Got word yesterday that the mri is clean! No signs of any spinal abnormalities. We are psyched, even though we know that the cd of the images are being sent to a specialist in Denver. It seems that if there was anything suspicious, something on the scan would have come back questionable. What a relief. What a final relief it will be when we hear good news from D-Town.
E has had a slight cold. She sounds awful at times during the night and when she wakes up. During the daylight hours, there is some occasional coughing, but she is in good spirits. Doc says that humans naturally produce anti-inflammatories during the day, but that in the evening, they decrease- hence the coughing and wheezing at night. Nothing in her lungs, no infection, ears look great, etc. She even got tested for something called RSV, but that was negative.
That being said, I did take her out skiing today. It was snowing a bit this morning, but when things started clearing up after her second nap, I decided it was go time. Threw her, her helmet, and her backpack into the back of the truck and headed to the Steamboat Ski area. I went sans helmet, sans long johns, and with my hat, spring gloves, and sunglasses. From the minute I stuffed her into the Sherpani (arms tucked in now), she was quiet. Got her on my back, used my skis as walking stabilizers (I didn't bring poles), and hoofed it to the gondola. She and I boarded a car by ourselves and she sat contentedly on the bench, still strapped down in her backpack for the ride to the top. Once up top, we got out of the car, threw her on my back and we headed out of the building. Sunny and beautiful while getting my skis on. Still quiet.
It was colder than I expected (18 degrees), but as we started moving I realized that my hood was doing a decent job shielding her from the wind as we moved down the mountain. Plan was to take Why Not down to the bottom. It is a beginner run that winds back and forth at an easy descent. Took one pitch and as we wound into the shade, I quickly vetoed taking it all the way down. So, we jumped on Vagabond, which is an intermediate run, but stayed nice and sunny.
There was hardly anyone on the mountain and Emerald was completely content. When we were finishing a steeper part of Vag, she did groan 3 times, but I think it was because I was making some real turns which forced her to work a little harder stabilizing herself, or she was getting the roller coaster feeling in her stomach. Either way, it wasn't a bad groan, just a fairly common noise she makes. I spoke with her all the way down and she was just taking it all in. I wish I could have gotten some better shots, but she was always either on the wrong side, in a shadow, or blocked by my hood.
Got off Vagabond after a little while, jumped on Betwixt- another beginner run- and took that to the some other run and got to the base of the gondy again. I took my skis off, put my boots in walk mode, and we left. She was so quiet, I kept looking in store windows to see if she was sleeping, but she wasn't- just quiet and content. At the truck, she smiled at me when I took her out of the backpack and we giggled together for a bit. She got into her car seat and chilled all the way home. Again, I thought she might be sleeping, but she was just playing with the buckle on her seat. How nice it will be if we can keep this up. I will probably wait for either a warmer day next time, or I will put her sun shield up with the clear rain fly. That will block the breeze some and might make her more comfortable if it is cold outside.
When we got home, I put her in the carriage and took the dogs for a walk. We are watching B and M's dog while they are chilling on a boat in Honolulu Harbor, maybe I should retire! The trail we took wasn't wide enough for the stroller and we got about a foot yesterday, so I tied Sadie's lease to the front of the stroller and she helped drag it through the snow. Wandered around in Fairview for a while before going home.
For dinner, I made some Orange Chicken. Oranges were on sale the other day and good chicken breasts were 2 for 1. I cut chix into smallish cubes and dusted with flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Dipped the floured cubes into egg and then tossed them into a panko and sesame seed mixture. Plopped them onto a baking sheet and crisped them up. Then I stir fried some broccoli, yellow and green onions, added a orangey, sesame, hoisen sauce. Put it all over rice. Not bad.
For those of you who are interested in the basement, it is coming along. Have finished the electric, wired surround sound, and am now hanging the drywall. I would say that the sheetrock on the walls is about 85% complete, but I still have the ceiling to go. Will hopefully make some good progress this weekend...
unless T and D have their baby. She has felt some stuff happening all ready tonight. We are on standby.
She's the best!
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