Duct Tape and the Liver Doc

Hello Friends. Thanks for coming over to the liver blog. It's nice to have you here and just imagine that we're chatting over a cup of coffee.

Thought you'd like to see Amanda and her pile of duct tape, a Happy Gift from Grandma Mork, with whom Bob and I had lunch today while we were in Rochester for Bob's Liver appointment at the Mayo.

Anyway, before I could even upload this picture Amanda had already made her Dad a little man-purse, ahem, European carry-all, in the colors of football. Vikings on the outside and Green Bay Packers on the inside. Isn't that clever? He's wondering if Mother Mork could please get her duct tape in the colors of the Jets or the Mets.

So, today, Bob's biliruben count is 1.4 and the liver doctor, Dr. Talwalker (photo) said that for all intents and purposes Bob's liver is healed. Healed. Isn't that a great word? We went up to the transplant unit for old time's sake. Tried to think good thoughts and send prayers to all the people there, and their families. We haven't actually seen Dr. T since last November because Bob was too weak to get there. We thanked him for being so flexible in doing the phone consultations. And offered our support for other families who may be going through this, the severe acute thing. Like finding yourself suddenly in the last stages of liver disease. Only Bob's liver decided to heal. It's a miracle. Like the liver has a brain and can make decisions to stop and to start according to its mood. A diva liver.

It's like Bob is really back. He really is. And to be honest, I feel a little shell shocked from it all. Like it was a dream or something. Thanks for coming over.

With love, T

Can't you See My Son is Drowning!

Have you ever wanted to shout this to your child's swimming teacher? Just this morning Aidan was treading water seeming to barely keep his little head above the surface. He gasped for air. I'm sure I heard it all the way from the bleachers. Then he gets out of the pool, struts as though he just swam alcatraz, and looks to see if I am watching. Thumbs up, I give with a big mama panda goofy grin.

It's like the time he did his kindergarden screening in a classroom with the three of us watching. The teacher gave him some puzzels and if he didn't get it right away Bob would loudly whisper 'the triangle, THE TRIANGLE' as though the teacher would not also hear the answers that the father was giving his son from ten feet away.

Don't you just want to be there all the time for your kids. Helping them to keep their head above water, pass their tests and make the really tough decisions? Keeping all the bad stuff away from them? Just reminding them over and over that they are loved nomatter what anyone else says or does to them.

I think one of the finest fathers I know, come to think of it one of the finest human beings I know is Andy Mungure, our neighbor for the past 5 years. Ndeoya is his real name but he uses Andy for us gringos who can't pronounce it. Plus, Andy alliterates well with Amanda and Aidan; if we should ever find ourselves with another son, we'd have both a name and a namesake. Oh, to be ten years younger. One time when I was giving a presentation at our church about fair trade coffee -- one that I had given 100 times -- there was a coffee farmer in the audience. It occured to me that I had no idea what I was talking about compared to Andy. He humored me and said I was doing a good job. And then spoke up himself about how fair trade had changed the lives of the people on his mountain, where they've grown coffee for centuries, Mt. Meru (photo above), Arusha, Tanzania. Now that he's almost finished with his Masters degree in Economics, he'll return to the mountain with even more innovation on how to grow and sell good coffee.

This blog doesn't give me enough room to tell you all the reasons why I think Andy could be human being of the year, the century, the millenium. Bob and I are just so glad that we could be neighbors with him and his family during the seminary years. We'll be checking the Mungure's bags before they return to make sure Aidan didn't pack himself.

With love, T