Lyda Morehouse's Blog, page 84

Mouse Tuesday and Shawn Update

A quick Shawn update -- thanks to everyone who has offered support. It's been really tremendous that so many people care and are willing to offer prayers, well-wishes, thoughts and support. We're all back home today. Despite the "failed" stress test, the cardiologist is certain that Shawn is in no immediate dangers so they sent us home. She (the doctor) also gave us the good news that the stress test has about a 5 - 10% chance of showing false positives, and, given Shawn's utter lack of family history with heart disease or risk factors, thinks this much more likely the case.

Hooray!

We're stuck waiting around the house, however, because the doctor put Shawn on the schedule for an "echo test" of the stress test (where they do a similar test, but there's no radiation injection. Instead, they run an ultrasound) and we're waiting for the call to see when that will be. They say it SHOULD be today, but in-patients get first priority. And, frankly, I'm okay with that. Shawn has had so many heart tests in the last three days that if there were any other abnormalities something would have shown up by now.

Shawn is, of course, sound asleep still. Hospitals are one of the worst places to try to rest, IMHO, so she's utterly exhausted. It's so great to be home and to know that everything is going to be okay. Because, even if this "reversible defect" turns out to really be there, they have a procedure to fix it permanently. That'll mean angioplasty, or something like that to unclog the block, but it's a very routine procedure.

So I'm feeling really very confident today. Mason has been an absolute trouper through this whole thing. I'm just really glad that he's off school right now on intersession so I didn't have to try to cart him back and forth to school and hospital and everything else. We've just hung out playing video games, like we would if we were sitting in the coffee shop all day. Of course he still got squirrelly by the end of the day (you can only sit so long), but that was about the time when I took him home for the night anyway.

So that's everything for now. I'll drop Mouse into another post. Because I actually wrote a little vingette last night while waiting for the cardiologist. I'm afraid I'm one of those people who gets comfort from "going back to work." Though, I do think that I probably made this next scene slightly less scary than I might have otherwise had not all this stuff gone down with Shawn.

Heart Broken

Turns out Shawn's heart *is* broken a little. We're still in the hospital this evening because the stress test turned up what is called a "reversable defect" (possilby "mild reversible perfusion defect," according to the Googles -- we haven't seen the cardiologist yet.) Anyway, her heart functions normally at rest, but under stress this tiny portion of her heart doesn't get enough oxygen, probably due to some kind of blockage.

Mason and I meanwhile have gotten very proficient at hanging out. I'm ETERNALLY grateful for the free WiFi that United provides its guests. Otherwise, I'd be bored out of my skull. I have managed to get a little work done on Tate's novel, but, despite long stretches of nothing to do, it's hard to concentrate here. We're always getting interrupted by nurses and other staff, and, of course, we're at a HOSPITAL. Not exactly the sort of place where people feel relaxed and at ease. I mean, d'uh, right? Plus, I'm worried sick about Shawn this whole time, although, honestly, I was less worried before they found something. Before we figured her brain had just gone a bit haywire with the migraine stuff... now....

Now, as I was joking to her earlier, we need to get the Great and Powerful Oz on the line. We not only need a brain, but we need a heart too! And maybe a little courage to boot!

Ai-ai-ai.

Weekend Report Early

We're at the hospital.

After the kuk soOlympics, Shawn complained of dizziness and upper chest/arm pain. I wanted to just slink off to bed and ignore it, but, of course, these are classic symptoms for a heart attack. Woman of the certain age which we happen to be tend to ignore subtle signs of heart disease and end up dead. So we decided it was time for a trip to the emergency room.

I think we all expected that the folks in the emergency room would solve this mystery quickly and with something simple like "Oh, it was heart burn; you can go home now." But Shawn was admitted. They took EKGs and X-Rays and a battery of blood tests. Then, when she told them about some of the other symptoms including intermittent numbness on her left side, they wanted to rule out the possiblity of a stroke.

So she stayed the night under observation. Mason and I went home last night and came back this morning. She's going to be here at least until Monday, though, because, even though they're PRETTY sure that she didn't have a heart attack _or_ a stroke, they're not sure enough to feel comfortable letting her go home. Especially since they don't know what it is. She's in a 40-minute MRI right now, and then tomorrow they've scheduled a final stress test (just to double and triple check the heart). The doc's suspicion is that this may be a new complication to Shawn's continual migraine problems, but they're all about rather safe than sorry. Which I'm mostly grateful for, though they also sent in an "insurance counselor" to give us the bad news that we've been classified as "under observation" rather than "in-patient" which may cost us a LOT more out of pocket. We're going to check to see what we can do about that, but we might just be screwed.

Wish us luck.

Will keep you posted.

The Late Post

I'm finally happy with Tate's novel again. I've been going through everything I've written so far and tightening and reworking and massaging and all that light revision stuff. What happened was that, when I settled down to go over the notes from Wyrdsmiths last night, I realized that the first several chapters are actually quite strong.

It helps to know that the bones are there, you know?

