2/2/07

97) Fredricksburg Trip

February 1, 2007
Thursday

Before El Milagro:
Drove out to Fredricksburg this morning through the fog and mist that colored the hill country a hazy white. This is a drive that I’ve made hundreds of times yet it has some of my favorite downhill curves and creeks and vistas over looking horse ranches and goat farms. It’s enjoyable to drive down these familiar roads and see what’s new and hopeful and what continues to decompose back to a natural state. I notice today several new antique (old junk) stores open along the highway and that the peach stands are boarded up for the winter. The F-burg gig is to present an ethics workshop on conversations with teens to a cadre of school-related people who work with “unaccompanied” youth through a homeless education grant. Unaccompanied means these youth aren’t staying with their parents; rather they are with relatives, friends (couch surfing), or living on their own and are considered “homeless” by the McKinney-Vento Act*. This was a great group of dedicated people and a very enjoyable presentation.

The drive out to F-burg, along with the peach sweet roll I got from the Old German Bakery when I arrived, was just what I needed to rejuvenate myself from the recent doldrums.

El Milagro: I arrived at 4 pm and noticed I’m again the last person in. I start wondering if all the last shift patients have slipped back to coming in at 3 pm again (see Post 68 – 69 by clicking on October). There have been times during the week that center staff have called me to find out if I can come in early, which I can’t because of work. But now it seems that people have gravitated back to being ahead of schedule, so maybe I can start going in earlier too.

Gladys stuck me today. It was okay. Not much to say.

I listen to NPR’s All Things Considered, slept through the TV news, watched the Coddington crew work on their ’42 Ford Woodie**, and finished up with Gray’s Anatomy. So it goes.


I got an email from Connie the Nurse, who said "...been reading your blog, I know dialysis can get boring, I assume writing about it every treatment can get boring too, but where else can I find out about the goings-on at El Milagro? That is my favorite part, finding out who screws up or who does good...". I don't know if she wanted this posted, but my choice is to post it.


Notes: In at 75.1 and out at 72.8 Kgs.
*Natl. Coalition for the Homeless (2006) McKinney-Vento Act. Retrieved online February 2007 from
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/McKinney.pdf
** American Hotrod available online at
http://turbo.discovery.com/american-hot-rod/american-hot-rod.html

1 comment:

project culture said...

jack... thanks for your message on my blog (project culture).

the transplant on tuesday went perfectly; my kidney is enjoying its new home in my mother and is producing gorgeous urine at a zippy pace (the nurse held up the catheter bag and exclaimed, "it's beautiful!").

i hope you receive a kidney soon. you are in my prayers.

keep up the blog. it's fantastic!