The Blizzard of '05

We are in the center of this map, surrounded by white. At this point we had close to a foot of snow on the ground and more coming. Apparently there is a lot more to come as the low goes below us and brings more snow from the east creating a typical Nor'easter. The counter-clockwise spin of the low will pull moisture from the ocean and dump it on us as more snow. They say that it will snow until noon tomorrow.

I went out around 9:30 PM to shovel and cleared the sidewalk and driveway. I am out of shape and came in exhausted. The snow was light because it is so cold but because there was so much snow it was still a lot of work. So I'm taking it easy now and hoping that the wind doesn't make all my work a waste of time. Nero Wolfe will be on in a few minutes. Beth and I love this show and always watch it together. A cold beer, Nero Wolfe, and then off to bed for a good night's sleep.

Life Update

Some good news...

• Michel is doing better every day. Her head is healing, the pain is lessening as long as she doesn't overdo things, and her hair is growing in!
• We have an aid starting today. They finally found someone who lives nearby and doesn't mind walking to the bus stop. (We aren't exactly convenient for the bus.) They had been trying to find an aid with a car but that, apparently, is very difficult. The aid will start every day at 3 PM and stay until around 9 PM.
• My beard is filling in very nicely and doesn't itch anymore. I don't know if it is the conditioner, if it's getting softer as it gets longer, or if I'm just getting used to it.
• I have finished two books and I need to write reviews. I am falling behind in my reading and the pile of books is getting higher.

Make a left at Germany

Here is further proof that you should always sanity check any directions you get from the web. Go to MapPoint and ask for directions from Haugesund, Rogaland, Norway to Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. To get from one city in Norway to another, MapPoint will send you on a 1,685 mile journey through England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. The total expected time is 48 hours, not including time spent waiting for ferries. The directions include 116 separate steps, which is a record as far as I know. Reverse the two cities making Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag the starting point and MapPoint will give you directions that are more direct, taking you 11 hours to travel the 476 miles between the two towns. So either Norway has a serious issue with one-way roads or MapPoint needs some revision. Perhaps it is worth noting that MapPoint is a Microsoft product.

Thanks to Language Log for pointing this out.

Edit: The above directions are for the "quickest" route. Changing your selection to the "shortest" route sends you on a trip on the ferry to England, driving west for half a mile, turning around and driving east for half a mile, and getting back on the ferry to Norway. The directions say this trip will take 51 hours!

Separated at Birth

Here's a picture of Michel and her good friend, Squidward. I picked up Squidward at the hospital gift shop while Michel was still in because they look so much alike. It is less readily apparent now that Michel has some hair back, but the resemblance was uncanny when Michel was bald. For some reason, Dr. Bolognese thought she looked more like Patrick but I don't see the resemblance. Beth made me buy the complete set, so not only do we have Squidward but also Patrick and Sponge Bob.

Michel's recovery continues to go well. The doctors say that Michel can go back to work next month. Meanwhile, she has a hearing about her Worker's Compensation at the beginning of February. Since the doctor picked by the insurance company said that Michel can't work and that her injury occurred at work, I don't understand why the insurance company just doesn't admit they were wrong and start paying again. I hate insurance companies!

I Grew a Beard

I never liked beards. They are itchy and because beard hairs are coarse and I have sensitive skin they hurt. But Michel likes beards and has been bugging me to grow a goatee. While she was in the hospital I couldn't really whine that the beard hurt too much especially with her head looking like a carved Thanksgiving turkey. So I broke down and grew a goatee for her. I'm not sure I like it because it is itchy and it is irritating my skin so if anyone knows something that will either soften up the beard or toughen up my skin, pleae let me know. Anyway, the goatee is staying because one of my co-workers told me it makes me look younger. You can compare the "Hairy Tom" to the clean-shaven Tom and let me know what you think.

New Year's Day

We went over my sister's for New Year's Day. It was cold but the kids went outside to play with the dog. From the left, that's Mikey, Laura (my niece), and Beth. The dog's name is Minnie. The dog is a bit hyperactive so she had to stay outside most of the time we were there. Mikey loves the dog but she is huge and scares him. We got through the entire visit without Mikey breaking anything!

New Year's Eve was spent at home. Michel went to bed around 9 PM and then woke up in time to watch the ball drop. Then we went to bed. The consultant who works for me gave me a bottle of Moet but since Michel is taking pain killers (and mixing pain killers and alcohol is never a good idea), we decided to save the champagne for later.