I'm getting tired now, though. I haven't made my quota for the day, but I'll just have to pull up the slack this weekend. My family and I have been getting into the habit of having homemade hot chocolate every night before bed. It's actually pretty low on chocolate and high on warm milk. I am now getting very sleepy. It's like hypnotism, only involving my stomach.

I started reading LAST HAWK by Catherine Asaro, and it amuses me greatly. I may have to blog about this one eventually. I'm ridiculously enchanted by stories of gender role reversal, where women are agressive and in charge and the men get treated like repressed women in the 1950s or earlier. It's like some kind guilty pleasure. I read Wen Spencer's A BROTHER'S PRICE, which drove me a little crazy, but it has this same conceit.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. 'Nite.

Anxious for Resurrection Code?

Are you anxious to get your sweaty hands on an early copy of Resurrection Code? I've donated a copy to "Con or Bust", a charity organization that provides travel funds to various science fiction/fantasy conventions to fans of color (primarily WisCON.)

The .pdf is the closest thing I have to an ARC. I've asked my publisher for the official review copy, but if I don't get that in time, you'll have to make do with the version I got. I will, however, make a hard copy for the winner if he or she doesn't have access to a .pdf reader.

I set the bidding intentionally low, because I want people to feel like they're getting a bargain. However, if I can help the charity make some money that would be an added bonus. Last time I checked there was only one bid at $10.00. So, get in there! You can still get it for less than the cover price!!

In other news, Mason is getting ready for the Kuk SoOlympics! I declined signing up this time because we were feeling cheap. The entry fee is actually quite reasonable, but the two of us is just that much more than the one... anyway, it will be fun to cheer him on. He's signed up for the "techniques," the mystery event, and the obstical course.

I should also report somewhat tardily that Mason had an EXCELLENT sleep over at Donte's. He didn't call once. Shawn and I were complete dorks and spent our evening child-free playing Boogle on the iTouch. Although to be fair, we splurge a little and go out to eat as well. That was nice, and frankly, we both overate, so lying on the couch and finding words was about all we could manage after.

We spent far too much of the night wondering how he was doing, too, of course. "Finding Nemo" is pretty much the only thing that has kept Shawn and I from becoming the worst helicopter parents in the entire world. Thank goodess we watched that movie when Mason was an infant, and really took home the idea that if you don't let anything happen to little Nemo that would be pretty boring for him. So we kept reminding ourselves that he was learning independence and having a grand adventure.

Mason has also lost another front tooth. He has a wide-gap mouth smile right now. The tooth fairy had a little panic the other night because she thought she had "folding money" as Shawn's family calls it, but she only had two 20 dollar bills. And, while she knows that the fairy exchange rate for teeth has risen since she was a kid, 20 bucks seemed a little steep. So at about 11 pm at night, she had to hop in the car to find a place to break her 20. Turns out the Tooth Fairy delivers Cub brand eggs to the grown-ups and smaller change to the kid at the same time!

Nice, huh?

Also speaking of helicopter parents, I should tell you a bit about Mason's pokemon playdate with his friend from kuk sool wan. I was excited that it was a drop off, but I forgot that most parents are not as lassiez-faire as I can be. (Frankly, I consider myself somewhere in the middle of the lassiez-faire-to-helicopter scale.) At any rate, I was invited in for a coffee and some light interrogation. I don't know if I passed, since the other mom got a phone call she had to take so I was allowed to leave. :-)

Ah well, even if I didn't pass her muster, *I* liked *her* right away. She had previously lived on the East Coast and that brisk, vaguely neurotic a personality type that I relate to, honestly.

Anyway, I was so excited to have time to myself to write that I dashed off to the coffee shop formerly known as "Brewberry's" (now an Espresso Royale, I think,) and wrote 2,000 words. That was great, but I totally forgot to go to PetCo to pick up cat fud (and fish filters, gerbil bedding, etc.)

All right, speaking of writing, I should get to it.

Tuesday Mouse! (Part 4)

Before I begin this installment I have to confess to having far too much fun. In its own way, this is becoming a story. Something I never intended. Not really. Keep in mind, the REAL book is going to start somewhere else.

But, without further ado:

-------

Gorgons.

I hold my breath, and resist the urge to peak over the railing for one more look at the lithe forms scampering beneath the bridge in valley of abandoned car corpses. The sun glares down menacingly. Sweat trickles down the back of my neck. I'm dying for a drink of water from the canteen, but I'm afraid they might hear any movement. It's probably an irrational fear. Despite all the things people say about them, no one has superpowers in real life, right?


Just as I decide they can't still be in the vicinity, a deep shadow falls over me.

I can see pink canvass sneakers just beyond my nose. A broken hologram on the sides flash an incomplete ad, insisting "Fun!" and "Often!" in English and Arabic. Instead of laces, the shoes are pulled tight with a mish-mash of colored pipe cleaners and tinseled wire. It looks like the owner looted a day care's art supply shelf. "Are you dead?" a curious female voice asks in Arabic.

I'm not sure what the best response is, though a lie seems pointless since I'm breathing like a racehorse. "Not yet, Insha'allah," I say.

