Miracle on 62nd Drive...

This past weekend, I loaned a car to a very good friend of mine. This friend is both trustworthy and has done far more for me, than I've ever done for her, so I was proud to be able to offer her the car, a Volvo Convertible. Unfortunately the weather was a bit wet to lower the top, but it still looked good with her driving it. Her destination was one of the higher cities in AZ, somewhere up in the mountains. I knew the 5 cylinder turbo engine would do just fine climbing the 5,000 feet to her destination. I spoke with her during her ride up and the car did do fine. On her return ride home on Sunday, this brilliant silver car with a black stunning top contrasted in definition and became, "that car that you gave me". It had been giving her trouble. I was both shocked and concerned that she'd be stranded in the middle of the desert with the car that I thought was so wonderful. Upon inquiry the problems were, the radio won't play and the fan is stuck on high making a loud annoying noise. I immediately thought that the ignition might be in the wrong place and asked if the turn signals were working properly. She told me they were. I still suggested that she pull over and jiggle the key in the ignition, as sometimes it doesn't fall in the right position and you can lose the accessories. That didn't solve the problem, but as long as the car was driving properly, it was something that could be addressed when she got back to town and I expressed my apologies for her inconvenience. The more I thought about it, when 2 separate items quit working on a car simultaneously, it must be a fuse that regulates both. I was going to call my mechanic, but remembered it was not only Sunday, but a holiday and figured it could wait until a work day.

About 45 minutes later, I was still concerned about her and called again. I had a hard time getting through, but after about 7 tries, I was able to reach her. She was driving through the mountains and telephone reception is sometimes difficult. When she answered, she relieved me by telling me that the radio is working again, that where she was, there were no radio stations and that was the problem. I inquired about the noisy fan and she told me it was still blasting away. I told her that there is a zero on the selection for fan speed and asked if it were in that position. She replied no, but when she put it there, it stopped it. She had the fan pointed to "auto" and the temperature set at 55, so naturally the fan was working it's head off, trying to achieve that temperature. We call that "operator error"..

I think that's when she told me that she wrecked the front of the car a little and do I still love her? Now, I was concerned about the damage she had done. As long as she wasn't hurt though, I didn't really care what had happened to the car, cars can be repaired. She was relieved and I was anxious to see the damage. It turned out that the only damage was to the front under skirt, the spoiler under the bumper, if you will and it was done long before she ever laid eyes on that beautiful Volvo convertible. It was unnoticeable. However, when I looked under the car that she had just filled the gas tank to it's maximum capacity, I noticed a horrible oil leak that certainly was not there before. It was just pouring oil out of it and I thought that perhaps, whatever she ran over, either tore a hole in the pan or the oil filter. Then, the more I thought about it, it could have been a transmission line that has been disturbed as the oil was full when I checked it. Now I've been dealing with cars and trouble shooting problems for the past 35 or 40 years and have never confused oil with water. I don't know if it was because her garage floor was painted gray or if the sun were setting, but when I went to leave about 2 hours later, that oil puddle under the Volvo convertible was gone! Once again, I know the difference between oil and water. Oil sits up high and is much darker. Water ripples when another drop falls into it and oil just kind of shocks because it's so much thicker. That oil leak turned to water and dried up. Now that was a miracle!

Mel
5/26/08

What does "HE" have in Mind???

If I had it to do over again, I would have paid more attention in school. The things they were teaching would have come in handy at this age. For example, I never even knew my blood had gases. They tried to check my blood gases and I got embarrassed! Who knew? Terms are being thrown at me everyday and I am at a loss to understand. Julie asked me about my bun yesterday and I turned around to show her. Today Dr. Z told me that my bun was in line and I thought he was making a pass at me.

Over the past few years, I've learned that the human body is like a well oiled machine. When one thing is out of line, the rest of it has a hard time operating at maximum potential. When the heart has a rough time, your lungs won't operate the way they're supposed to and the kidneys require a certain amount oxygen to continue working. Once your kidneys stop, they never run the same afterwards. Similar to an automobile engine, when the timing is off, the car runs hot.

This was my most recent dilemma. I awoke last Saturday morning feeling dizzy. When you're a kidney patient, dizzy can mean your kidneys aren't working and your blood is getting polluted. When you're a heart patient, dizzy can mean your heart isn't pumping enough oxygen to your brain, similar to a stroke. You could just have Vertigo, an infection in the middle ear. I chose door number 3 and I got lucky, it was just Vertigo. Before I came to that conclusion, I first had to go to the cardiologist to get his okay, only to find out my potassium was ready to throw me into shock and eventually cardiac arrest. Fortunately I resolved that by calling the kidney specialist that put me onto the anecdote for high potassium and saved my life. Here's an interesting thought. What if my bout with Vertigo was God's way of alerting me to my high potassium, sending me to the doctor's for help. I take nothing for granted, and give God and Dr. Zaharia all of the credit. Dr. Zaharia called me today from his vacation in Park City, Utah to calm me and let me know that he was still on the job, even though he was officially on vacation. You can't find doctors like that anymore and I sincerely believe that he was sent by God to watch over me. How else would you explain it?