Dr. Thomas H. Milhorat

We found out some interesting things about Michel's doctor, Thomas H. Milhorat. First, he is THE MAN when it comes to Chiari Malformation and syringomyelia. You can read more about it here, but in 1999, Dr. Milhorat redefined Chiari. His research changed the way everyone looked at the disease. He is a founder and director of the Chiari Institute.

His father, Ade T. Milhorat, was also a famous neurologist/scientist/researcher. He was one of the founders of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the organization that you know from the telethons run by Jerry Lewis every year. The elder Milhorat was one of the leaders in researching Muscular Dystrophy. He died a few years ago at the age of 98 and was still doing research. He published a reserach paper with his son on Chiari and syringomyelia when he was in his 90's!

I would say that we were very lucky to find Dr. Milhorat.

The Healing Continues

As you can see, Michel's head is healing very nicely. The stiches are out and there is no swelling or sign of infection. Michel is also doing much better neurologically. She can now stand straight with her eyes closed without falling over. She also felt pain in her hand when she touched something hot for the first time in months. She still can't walk a straight line but things are definitely looking up.

Christmas Report

Michel is getting better every day. We were worried that she wouldn't be up to going out for Christmas but she felt OK so we went to her brother's (Jimmy) house. She lasted quite a while before she ran out of energy. Beth had a great time with her cousin Tracey and Mikey was reasonably well behaved (at least for Mikey). He did manage to break two china plates but we will blame that on Kathleen (Jimmy's wife) because she took her eye off of him for a minute. Mikey got the first season of Sponge Bob on DVD. He spent most of Christmas watching that and playing with Beth and Tracey. Beth got a bunch of games for her PlayStation 2. Her favorite so far seems to be Final Fantasy X. She has had Final Fantasy X-2 for a while and has finished it but she didn't have the first game.

Michel is going to the doctor today to have her stiches taken out. Our friend, Cindy, is taking her. Every day is another step on the road of recovery. So far things are going well and we are hoping Michel can be back to her old self soon.

Home at Last

I brought Michel home at about 7 PM. Her potassium levels were good and she had no fever so they decided to let her loose. It's good to have her home. I just want to add at this point that everyone at North Shore Manhassett was wonderful. The staff there was as professional and as dedicated as you would ever hope for.

Beth's ear wasn't too bad. The NP gave us a prescription for anti-bacterial cream and orders not to wear an earring for a few days until it heals. When it gets better, Beth has to wear hoop earrings for awhile to give the ear a chance to fully heal. Not bad considering the horror stories that we heard about infections so bad that the earring had to be surgically removed.

The picture is Beth at the doctor's office and no, she is not playing the air guitar!

Still Not Home

Michel wasn't released so we are hoping for tomorrow. She has been running a fever and has a sore throat so they might keep her until Wednesday. She has her IV out so she can walk around without lugging the pole with her. They removed the bandage from the back of her head so you can see the full incision now. I have provided it as a link so the sqeamish can avoid seeing it. Overall, she is feeling pretty good and we are looking forward to having Michel home.

I should add that I printed the picture of the Christmas tree and brought it to the hospital so Michel could enjoy it. it is amazing what a good picture you can get from these digital cameras.

Meanwhile, Beth had her ears pierced a couple of months ago and one ear has always bothered her a little bit. It looks like she has a nice infection going now. She is probably going to need some antibiotics so I will be taking her to the doctor tomorrow if it doesn't look any better.

Sunday Report

I only got to see Michel for about 30 minutes today. I had hoped that Michel's brother would be able to watch the kids but they had plans so they could only watch them for an hour which gave me about 30 minutes at the hospital. Michel wasn't feeling well. She has a cold and has been running fevers on and off. Her potassium levels were low again so she had to get more IV's. We walked three times around the floor and she wasn't worn out. Cindy had complained about the IV stand because the wheels wouldn't turn so they got Michel a new one. It was much easier to push it around the floor when the wheels actually move. We are still hoping Michel will be getting out tomorrow but with the potassium levels and the fevers we aren't overly optimistic. Michel's parents should be back tomorrow.

The picture is of our Christmas tree that my sister put up yesterday. Laura and Beth helped decorate it. Thanks Barb! The cat underneath the tree is Kokie.