President Hinckley's Viewing

Since I am right downtown, and they have special times for employees to attend the viewing to alleviate security and attendance pressures, I went to his viewing today in the Conference Center. I have very few experiences of relatively close proximity to this prophet, but I have had a few--for which I am extremely grateful. I am sure he is very, very happy where he now is, but I miss him.

Anyway, I wanted to share an experience a co-worker of mine had at the viewing early this morning. He brought his family down. Elder Richard G. Hinckley was there. He approached and shook hands with his young son and said (quoting from memory, but this is close), "I am President Hinckley's son, and I appreciate you getting up so early to come here." Nice!

FYI, I hope you like the new layout. I didn't care too much for the old one and thought I would try something new.

weather and chaos

The title may be a bit extreme. However, I thought you may feel very pleased to live in Utah or Arizona right now. I would take a picture, but it could not do justice anyhow. The winds are gusting at about 50 mph. The temperature is -3 ambient, with windchills around 50 below! It is quite exciting. If you open the door, the snow blows in and covers the floor instantly. We don't get as much pretty snow as you, but it sure is dramatic. And to add to the choas of this weather. Ben is gone on alert, leaving me and all the boys sick with the flu at home. If that's not bad enough, I tried to start a fire and smoke came billowing through every crack of the chimney! Our house was filled with smoke. (I guess you can't just light a fire with a cold chimney and a backdraft blowing through. You have to heat it up slowly with paper until the draft sucks upward! Live and learn.) Anyhow, with it being so gusty and cold, there's not a great way to vent either, so we just laid around upstairs and hope the smoke will somehow vent through tiny cracks in the walls! I know it all sounds horribly sad, but can't you just picture Grandma Walker or Aunt Winnell telling this story. At the moment it was quite frustrating, but already it makes me laugh. And why does it seem that such things always happen when we are already sick, or spouse is gone, or both! We love you all and hope you are warm wherever you are!

Official Announcement

so, it's a bit early for an official announcement, but....i ended up begging daryl's family for help. i'm not throwing up much, but had a couple of days where i couldn't get off the couch (and all evenings are really hard)...and daryl is in school 2 nights a week, so he doesn't come home at all. i had to get someone to come play with porter, make him a good meal, and vacuum my carpet!
anyway, baby johnson looks to be due around the middle of september. i have an ultrasound on february 1st and will know much more then, since i'm only 7 weeks now.
but, since i had to tell daryl's family, i decided i'd just make it official for all family members.

medical update

In December, when I saw Dr. Benowitz, he ordered a variety of blood tests which were done that same day.  He also ordered a glucose test, a bone density test, and scans of my parathyroid.   Yesterday I had the glucose and bone test.  This morning I had the scans and then went straight to the office for another visit with the doctor.  My blood sugar level is not normal - it is up.  It was normal in September, but is not so now.  (Interesting that it could change so quickly.)  My calcium &  parathyroid hormone levels are still up indicating there is a problem there, but they are not dangerously high.

 We are not going to do anything about the parathyroid right now.  Doctor is waiting for the results of the scans and also a test to see if I carry the gene for MEN (multiple endocrine neoplasia).  This gene test takes 2-3 months.   In the meantime, I am not in an emergency situation.   Bone density is good, no sign of loss.   My heart is back to beating normally - why it ever went crazy is unknown.   I am to return to primary care physician.  Work on the blood sugar and lose "lots of weight".   

I will see the doctor in 4 months.   If I test positive to the gene for MEN, surgery will probably not be an option because all 4 parathyroid glands are probably a problem and they cannot all be removed.   If it comes out negative, and only one gland is involved, then I will probably have surgery to remove it before it causes more problems.

That is the latest.  I am feeling okay and I know losing weight will help me feel much better and I am sure that the doctor is wise in telling me to get some weight off.

We send our love to all of you.     

Mom

PS  Why won't this blog keep my paragraphs separated like I separate them?  I don't write mile-long paragraphs.

Hello all and Surprise.

I have actually been to this blog and read and read and caught up on some things that I never heard, or at least don't remember hearing.    It has been fun.   

Now that we have high speed stuff, we will try to start posting our letters here.

To start off,  today I was scheduled to be to my endocrinologist's office at 9 a.m. for some tests - his office is by LDS hospital.  We left here at 7:10 as it was snowing, so we knew it would be a slow drive.   As we drove, we listened to the road reports.  They continued to mention that the traffic at the point of the mountain was just stopped and not even moving.  The snow plows couldn't get through and it was a total mess from point of the mountain to Bangerter highway,  both north and south.   They also informed us that is was going to continue to snow and that roads were bad everywhere.   As we approached Lehi, we decided to just turn around and not even try to make the appointment.   When we arrived home, I called and left a message that I was not going to be in.   I will call later and reschedule.

We love you all.  Enjoy the snow.

Mom

From Dad (Photo from about 1947)

My brother Jim sent this to me. Does the little girl on the left look like Lily? Does anyone see any resemblance to Grandma Benge or Grandpa Porter Benge? Does the little boy on the right look like he could be anyone's grandpa?

Competing with North Dakota

We got at least 18 inches of snow up here today. I thought we already had plenty. If it wasn't for my kind-hearted neighbor and his snow blower, we would be in serious trouble. Apparently, this is not a rare occurrence--it snows like this every few years. (FYI, it snowed another 6 to 8 inches after the picture of me by our mailbox.)