Three and a half years ago, I awakened in the middle of the night not feeling well. I went to the emergency room to be misdiagnosed by some ER doctor and handed off to another to completely screw up a stent that I was borderline for, poking a hole into the descending artery in my heart, causing me to require open heart surgery for another doctor to find an aneurysm that may have killed me? Coincidence or Davine Intervention, you decide...

Mel

5/24/08

The White Flag was Waving...

After arbitration, negotiation and damaged reputation, it appears that the war between Mona P. Fisher and myself has been resolved. We laughed, we cried, we did everything her way and that seemed to help a lot.. With the assistance of an old woman from a foreign country and a few days to think things over, the reconciliation went rather smoothly. I guess life is too short to let the small things ruffle your feathers, particularly at 65 and 82.9.

It's Just not True!

Historically Bogie has had the most voracious appetite I've ever seen on an animal OR a person. The day that he was neutered and he was six years old, he dragged himself on his elbow to his food dish and swallowed every bite. When Zoie blows chunks, he considers it an appetizer for his own meal. He NEVER forgets to remind me it's dinner time, even when he's asleep. He jerks to awareness and leaps to his feet and often times awakens me from an afternoon nap, with his tongue to my face. Daylight Savings Time won't even trick him.

This morning when I awakened, Zoie was on my heels to go outside and when I reached the back door, there on the floor, right before the door was a meadow muffin to the likes I've never seen. It was tall, puffed up but sans a squiggle on top. In measurements, let's say 5" X 8" and 4 inches tall. I was aghast and a gassed. Zoie was afraid to go too close to it, as she was worried about being blamed. I knew it wasn't she, as she goes upstairs to do her dirty deeds, like a lady. When Bogie finally got up about 10 minutes later, he sleeps in most days, he lowered his head as to admit to the insult. He walked towards it, but detoured into the kitchen and around the island, so as to miss the thing entirely. Pretty smart that boy of mine. As he walked out the door, I muttered the words, "bad boy" as he passed me, him lowering his head about an inch to acknowledge my offense.

The next thing on Bogie's list of things to do is usually to get a long drink from the outside water supply, then pee and then come back to the door barking insistently for his breakfast, while I'm eagerly preparing it, so as to avoid his screaming. The meadow muffin was just to the right of where he stands to eat and I thought as a lesson, I'd just leave it there, knowing that dogs won't shit where they eat, or so they say. Bogie, in an all out effort to erase that foolish adage, came in, stood firmly next to his turd and swallowed his breakfast at record breaking speed. It was only when he was completely finished that he rose his head and looked at me to say, "See, it's not so bad", and walked away.

Mel
5/20/08

The Princess in the Castle Tower and the VERY VERY Handsome Prince with a Nice Smile...

Once upon a time, there was a West side Princess. This princess although could be free, has locked herself in her castle tower. A place where she is secure and definitely alone, allowing only certain people in and only when she sees fit. On occasion she's not feeling so hot and won't allow anyone to assist her in her pain as the princess needs to control everything in her life, even pain.

There is a reason that the princess has locked herself in the tower and this is because EVERYONE in her life, without exception has disappointed her in one way or another and now trust is a very serious issue. Her feelings of inadequacy are overwhelming sometimes and she lashes out at the people that love her.

At one point, the princess thought she had found her Prince Charming, but he ran off with the Princess of Mexico to live in a trailer under a bridge. Then another prince came along, an older more experienced prince but it was too late for him, as the princess had already been spoiled, ruined if you will, by unfinished promises. Now the Princess is jaded and sad and can never trust another prince, even when the older more mature prince tries to prove things are different. The older, more mature and very handsome prince (I added that myself) only has the best interest in the princess, but she still is wary as she has been hurt too many times before and feels that everyone has an ulterior motive.

The new, older, very mature and extremely handsome prince was about to throw in the towel, as he has tried as hard as he can, when a wise friend said,"Very Handsome Prince, why not give her some more time, she is wounded, broken if you will?"

That's where we are now, but that Princess had better hurry while the opportunity is still around!

The End

*Any association between these characters and real life individual are intended.