The rest of the July story

And what a wedding indeed. It was at the home of Olivia’s sister in east Portland. She, her boyfriend, and anyone walking down the street worked tirelessly to turn the back yard of their home from a patch of blackberries into something out of Sunset Magazine, simply beautiful.

Olivia and Beth exchanged vows in the side yard with Eli officiating. There was enough humor in addition to the vows exchanged to keep it light but very devotional; a truly wonderful and moving memory.

We then moved to the back yard where those in attendance offered blessings on the marriage and laughed, cried, loved. Then the party. We rented an old Masonic Temple in North Portland and had DJ Eli plug his iPhone into a great sound system and danced the floor around. It was wonderful to see family and friends at this celebration.

We flew to Philly where we saw the KA’s and I went to UPenn to have my head examined yet again. I’m still screwed up enough that another med is warranted. I tried to get another MR scan of my gourd but ran head long into the underbelly of US health care. I didn’t need a prior authorization for the MR scan but because Penn had contracted out the process to a third party, that has the huge and necessary data base, I still had to go through them to the tune of waiting “just 24-36h” for an authorization I didn’t need but without the OK from then would be on the hook for paying for an MR scan, HUNGH???!! So needless to say, no MR scan as I had to get to NYC and over the pond.

We had two fantastic farewell dinners with family and then Walt took me to Trenton to board a train to Grand Central in NYC. I arrived there on a Friday afternoon with two large bags and a backpack, navigated my way around and through to the subway and made it out to the hotel at JFK without losing anything other than my mind and dignity. Not sure what I was thinking when this struck me as a good idea and doable. Doable yes, a good idea……

Lynne has stayed in the States to offer much needed and appreciated help with the twin grandbabies in JAX. Forrest and Shannon are doing admirably but like any couple with three kids under two, well, you can fill in the blanks….

And I’m back at it. We are in the middle of Influenza H1N1 here as if things weren’t tough enough already. I was advised that each hospital has been allocated 10 (that’s ten) dosing regimens of the antiviral indicated for this flu. We are in deep yogurt if this truly becomes epidemic here in a country with a HIV prevalence rate of 13-60%, depending on region.

Best to all that we saw in the States, friends and family in Hood River, CGM, CGFM, the BA relatives and friends, and the UPenn crew. Thanks so much.