Thursday, July 22, 2010

Damages*

*No, this post isn't about the FX show, Damages, although I wouldn't mind saying something about it.  I got hooked on that one a couple years back, by watching a marathon of the first year.  Glenn Close plays attorney Patty Hewes to perfection.  And, Rose Byrne is great as her protege (well, in Season 1) Ellen Parsons.  Ted Danson, Martin Short, and Lily Tomlin...all excellent in dramatic roles, all receiving Emmy nominations for their parts.  The presentation of each season is the same:  starts with the present time; flashbacks to past, gradually moving the flashbacks forward to catch up with the present in the final show of the season.  You really have to keep up, or you'll be lost as a goose...and have to wait for the marathon after the season ends.  I guess, however, I should be using the past tense, since the finale for Season 3 was such a wrap-up that I imagine there isn't going to be a Season 4.  Too bad.

Instead, I'm posting about the plural of damage. Damage...as in destruction.

We had a terrific thunderstorm on Tuesday.  Lighting, lots of thunder, torrential rain (.6" in the rain gauge), more thunder, and wind.  Oh goodness, the winds.  Clocked one gust over 45 miles per hour at PTI, they said.  It must have blown through the Way Back on its way to the airport.  Can you tell in the photo to the right that those are my tomatoes...and their cages...on the ground?  In all, 12 plants were uprooted and suffered damage; I stopped counting at 100 lost tomatoes (in various stages of green-growth), not to mention the worlds of yellow blossoms that would have become tomatoes.  Sigh. 

Just about broke my heart when I began the rescue-and-repair on Wednesday morning.  Took me a couple of hours to get the cages back up and in the ground, and all the damaged stems/vines trimmed and removed.  I also had to put several stalks of corn back in the ground, as they had been blown over.  I have a good crop of bicolor corn so far, and I would hate to think I'll lose all those lovely. sweet, juicy kernels...not to the lack of water, but to wind?

After noon, I headed to Home Depot (my "home away from home") for some 6' stakes, which I will use to secure the cages and plants.  I'll have to get up at dawn tomorrow to get the stakes in the ground, as we are under a heat advisory for the rest of the week:  we are at 91 today, with a heat index of 100; the air temperature for tomorrow is predicted for 97, with a possibility of 100 on Saturday.  Gotta get the gardening done before 10:00 a.m., for sure.

I did say "damages," didn't I?  Plural.

I'll start this paragraph with my sigh.  Sigh.  This is one of those "you can't win for losing" kind of situations.  N/M/E, who has a variety of health issues due to her primary diagnosis of "you're 90" (as you may recall from an earlier post about what our family doctor said...:), is facing a dilemna.  She takes Celebrex for her arthritis pain (along with several other pain medications for her back pain, etc.) and has for several years.  Now, two of her doctors have become so concerned about the results of a recent (early June) blood test that they have ordered her to stop taking it.  Stop. Taking. It. NOW.  Both of them had their nurses call here this week to discuss their concerns.  One of the docs (not the one who prescribed the med., by the way) went so far as to remove it from her prescription list in her medical record.  Just wiped it out.  What's going on here?

Well, if you are savvy about NSAIDS, you will know that kidney damage is a threat for long-term users of those types of medications.  You will also be aware that the reason we (and I am including myself in this group) continue to take Celebrex in spite of the threats (and there are others) is that there is no other medication that is as effective with arthritis pain and is as well tolerated (read that:  that doesn't cause stomach problems).  We've gone through all the other NSAIDS, without much success.  What to do, what to do?

N/M/E has had to make a choice:  live with some more chronic pain vs. risk permanent kidney damage.  She's going to try life without the Celebrex for the next couple of weeks, then have some more bloodwork done.  That way, we'll see if it is a cause-and-effect going on...or, if there is something else in play.

Big sigh.

Interestingly enough, I have to say that she seems to be feeling a good bit better this week.  After our visit to Dr. K this morning, she said she felt like going out for lunch...something she hasn't felt like doing recently.  She also wanted to go to the Farmer's Market for some fresh NC peaches, since she's heard so much about them on our local news channel.  Two birds, one stone.  We had lunch at the Moose Cafe, as you can see in the photo to the left, which is on the property of the Piedmont Triad Farmer's Market

We both got the Buttermilk Fried Chicken breast with green beans.  I got the mashed potatoes, and N/M/E got the fried apples.  I also ordered an extra side of pickled beets for us to split.  The meals come with biscuits with apple butter and cornbread.  If you like your cookin' country, then you would like the Moose!  N/M/E pronounced it to be some of the best fried chicken she'd had in NC, so we'll definitely make a return trip soon.

Then, we swung Lillie Pearl PTC over by the retail area of the Market so we could pick up a peck of peaches.  Free stone.  Juicy and sweet.  I know 'cause the lady cut one open and let me taste it!  Excellent.  I can't wait to slice some up to go over ice cream tonight...and cereal in the morning.  I may even have enough to make some peach preserves.

A little sugar on those peaches should help soothe away some of the pangs of those damages, eh?

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