correction

Corrections from my father - a retired pharmacist: 

Sorry -t(e)razosin   and dibenz(y)line----but you are doing good for an amateur-----Dad

I still maintain that I know how to pronounce them all.   :-)

And I like the observation from Jeff - I may know things I don't want or care to know, but at the moment we still don't know much about that which we care very much about.  

Knowledge I never asked for

When Shawn was young, I found myself memorizing many of the books I read to him - not that I tried to, but after reading the same book night after night, it was just THERE. It came in handy when I wanted to read in the dark - I didn't need to look at the words! All these years later, I can still recite many of the Dr. Suess books line for line -

• "Big A, little a, what begins with A? Aunt Annie's Alligator, A, A, A."
• "I would not, could not, in a box. I could not, would not, with a fox. I will not eat them with a mouse, I will not eat them in a house. I will not eat them here or there. I will not eat them anywhere. I do not eat green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am."
• "And here's a new trick, Mr. Fox. Socks on chicks and chicks on fox. Fox on clocks on bricks and blocks. Bricks and blocks on Knox on box!"
• and my favorite from Fox on Sox: "Through three cheese trees, three free fleas flew. While these fleas flew, freezy breeze blew. Freezy breeze made these three trees freeze. Freezy trees made these trees' cheese freeze. And that's what made these three free fleas sneeze" (Oh, I so loved to read that out loud. Shawn used to be giggling by the end.)

So anyway, the point is that it wasn't something I tried to memorize, it just became part of my common knowledge base with no work whatsoever on my part.

Likewise, now I know both the brand and generic names of way too many medicines, not to mention I know how to spell and pronounce them too.

• phenoxybenzamine = dibenzaline
• neurontin = gabepentin
• furosemide = lasix
• hytrin = tarazosin
• cyproheptadine = periactin
• metoporolol = lopressor

I could go on and on (and on) but I think you get the point. This isn't really knowledge I wanted in any way but it's there anyway.

I hope I can rid my brain of this knowledge someday. I hate to think of myself 30 or 40 years from now still knowing how to spell or say phenoxybenzamine or know what it's used for. (Unless I am playing "drug word" scrabble, that is - then this knowledge might be kinda handy.)

On the other hand, I hope I still remember "Camels on the ceiling, C, C, C" and "Be sure when you step - step with care and great tact. And remember that life's a great balancing act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft, and never mix up your right foot with your left."

PET scan tomorrow

Shawn has an appointment for a PET scan tomorrow at 3:30. This wasn't scheduled until late in the day, and it needs pre-approval, which the doctor's office will be working on first thing in the morning - assuming that goes ok the scan will be tomorrow at 3:30.

MRI part 2

We are back for a followup MRI - while Shawn was having the ultrasound his doctor called and told us to go back to the MRI as soon as he was done; they needed some further scan done. So Dave and I are here in the waiting room and Shawn's back having MRI part 2.

Sent from my iPhone :-)

Cloudy sky this morning

The sky this morning looked more like a painting than a real sky. It made me wish I had my "real" camera with me, but here's a photo from my iPhone.

They just took Shawn back for his MRI. We are supposed to get preliminary results later today, as it will determine whether or not he'll be back tomorrow for a different scan.

After this, we go back to a different building for an ultrasound, then to the lab for blood tests.

spring is really on its way

While the weather this weekend seemed more like summer, my back yard reminds me it's still just spring. In fact, driving around the last few days I kept feeling surprised that so many trees were bare as I was wearing sandals and short sleeves.

But my back yard is all about spring. My crab apple tree is just getting ready to erupt. This morning the blooms were all closed; tonight some have started opening. The pictures below were both taken today - first one this morning, second one this afternoon.

That tree occupies most of my back yard, which wonderful on really hot summer days as it provides shade for the whole yard. It also makes gardening tough because there is so much shade. But these few short weeks when it blooms are clearly its finest hours of the year.

Interesting ad on the el

I have NO idea what this is an ad for, but it created an interesting
sight from inside the train.