CT Scan disc and he returned after seriously stroking his beard with the pronouncement that he recommended doing nothing! The left side is totally blocked but the right side is doing well and does not need to be looked at for another year but he wants to keep an eye on it. We were relieved!
When one of the arteries leading into the Circle of Willis gets blocked, the other arteries usually enlarge over time to carry more blood flow. … So, while it is true that once a carotid artery is 100% blocked, surgery is almost never recommended, but it doesn’t mean that all is hopeless.
The arrangement of the brain’s arteries into the circle of Willis creates redundancy (analogous to engineered redundancy) for collateral circulation in the cerebral circulation.
If one part of the circle becomes blocked or narrowed (stenosed) or one of the arteries supplying the circle is blocked or narrowed, blood flow from the other blood vessels can often preserve the cerebral perfusion well enough to avoid the symptoms of ischemia.
We popped home for a few minutes and then headed for the Old Ship Restaurant to celebrate Jan’s birthday! She is officially older than me for the next four days and then we are equal again! We sat around the table dining of an English breakfast and Sue found some great veggie samosas.
I asked the waited to make sure Jan got a candle…just one…NOT one for each year… we did not want to burn the place down!
After dessert and some more conversations, we headed for the door and on our way home. Sue and I were both full! The breakfast was scrumptious and Sue said the veggie selections were nummy!
Bob Zaitz joined us as he lives right around the corner from the restaurant. We had a great time laughing and giggling and solving the problems of the world! Now we have to face reality…such a horrible word!
But first, A Christmas Memory!
Christmas Memory #12 – Nuts And Wheels!
So, Colleen and her husband Pete stayed with us on and off for years based upon Pete being deployed by the US Marines. One Christmas time they were staying with us and it got to be late at night Christmas Eve (translation: time for the parents and grandparents to put together the toys).
Since we were not out, Pete had his Jack and Coke while I emptied a bottle of eggnog assisting Peter i emptying the Jack Daniels!
Pete was overly mechanical so I insisted he read the instructions. Well, this tricycle, for Jon, required the axel caps to be pounded on (no screws or nuts, simply friction).
OK, all is well…hammer in hand Pete pounds the caps onto the axel and all seems well. Pete takes a whirl around the house on the trike (wished I had a picture of that but the image is burnt into mu mind and it will live in my mind forever).
In the morning, Jon is so excited…he raced into our room and yelled “Grandma, Grandpa…Santa was here!”. We jumped out of bed and watched Jon galloped for the tricycle. Pete and Colleen were right behind us!
With the world biggest smile, he mounts the trusty steed and takes off. Around and around he goes, tooting the horn and ringing the bell. The colorful plastic strips from the handlebars stand at 90 degrees. Within 30 seconds, we hear a crash! Expecting to see he and the trike head of heals after hitting furniture….or the wall!
Nope! Didn’t happen! There is Jon, sprawled out on the floor and the trike, with only two wheel attached, is laying beside him. The other wheel apparently flew off and rolled clear across the living room crashing into the fireplace. Splat!!
Pete had a sheepish grin on his face!
We knew he was not hurt but we laughed until we hurt and for years thereafter we teased Corporal Charter about his mechanical skills!
It’s movie time and tonight we started with “A Puppy For Christmas”.
After adopting a cute puppy, Noelle’s world is turned upside down when her boyfriend breaks up with her.
We thought the boyfriend was a loser and he was!
After accepting an invitation to spend the holidays with a co-worker, she is surrounded by the Christmas cheer of a happy family and soon sparks begin to fly. We likes sparks! It was true loved in the snow. The old boys friends really lost out!
The puppy was CUTE reminding us of our first baby, Valentine!
We watched another Christmas Story before going to our regular series.
It’s Christmas and once again, Dale Landis places a tree on his roof and ends up in court. No one in the small town knows why he continues the practice, but idealistic attorney, Sarah Wright is determined to give Mr. Landis his Christmas wish and keep him out of jail. Judge Conner has different ideas when he puts Sarah and and aggressive prosecutor John Keaton together to figure out the mystery behind the rooftop Christmas tree. The two must come together to find a solution and in the end find out more not only about Mr. Landis, but about each other.
We had our tookies and then decided to watch ‘Bull” which was interesting. Tomorrow is going to be a long day so we decided to pull up the rug at 11:25 PM this evening.
We really enjoye dthe movie.
