Being a doctor's wife has been entertaining lately.

I don't know if it's the weather, the time of year or just weird karma out there, but the crazies have come out to play.

My latest example from my own dawkter's wife files happened today. I was picking Amanda up from an afterschool activity and had arrived 15 minutes early. A car pulled up right next to me on my driver's side. The occupants proceeded to signal me to roll my window down. I recognized a man and wife that had been the parent of one of the boyscouts in Andrew's group. Their son was no longer a boyscout and I hadn't seen either of them in roughly 2 years. I had seen the mom a few times, but I don't even know her name. She has been a patient of Thomas' on several occasions.

She was sitting in the passenger's seat and addressed me as if we were lifelong friends.

Before I continue with this little story though, let me set the stage. We were in the roundabout pick-up drive-way of my children's middle school. It is a 2-lane drive. I was occupying one lane and their car was occupying the other. No other vehicles were able to get past us at a busy 5pm pick-up. People were flashing their lights at us.

The woman proceeded to tell me that she was convinced that she had MS (despite the fact that the neurologist had said that she doesn't). She had had a surgery today for a bladder pacemaker (part I) and launched into a "they had to go through my rectum and vagina ...and there is this thing in my vagina that is vibrating. It is so weird. What should I do about that?"

What should I do about that???!!! Don't tell me, for starters!

I actually said "I don't know...I guess you can just...go with that feeling" because really...I was trying to add a little comedy and....I thought the cars behind us were going to drive right over us. The cars in front of me had moved forward, so I then politely said "I need to move on up and let these cars pass. "

I pulled up. She pulled up with me. The cars behind us actually starting driving around her on the GRASS.

She went on and on about her bladder, bowels, vagina, rectum and then...the icing on the cake? Her cyst-like things that are making her miserable all around the opening of her vagina...which led her to an "I've been trying to get an appointment with your husband, but I can't seem to get ahold of him. Can you talk to him for me."

Really, if dh wasn't her ID doc...if dh wasn't a physician here in this small community....I think I would have told this woman to go bug off. Quite frankly, I found the whole ocnversation freaky. Thank God I had no other kids in the car with me...REALLY. I actually can't even imagine having a conversation like that with my own husband or a doctor. My GOD...I can't imagine telling all of that to a stranger! I am embarassed just retelling it here!

Yesterday, another friend of ours called. Her husband just had a bone marrow transplant for NHL (he was my chemo buddy) and he's doing well. He had abdominal radiation and has had some diarrhea (completely expected). The oncologist though did a stool sample that was negative for both c. diff and white cells but insisted on treating him as if he had c. diff anyway...and it was after 2 NEGATIVE samples. He is being treated at U of MN and dh pretty much just rolls his eyes.

BUT....the reason this phone call made my list this time is because the wife called me and immediately started sobbing when she heard my voice...then muttered out a "do you have time?". I braced myself to find out that my friend was dying....I took a deep breath and asked her what was going on. She screamed into the phone "doctors are fuckers".



He is going to live...he is fine...but I listened for 30 minutes of why doctors are so terrible. The thing is...she is so RAGEFUL...she yells at doctors and argues with them. She has a huge issue with authority. She kept dropping the f bomb and yelling and kind of demanding that I tell her medical facts that I just have no understanding of....so I turfed her off to Thomas. He was on the phone with her for another hour and a half....and he is not a phone person. He just couldn't get her to hang up.

If her husband hadn't been my chemo buddy...if my husband didn't treat her husband for his infections..........we'd probably have no contact.

Wow is all I can say.

Wow!

So...now that I've gotten all of that off of my chest .....

My mil finally left last week. I would say that the last 1/2 of her visit went much better than the first. I did a lot of thinking about my knee-jerk reactions to her. When mil cleans, *suggests* parenting tips etc, I feel criticized even when she isn't gagging over the dust under my stove or behind my washing machine and dryer (don't ask!).

The reality though is that she is trying to express her affection and love for our family the way that she knows how and she sees cooking and cleaning etc as a way of bonding with me.

I have a friend who works and is raising two children and there has been an occasion or two where I've been over and have cleaned up for her...imagining how happy she will be...it was a way of showing that I cared and wanted to help....so I decided this is what my mil was doing...and I went with it.

She told me that I needed to organize my spice/flour/sugars and instead of being grumpy about it I told her "I think you're right...I wish I were more organized". She couldn't believe her good fortune that evening when I said "why don't you go to Target wtih Thomas and get the containers that we'll need to organize that cupboard.

She was out the door in 10 seconds flat.

She brought it home and dumped everything out on the counter and I got to work with her directing.

The truth? It looked fabulous. Actually, it looked so great that I...got kind of excited. "Oh, Leni, it's wonderful...I have found spices that I didn't even know I have...thank you so much"...and she jumped up and hugged me. Seriously, I think she was near tears!

So..I said "I want to organize my whole kitchen...and the laundry room and our bathrooms". I went to Target, got the containers and...I did it.

It took 2 days and a lot of work, but...here's a sneak peak at my cupboards. If you zoom in on it all, you'll be able to see what I cook with





And...mil washing the windows and screen in my kitchen:


One thing that was really great about my mil being here is that she was able to witness several things with our neighbor, including the daughter's nastiness to Amanda. She became extremely protective of all of us, but especially of Amanda...and she has traditionally been most critical of Amanda. As a result of what she saw, she made extra efforts to connect with Amanda that paid off!

While she was here, our little Aidan turned 3. Here is his 3 year birthday picture. The best part, of course, is the shiner that he got while wrestling with Alex.




After mil left, we celebrated Thanksgiving...and...I went all out.I grabbed my desperate housewives cookbook that has served me so well and did Thanksgiving ala Bree...and...it was pretty fabulous (if I do say so myself )

Here's dh and the kids:


And the kid's and I:

You may notice that my hair is quite curly. That's not a perm..it's chemo curl...I really love it, actually!
And...Zoe....eating sweet potatoes!



The crowning glory of our Thanksgiving day to me though had to do with our cat, Scouty. All 3 of our cats are indoor cats, but Scouty sneaks out nearly every day. He has been known to bring back mice, birds and toads...but his latest conquest (or near-conquest) was a woodpecker Fortunately, the bird survived...but I was absolutely beside myself when he showed up at the door with it.

Scouty appeared to think that I had personally gone out and hunted for our Turkey He was so impressed with me that he sat on the counter watching me prepare the bird and everything that went along with it! He jumped down on the ground and purred and rubbed against my legs and then jumped back up to look at the Turkey. He seemed so...proud of me

Look closely...the bird is on the stovetop...the black cat is sitting on our black counters



We had a really nice Thanksgiving and then the whole family went for a long walk:




Since then, I've been busy baking

and cleaning
(yes, this picture of me really, really stinks...but...it is what it is..and it was fun to picture blog this time around!)

and trying to get organized and ready for the holidays.

Zoe is sitting up on her own now and Aidan (whom my mil says has 2 lives in him ) has been so active that it's driving me bonkers! He needs an outlet of some sort for all of his energy!

Alex is doing good and is getting ready to start soccer again. I've been driving Amanda every morning/picking her up in the afternoon to avoid our neighbor's daughter and it seems to be helping. She is starting to relax (fingers crossed!) Andrew is ...Andrew....quirky, fun...full of surprises. He turns 12 in 2 weeks. Where...oh where...does the time go?

Kris[/quote]