Let’s Be Serious For a Bit My Friends

Friends, I need to be a serious for a bit.  You see, there have been some things going on here at the Hotel Thompson that I’ve kept a secret.  Imagine that.  *Moi* keeping a secret.  I know!  I’m more surprised than you are – really I am.  We have all kept it kind of low key waiting to see the results and today we got some.  Mom/dad said it was okay to share now so I am.

Mom went for her yearly mammogram last Wednesday.  Yes, this is where you can say OUCH!  Mommy says they take her breasts and put them between two pieces of glass. Then they squish them to take pictures.  For some women, there is no pain while others say it is very painful… like mom.  It is definitely NOT a happy time.  She kind of compares it to throwing yourself chest first up against a wall like a squishing a fly.  Can you say it now?  OUCH.

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So this past Friday, she receives the following phone call at 4:50 PM.  On a Friday – remember that okay.

“This is Dora with the Doctor’s Office.  Is this June?”

“Yes, this is June.”

“Can you verify your date of birth and medical record number?”

“Yes…blah-blah-blah”

“The radiologist has reviewed your images from your mammogram this week.  There is some concern over the images on your right breast.  He sees a cluster of calcification and wants you to come back in for more testing.”

With a worried sound in her voice, “Okay.  What does that mean?  When?”

“Calcification can mean a lot of different things.  We need you to come in 8:30 AM next Wednesday, 09/02/2015.  After some more testing, the radiologist will meet with you and go over everything.”

“Okay.  I’ll be there.”  Looks down at clock and it’s now 5:00 PM… on a Friday.  Great.  Now I will need to break this news to my husband so we can both sweat about it ALL weekend.  Terrific.

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So you see friends.  Mom and dad have been worried for a couple of weeks now.  They didn’t tell us anipals about anything until yesterday.  Can you imagine getting this phone call on a Friday afternoon before the weekend?  No wonder mom/dad would just look at each other over the weekend and say to each other, “Really?”  or “What if?”  Unbelievable is what I say.

Yesterday, mom went for her re-test.  Afterwards, the nurse said, “The radiologist wants to speak to you.”  Mom would like to say she was shocked at that but after everything she had been through, can you be more shocked?  Her and dad went to the radiologist’s office to meet with him and go over the results.

So they meet with the doctor and he shows mom/dad all of the images from the Mammogram – the current ones compared to the past ones and talks all of these long words.  That’s when mom speaks up, “Cut to the chase.  What’s going on in my terms?”  Leave it to my mommy huh?  They have found some spots on mom’s right breast. They want to watch them and retake some tests in six months.  He doesn’t think they are anything to worry about but if they are still there and look ‘worse’ in six months, they will probably do a biopsy.  But, he thinks they are okay.  He then went into the different phases, sizes and shapes of different calcification’s.

Bottom line is mom is okay but she has been put through the ringer in the past week with this scare.  Have your moms been through this?  We pray in March 2016 that everything is smooth sailing easy peasy with no worries.  If you can send her healing vibes and prayers, we would so much appreciate it my friends.

 

Tank vs Albert – The Results

Hello my friends.  Hope everyone had a most excellent weekend.  We all did here at the Hotel Thompson.  Us anipals got plenty of snuggles and rest.  Mom and dad completed the Tank vs Albert challenge and I’m here today with the results from them.  And just so you know, mom took daddy with her so that the results were not one-sided.  Do you think you know who won out in the competition of who is the most fun?  Do you think mommy gets treated differently when she drives the other vehicle?  You don’t have to wait any longer – here we go.

First up for the challenge – Tank.  Mom/dad went out riding in Tank on Saturday around the area.  Now, remember the challenge was to do the following:

• Wave at two cars that are similar in make and see what people do.
• Let two people in front of her at different times to see what people do.
• Go through a drive thru and pay for the breakfast behind her to see what people do.

Mom saw another car right off similar to Tank on the boulevard.  She waved at the woman driver.  The woman driver did a double take as if who are you waving at.  So much for being friendly huh?  Later on, mom saw another car similar to Tank with another woman driver.  She waved.  The lady at least smiled at mom – no wave but a smile.

At a red light, there was a man coming out of a shopping center.  Mom stopped to let him out.  He came out like there was no tomorrow without even a glance back.  Later, another stop light and restaurant.  Mom waved to let the woman out.  Again, no acknowledgement.

Mom and dad then proceeded to a drive thru later on in the day.  The lady behind them was buying a Happy Meal for her child so mom decided to buy it for her.  Mom pulled up to see the woman’s reaction.  Nada.  Nothing.  Not even a wave of thank you.

Results in Tank – Okay not very friendly.  Mom did get a wave from another similar driver of a Chevrolet Equinox. Other than that, nothing.  How crappy huh?

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Sunday, mom/dad decided to take out Albert for the test.  They drove in different areas than they did Tank the day before.  Now, Smart cars are harder to find on the roads here – not a lot of people have them so they had to really look.

After a while, mom spotted one like a great white in the ocean.  She moved towards it.  She didn’t even have to honk first – the guy did in his Smart car.  He beeped his horn and waved like crazy at mom.  Of course, she acted equally as crazy and waved back.

The next spotting was a two-for.  She was sitting at a light and a Smart car was coming out of a restaurant.  She not only let the Smart car out, but they waved like crazy, rolled down their window and shouted to mom, “We love your car!”  Go figure huh?

Later on in the day, mom/dad were sitting at another light and a car was coming out of a motel.  Mom motioned them.  Do you believe what they did – they waved and laughed.  Awesome!

Now the kicker – to do a drive thru and pay for someone’s meal behind them.  They hit the nearest drive thru, ordered their food and paid for the car behind them.  Mom pulled up a bit to see what would happen.  The car behind them pulled up, you could see the conversation taking place and then they started beeping their horn and waving.  SCORE!

So what does this challenge teach you… other than mom/dad have a lot of time on their hands to do random psychiatric testing on people that don’t even know it – snorts.  This challenge teaches you something that women have known for centuries – are you ready for this – SIZE MATTERS!  No really, think about it.  This works not only in cars but in real life with humans.  The smaller you are, the more accepting people are to you and go out of their way to be nicer.  You know it’s true.  It’s profiling at it’s basic power.  Think about it.   Until people accept that we are all individuals in all different shapes and sizes, this will continue.  Bullying is a powerful weapon that happens in all forms of life.  This is a time to make a stand my friends.

SAY NO TO BULLYING!!