Family tradition continues...

For as long as I can remember, my mother has always gone to Marblehead, MA to plant flowers at her mother's grave. She used to take a day off from work and go with her father and stepmother. Mom remembers her mother planting flowers at the Campbell-Dingley plot and always wanted to continue the tradition. When my grandparents were too old to make the trip, I started to join mom on her yearly trek.
We would head to Marblehead, plant flowers, look around the cemetery and then stop in Peabody to have lunch with our aunt. Gramma always planted germainiums -- ugly flowers. I always teased mom about buying them....Gramma wasn't planting them, who cared what kind of flowers we got? Thankfully mom stopped buying germainiums.
This year, Wil joined mom and I on our trek. We planted flowers, talked to Grampa and Gramma, discussed family history and took a tour of Marblehead. I told mom years ago that the tradition will continue with me and my children -- just don't expect germainiums!


Wil, mom and I at Fort Sewell, overlooking Marblehead harbor

All better

I'm "normal" again -- well, I'm Bethie normal! :^)
I met with the GI doctor's PA last week. Marcy was wonderful! Very nice, explained everything in normal-speak-terms and reviewed all my test results. Again, no real reason for being sick -- just the inflamed lymph nodes in my abdomen. Luckily the pain went away as mysteriously as it appeared. The ER doctor was right -- it's like a cold, last for 10-14 days and there is nothing that can be done except deal (and take Vicodin!).

Many thanks to those who wished me well earlier this month.

It's not a baby

I've had a stomach ache for over a week now. Course, everyone's first question is "Are you pregnant?" No.

It started with what I thought was just a tinge of a stomach ache....bad food, not enough sleep, etc. Just an overall icky feeling. So I stayed home from work and camped out in bed for a few days.


Still not feeling better, I headed to the doctor. She thought the tenderness in my abdomen might be associated with my gall bladder. I went for an ultrasound and blood work Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon brought excruciating pain; my ultrasound was normal and the blood work didn't show anything. I was off to the ER for pain & a CT scan. If you have the chance to have a CT scan -- DON'T DO IT!! I had to drink two bottles of this wonderful chalk shake. It was all I could do to keep it down; two shots of nausea medication kept it down.

The CT scan was clear. JOY! All my insides look normal -- except my lymph nodes were inflamed. Apparently this is a common occurrence that has no cure. It's not viral, so there are no antibiotics that can be taken. Just wait it out with pain medication (Vicodin is my friend!), follow up with the GI specialist, drink lots of fluids and keep a bland diet.

Thank god for a wireless network, laptop and cable....