That makes her laugh. I'm so grateful not to hear any others join in her mirth that I hazard a glance upward. She looks no more than ten, which brings a sigh to my parched lips. I don't know much about Gorgons, but I've heard they mature crazy-fast. Plus, underneath a Cub's ball cap, this girl has curls as dark as mine with eyes to match. She's wearing a black coat that's far too big and a tee-shirt with another haywire holo – this one shows a cartoon pony that stutters along instead of galloping gracefully. Her legs are covered in tattered, threadbare red and white striped tights.

She drops tailor-fashion onto the sidewalk in that boneless way of the very young. "Why are you laying on the ground then? Are you sick?"

"I was hiding," I say. "From the Gorgons."

She shakes her head like I've done something incredibly stupid. "They're nice. You'll see."

I'd been about to correct her when the impact of her last sentence hits. "Um, 'I'll see'?"

That's when I notice the silver eyes watching from just below the railings. She was the decoy to draw out the stupid human.

I'm the sitting duck.

What? Snow? How... Boring.

The excitment over various "snowpocalypses" is so yesterday. And yet, what did we get on Sunday? More snow. Blah, blah, a dozen or more inches. Blah, blah, I struggled to get my car out. Blah, blah, everything is white and almost beautiful, but completely buried.

It's hard to compete, too, when people who have never seen snow in their lives, like in Atlanta, are dealing with stuff we get every day around here. AND, on top of that, people are out there protesting in blizzard conditions.

On that note, I had an interesting exchange with a neighbor who helped me unstick my car from the roundabout. I'd rolled down the window to talk about the stupid rain that we're getting on top of the ten inches of snow, and he said, "You know, for all the crappy weather we get, we ought to have a higher standard of living in exchange." I'm sure he was thinking about Norway or Sweden, but my first thought was, "We did. Before Pawlenty. Before Michele Bachmann and the other crazy teabaggers." And it made me think about why people are taking to the streets in Madison. Having decent wages and good schools with happy teachers and fire fighters and police officers and garbage pick-up and decent wages and good health care and dozens of other services that union employees provide *is* what we trade-off for living here and putting up with the winter.

My mother wrote from Texas where they snow-bird in a trailer park. Before Madison exploded, she was talking about how garbage seems to pile up outside of businesses there in Texas and no one cares, and how ALIEN that is to a Wisconsinite like her. She said something like, "I guess we're just more civic-minded in Wisconsin."

I'd say. :-)

One thing I have to do (on top of making my 2,000 word quota for Tate) is write another Mouse vingnette for y'all to have tomorrow. I was smart to have done those three ahead of time, and now I'm totally feeling the pressure. Though I think I'll use it as the carrot to my stick. If I get Tate done quickly, I'll write some Mouse.

Shawn is home today since she's one of those "privledged" government employees. She's sitting across from me rather grimly balancing the check book. Yeah, we totally live the high life. (Not.)

Signing Update

New and Improved! Now with 50% More Authors!

Breaking News: I will now be sharing my Saturday, March 26th signing from 1:00 - 2:00 pm at Uncle Hugo's with Neve Maslakovic. I already want to love her book REGARDING DUCKS AND UNIVERSES, for this line in the product description: "On a foggy Monday in 1986, the universe suddenly, without warning, bifurcated."

A Day of Unexpected FREEDOM

Tonight, Mason has his very first ever sleep over at SOMEONE ELSE'S HOUSE!! His friend from Crossroads, Donte, called and they set up a time. Mason is supposed to bring along a pillow, his animal friends (a rabbit named "Sirralabwaydoh," after a girl in Mason's class, and a bear named what else but "Ted"), a couple of Star Wars Movies and some Harry Potter. Donte's mom checked in to make sure popcorn would be okay, and it sounds to me like it's going to be a fun-filled night. Fingers crossed that he doesn't do what Shawn and I both have done in our youth, which is freak out half-way through the night and call to get a ride home. But he will have his cell, and I let Donte's mom know that would be perfectly acceptable if he did want/need to come home. It happens to most of us some time, I think.

But... that means... Shawn and I have a childless house tonight. Even if he bails at some point in the night, we'll easily have several hours in which he will be happily occupied elsewhere.

AND, on top of that excitement, I just got a call from one of Mason's friends from kuk sool wan, Gregory. After class, Mason ended up bonding with Gregory over Pokemon and other DS games. They're going to have a playdate at his house... and the mom just said I could DROP OFF! OMG. Two hours to get errands done *on top* of getting to have some us-time with Shawn tonight.

Have I died and gone to stay-at-home parent heaven???

I may have. Now the question will be: will I use my powers for good or evil? Will I squander the opportunity or be ridiculously productive? And, really, which is better?? The bonus is, it looks like I have time to do a little bit of both. I mean, I can clean/errand/etc., and then goof off later tonight. How awesome is that???

USB!

Found it! Actually, Shawn called with an idea of where I might look, but the point is: can has picturez!

In which Mason investigates the "pond," which was once a skating rink (and probably before that Nate's friend's baseball feild.)


In which Mason gets wedged in a Very Tight Spot:


In which the summit is achieved: