Jodi's Visit and Alex Update

My sister Jodi flew up to visit with me and went with Alex and I up to Portland last Monday to see Dr. Adler about his bone cyst. The news was pretty positive. Yes Alex should have surgery to aspirate the cyst and graft cadaver bone in to strengthen his tibia. He did give Alex the option of doing nothing. He said in about 5 years the cyst should disappear and Alex's body would rebuild bone on it's own. There is a good chance the bone would fracture before that though and then Alex would have to have a rod inserted. Alex is opting for the surgery. After he heals from this he'll have to have his ACL repaired in his left knee. Poor guy is going to be laid up for a while and is not thrilled about it. After we were done with that we all felt a lot better and Jodi and I had a great visit! We visited some of our local wineries and sampled some local wines. This is a picture of Jodi when we were at the Chaetau Lorane.

Here is the both of us! We had just come from the Kings Estate.
This is a page I did of Jodi's visit. I used Delicious Spring add on by Choukette to do this page.
Now I have to get my butt in gear and get ready for my final term as a nursing student! I have to work 25 full shifts with a nurse along with my school work. I can't wait to be done!

Final today!

Today I took my final for Winter term. It was the most difficult test I've ever taken and when it was over I was panic stricken wondering if I passed or not. I did :) I can now go into my last term of nursing school! I have a week to relax ( clean house, do yard work, clean the garage, do my taxes ) and then I'll be doing my internship at the hospital her in Cottage Grove! More family news: On the 23rd I'm taking Alex up to Portland to OHSU ( the big teaching University/ hospital in Portland. A couple of months ago Alex hurt his knee while in a mosh pit at a concert. The thrill of the mosh bit is a bit beyond my understanding, but apparently it's important to the younger generation. Geez I'm getting old! Anyway, it has still been bothering him so his doctor sent him to an Orthopedist. They x-rayed both legs and informed us last Thursday that yes he has a torn ACL that needs surgery but that is not his biggest problem right now. He has bone cysts in his right Tibia that have destroyed and weakened much of the bone. He has to see a bone specialist in Portland. The standard treatment is to aspirate the cyst and graft bone in to regrow bone in the destroyed area. I'm concerned because Alex's cysts seems to be much larger then normal when found and there is a large area of dysfunctional bone. He is also an insulin dependant diabetic which makes these things more complicated. We will find out more on Monday and I will update. On the Lucy front: she is enjoying playing volleyball with the club in Springfield. I'm enjoying? driving her back and forth twice a week and getting up at 4am on the weekend for the all day tournaments. It is good for her to keep busy doing these sorts of things and it will be over the middle of April. It's good mom and Lucy time :) Here's a couple pictures of a tournament.




This is Alex on his birthday Feb 20. He's 19 now! He got a guitar for his birthday and has been learning to play.