FINALLY, KELLY FINDS RELIEF FROM HER ABDOMINAL PAINS

 PHEEBS REALLY ENJOYED THE SUMMER BREEZE THIS MORNING

Hearing Kelly's voice on the phone about 1 p.m. this afternoon I knew she was in difficulty.  She had just come back from an electrocardiogram and with pain increasing in her abdomen it was not easy for her to talk.  She had notified a nurse who made an immediate call to her liver doctor.  (Dr. Hudson)  In the meantime, Kelly's son Ben was on the way to see her.  Our phone call was short and Kelly said she would call me as soon as she knew anything more.  

 FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY, THEY DRAINED KELLY'S ABDOMEN THIS AFTERNOON
It was 4 p.m. when she called again and it was a much relieved, stronger, and happier voice I heard, and that voice had a story to tell.  Dr. Hudson's assistant (a doctor in training) had quickly arrived in Kelly's room with an Ultrasound device and as luck would have it, Ben and his friend Lelia were already there.  Little did they know they would soon be assisting Dr. Hudson's assistant with a medical procedure.  I have met this lady assistant who is very nice but I can't remember her name.  It's close to Aliasg or something so that is what I shall call her.  With the Ultrasound machine, Aliasg soon found a build-up of fluid in Kelly's stomach that immediately needed to be drained.  Rather than send Ben and Lelia away Aliasg explained the 'draining' procedure to them and enlisted their help as she pierced Kelly's abdomen with a drain tube.  She had them gently press on Kelly's abdomen before she was called away to another case.  Ben and Lelia continued this as 3 liters of fluid began filling a plastic bag located on the floor.  Eventually, the 4-liter bag was full.  Kelly said it was 9 pounds of fluid she had been carrying around.  And here's the best part.....Kelly's abdomen pain was 'finally' gone.  Oh Gee, d'ya think!!!!!  Why oh why oh why wasn't this done two and a half weeks ago when Kelly, with her swollen abdomen, was taken by emergency ambulance from Clinton to London in critical condition!!!!!  Anyway, the best thing right now is that she is finally feeling much better .  But, because of her failing liver, this fluid build-up will happen again. Tomorrow, she thinks another cat scan might be done.  And, this time, there has been no talk of quickly sending her home like before.

 DOCTOR HUDSON'S ASSISTANT INSERTS A DRAIN TUBE

 THE DRAINING PROCESS BEGINS

 BEN AND HIS FRIEND LELIA HELPING BY GENTLY PRESSING ON KELLY'S ABDOMEN

 THE BAG CONTINUES TO FILL

Another hot muggy day with Pheebs and I heading to Goderich earlier this morning.  I had hoped to get some dog food but with it being a long week-end most stores were closed.  Except for Walmart of course, so after a drive down around the harbor we picked up a few things at Wallyworld and headed towards home.  Along the way we stopped in at Richard and Gayle's place.  Between all the medical stuff between we two couples, it had been about 3 weeks since Richard and I had last been out for one of our country road coffee runs.  We quickly figured out today was a good day so grabbed it.  Richard followed Pheebs and I home whereupon I put Pheebs in the house and quickly put a few groceries away before hopping into Richard's van.  Minutes later with coffee and muffins in hand, we were off out into the countryside dusting up half a dozen gravel roads.     

 SPOTTED THE ALGOMA BUFFALO THROUGH THE TREES TAKING ON A LOAD OF SALT AT THE GODERICH SALT MINE

BEACH GOERS AT ROTARY COVE ENJOYING A QUIET MONDAY MORNING

 I THINK THIS LITTLE BEACHGOER IS TOTALLY POOPED

 SETTING UP FOR A PICNIC AT THE BEACH

 DOG WALKING ALONG THE SHORES OF LAKE HURON

 ENJOYING A FINE MORNING ALONG THE BOARDWALK

Al's Music Box:)) Moments To Remember is a 1955 popular song about nostalgia recorded by Canadian quartet The Four Lads The song was originally written by Robert Allen and al Stillman for Perry Como but was turned down by Como's management.  The Four Lads recorded it in June 1955 for Columbia Records as the B side to the single "Dream On, My Love."  Bernie Toorish of the Four Lads credited the enthusiastic endorsement of Cleveland radio DJ Bill Randle for increasing radio airtime play and popularizing the recording.  It eventually reached number 2 on Billboard magazine. Top 100 hit list (an early version of the Hot 100), sold 4 million copies and became the group's first gold record.  Besides the voices of the male quartet, the song also contains two uncredited female parts. According to the Four Lads' Frank Busseri, the introductory verse, ("January through December/We'll have moments to remember"), as well as the repeat of the Bridge section in harmony, ("When summer turns to winter",) were sung by Lois Winters of the Ray Charles Singers and the poetic spoken words in mid-song: ("A drive-in movie/Where we'd go/And somehow never watched the show/") were recited by Pat Kirby who at that time was a singer on Steve Allen's television show Tonight.....(this is one of my all-time favorite songs because it takes me right back to my boyhood public school days in Tavistock, Ontario Canada reminding me of some of the older high school teenagers in town...Barry Ekstein comes to mind.

SOME GREENERY GROWING OUT OF THE BOULDERS AT ROTARY COVE

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Mike's sitting on the couch. From the kitchen he hears, "Babe.... can you help me?"  He goes to the kitchen. "What are you doing?"  She says, "I'm trying to do this jigsaw puzzle."  "What's it supposed to be?" he asks.  She picks up the box. "A Rooster."  "Honey," he says. "Let's put the cornflakes back in the box....."

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During a terrible storm, all the highway signs were covered with snow. The following spring, the state decided to raise all the signs twelve inches at a cost of six million dollars. “That’s an outrageous price!” said a local farmer, “but I guess we’re lucky the state handled it instead of the federal government.” “Why’s that?”
“Because knowing the federal government, they’d decided to lower the highways.”

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Over breakfast one morning, a woman said to her husband, "I bet you don't know what day this is."  "Of course I do," he indignantly answered, getting up from the table and going out the door to the office.  At 10am, the doorbell rang. When the woman opened the door, she was handed a box containing a dozen long-stemmed red roses. At 1pm, a foil-wrapped, two-pound box of her favorite chocolates arrived. Later, a boutique delivered a designer dress.  The woman couldn't wait for her husband to come home. When he did, she exclaimed, "First the flowers, then the chocolates and then the dress! I've never had a more wonderful Groundhog Day in my whole life!"

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