We are packed up and sacked up and ready (ish) to go. We leave at the crack of dawn. Or whatever passes for the crack of dawn to Jay. My guess is that it will be O Dawn Thirty and post a shave, shower, cup of coffee, mincing time, etc. before we hit the road. So. Either 6:30 or 8. I know what my guess is.
Getting this boy on the road requires as much planning as the Normandy invasion.
Anyway, thanks for the good thoughts, wishes and prayers. Keep it up. I will try to blog from the hospital but don't know if they havce wi-fi.

We're off to see the Wizard....

Allan gets to make that road trip after all. The spot in his eye has changed and the docs down here don't know what to make of it and so off we go. We have an appointment at 6:30 Monday morning. The folks at the Wills Eye Hospital are meant to be the best of the best and Allan demands nothing less. Keep your fingers crossed and say a little prayer.

happy halloween - part ii

The boys have had a good Halloween. They both got dressed up and watched the trick or treaters. Right now, Allan is eating with Dad and Griff is sitting in my lap while I blog. He's just fine as long as he is up and in the middle of whatever is going on but God forbid if he has to be Down as opposed to Up. Or is to the Side instead of In the Middle. If he weren't so charming, he might be considered a pain. Allan, of course, endures all with a Buddha-like zen. Except for when he whinges. I tell him "stiff upper lip, Richardson" but it is the quivering lower lip that is the problem. We are determined to get it on video so that we can play it at his rehearsal dinner some day. Make sure his wife knows what she is in for....
Enjoy the photos. I didn't realize how remiss I had been.

Allan - lobster action photo

Lobster rattle

He really loves to jam the little lobster legs in to his mouth.

Allan and the lobster rattle

Allan the skunk - closeup ii

Allan the Skunk - closeup

Griffith the Squirrel (ii)

Griffith the Squirrel

Skunk and Squirrel

Griffith throwing his hands up in the air. Allan doing likewise.

The boys - squirrel and skunk

Allan the sleepy skunk

Allan the Skunk

He was wiggling a lot but you get the picture.

Griffith and the Halloween tree (sorta)

Ornaments courtesy of Cheryl.

Griffith - the smiley squirrel

Griffith - the squirrel

Our first Halloween.

Our sporty boys

Allan in his jogging suit and Griff in his racing stripes.

Allan - perfect little body

Nice thighs and the world's most perfect belly button.

Cheryl and Griffith - the fitting II

Griffith looks a little skeptical.

Cheryl and Griffith - the fitting

Cheryl getting Griffith fitted for his squirrel costume.

Griffith - Santa's helper II

Griffith - Santa's other little helper

Allan - the elf at a rakish angle

Allan - the elf in profile

Allan and his elf hat

Courtesy of Cheryl -- one of Santa's helpers.

The boys ready to stroll.

Allan in his ghost toboggan.

He remains skeptical that this is a good look for him.

Griffith in his ghost toboggan

He's pretty sure he looks good.

Happy Halloween!

Well, we've got good(ish) news. The doc in Philly has looked at the photos and records, etc., and says that she really thinks that the lump is JXG and not something worse or awful. We are to continue what we are doing, keep an eye on it and it should regress within the next 4-6 weeks. Then we will be in a position to have Allan's cataract removed. So no big road trips for Allan unless he doesn't cooperate with this eye.

The weather was so beautiful yesterday afternoon that we took several walks. First I took Griffith for a walk while Allan slept. We got home and Allan was awake so we plunked him in the stroller and all three of us went walking. Then Griffith got hungry, dirty and fussy so Allan and I gave him back to Flora and we went solo. All-in-all I walked for nearly three hours with one, the other or both of them. And it is a good thing I did because the weather has turned cold and gloomy again today. Appropriate for Halloween, though. Cheryl came through with the boys' outfits so we'll have them dressed up. No trick or treating this time, but we seize every opportunity for photos that we can.

The recap

Friday was both amusing and disappointing. Jay took Allan to have the spots on his head biopsied. You know, the ones that appeared right as he left the hospital last time and immediately before the eye problem developed. Those spots on the top of his head. The dermatologist here looked at them and got out her swab to clean the area before taking a sample and lo and behold -- off they came. Yep. That's right. The spots were betadine from where they had tried to take blood from the bean before he came home. Now before any one jumps to any hasty conclusions about how clean we are, let me say that the bean had had his little head washed on numerous occasions since coming home (you don't want to cast any aspersions on how well Flora takes care of her boys). However, since we weren't using alcohol swabs, the spots remained. We felt pretty silly, of course, but not nearly as silly as the head of dermatology at UC should feel (along with his two residents) because he was absolutely confident that they were nevus. And so were they (as if they would have said otherwise). Any way, that's the amusing part. The disappointing part is that we were hoping that we would have confirmation that Allan has JXG so that we could move on with a plan of action. No such luck. The ophthalmologists have emailed all sorts of friends, colleagues, acquaintances, etc. with pictures and descriptions of Allan's eye and every one has an opinion but no one can say definitively what we've got and what we ought to do about it. Our main doc managed to get through to one of the country's pre-eminent docs in this field on Friday and she has agreed to look at the photos and records and see if she can help out. In the meanwhile, we keep on keeping on.

Griffith has been an absolute angel. He has gone from being the World's Angriest Infant to Mr. Chuckles. He laughs all the time and at everything. When he isn't laughing, he's smiling. He can still go from that to furious if you let him get hungry or, God forbid, wet or dirty, but as long as you respond quickly to fix the situation, he is willing to get over it. Mostly he likes to sit up in your lap and hang out. He is very entertained by the flow of conversation. Today he spent quite awhile hanging out with a lobster rattle (go with it) that he held tightly in his right hand. It was all big fun, except for the way he kept banging himself in the face with itl.

Not to be outdone, Big Al took over the lobster rattle this afternoon and he, likewise, spent a fair amount of time shaking it and banging himself in the face with it. I should have bought two of those things.


Allan goes back to the eye doctor in the a.m. We will update you when we know something.