The Main Point by Michael Main

Saturday, July 31, 2004

Why Elvis Is On Our Fridge

I don't remember when she did it, but Amy de-pictured our refrigerator...and Las Vegas is fading.

Today I noticed there are only a few photographs stuck on our refrigerator. The fridge used to be littered with pictures, mostly of people I didn't know or didn't know well. Photographs people sent along with Christmas cards or on other occasions, folks who are sort of acquaintances or people we knew long ago but don't really know any more. I suppose it says something about your place in our lives if your face is stuck on the fridge. You're too important for the trash, but you're also coming between us and the food.

I guess Amy finally got tired of looking at icebox strangers, so she culled the photos down to only a handful.

Two are pictures of us in Las Vegas. Both are very bad.

The first picture was taken on our honeymoon. Yes, we honeymooned in Vegas. Amy had never been there....or any place like it.

She played the tourist...I played the fool

It's actually a postcard, which Amy mailed back home to us. I had to digitally enhance it because the colors are fading. It wasn't exactly high quality photography to begin with, even before it started to fade you had to look twice to realize I am wearing a Viking helmet. Amy is wearing a t-shirt featuring the "Elvis stamp", which probably reveals more about both of us than Amy would appreciate.

The other picture was taken four years later and I think it's the only photo we have from that trip.

It was taken for "free" on Fremont Street which is littered with little casinos and a variety of sidewalk barkers whose goal is to hustle you inside. The goal of the people inside is take your money. One of the pitchmen fancied himself to be Elvis. He was a bad Elvis, and a bad pitchman for that matter, but we had our picture taken with him before politely passing on his invitation to enter that gritty little version of Graceland.

That picture is fading faster than the first one.

When I saw those pictures today I decided I had to scan them quickly. Even though they survived Amy's purging of the fridge gallery, it's obvious soon the images will fade out of existence.

They say, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas", but some of what happens there I want to stay on our fridge, or at least in our memories.

Friday, July 30, 2004

What The If?

I was on the phone with Amy's sister tonight (her real sister, Lisa, not her parent's dog who is occasionally referred to as her sister) going over the battles Amy and I have been through, most recently with the medical community, and I asked somewhat jokingly, "I'm not an angry guy right? When did it become necessary to browbeat people into doing the right thing...into doing their jobs?"

It seems like recently I've far too often had to cajole, criticize, and occasionally threaten to kill in order to get people to act with a modicum of common sense. I mean I've had to be that way with a lot of people.

I don't remember it being like this.

I know there's a lot of stress in my life these days, but truthfully, putting modesty aside for a moment, I'm good at stress. That's one reason I get paid to do the job I do, not because I can do it blindfolded when everything is going well, but because when everything falls apart...I don't.

I am not one of those guys you see with veins bulging from their foreheads who you think, "Oh man...he's gonna blow." Really...I'm very laid back. I don't panic too often. I can be cranky, especially if I don't get sleep, but it's hard to make me angry....at least I thought it was...until recently.

Is it me? Am I over reacting when people run into my car and then try to deny they were even in an accident? Is it absurd for me to think phone companies should provide phone service? Am I the only one who's mystified that a radiologist would decide to do a rather common procedure on my wife in a completely uncommon way for no apparent reason?

For the record: these are rhetorical questions only because I'm afraid any way you answer might tick me off.

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FYI- We resolved the latest issues regarding Amy's medical care this afternoon by having her most recent procedure redone the way it was supposed to be done originally. She is still in pain and it has been made worse because of what she went through today.

We are grateful for your continued prayers.

Killing Is A Sin Right?

I'm too angry to write and I never really meant for this blog to be a daily diary of our woes. However it became apparent to me this morning that the procedure done on Amy yesterday did not result in what I had expected. I could not see how what the surgeon and I discussed previously was going to be possible with the "tube" that had been inserted into her.

Cutting to the chase, after a blunt discussion with the surgeon, he admitted the Radiologist had not done what we or the surgeon wanted done. This means the procedure will have to be redone.

Amy and I are being rather insistant that it be redone TODAY.

Anyway, I'm heading back to the hospital to wage war if need be.

Amy's pain has not subsided, her fragile mental state certainly hasn't improved as result of this, and my chances of becoming a felon have gone up dramatically...especially if I see this Radiologist again.

My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life - Psalm 119:50

Thursday, July 29, 2004

Painful Prayer

Amy's procedure was uneventful; it took less time than expected. I was able to get off work, run home and make it to the hospital with only moments to spare. Still I had time to hold Amy's hand, pray over her, and also speak with the Radiologist in charge. He was intent on telling me every conceivable thing that could go wrong, "but probably wouldn't." I'm not sure why he felt compelled to do that, Amy had signed all the release forms which said all the same things, but I've seen other doctors do likewise. Surely in medical school that's something they teach you not to do... "Bedside Manner 101"

For the record, if I'm ever about to go under the knife I'd prefer not to be administered a dose of worst case scenarios prior to receiving serious drugs...after the drugs are flowing the doctor has the green light to wax on as gloomily as he or she pleases..

Anyway, after that discussion, I prayed a little more and was ushered out.

I spent the rest of the day in the hospital room.

Amy's surgical pain is more than she expected. I suspect it's made worse by the fear that the pain will linger. I hope that fear is unfounded.

I can honestly say there are few more horrible feelings than when you are watching someone you love in pain and you know that you are powerless to do anything about it.

For a while Amy did manage to doze off.

I stood at her bedside and prayed as she laid still.

I know it is when I am at my most helpless that I feel closest to God.

I hope God will forgive me for today I felt closer than I wanted to be.

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Summer House has been updated

While The Dogs Do...

I left the office a little early - thank you God for an understanding boss - so I could come home and feed the dogs before going to the hospital. Now I have about five minutes to kill waiting for the dogs to finish their business, although I doubt they know they're on a timer.

Not that I would tell them even if I could, I wouldn't want to trigger a bout of performance anxiety.

I had a long talk with Amy's surgeon last night on the phone. It was something I needed since he tends to pop in to see Amy in the hospital on an irregular schedule, invariably when I'm not there. Amy sometimes is half asleep and doesn't ask a lot of questions. The surgeon was kind enough to call me to make sure I was in the loop and I think we've now set that precedent for the future. It's going to be essential since I've got to work and can't be at the hospital all the time.

Anyway, I am about as optimistic as I've been in more than a year that the path we're on now will eventually restore Amy to her former pain free self. It ain't instant pudding though...the process is going to take a while and if things go exactly as we hope it will still require another major surgery...that seems unavoidable now, but it also appears we'll be able to have some say in the timing.

That's more than I can say for our dogs...their time is up. Hopefully they've done what they needed to do... pardon the pun.

I'm off to the hospital.

Woo Hoo!

Hey...a nice way to start the morning, finding out my blog is back up.

Apparently when those notices come through your email saying it's time to renew your domain registration, they're serious...who knew?

Anyway, Amy is having a procedure today at the hospital. It's a step we thought might be coming, although I didn't think it would be this soon. In terms of operations this one is very minor compared to what she has been through (they're putting in a gastric tube or g-tube which will be the new way she will receive nutrition).
It is being inserted into an area where Amy experienced abnormal pain following her previous surgery so we're praying for no recurrence of that issue.
This is a temporary thing as her surgeon, as well as Amy and I, truly believe we're on the trail of a long term solution to her problems.

Faith and patience. I learn daily I must grow in both.

More when I have time...I had been told I wouldn't have access to the website for another day.

This is going to be a long day and I'm pleased it started with a good surprise.

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

U-Turn

Friends....after experiencing additional pain, Amy spoke with her surgeon tonight and they decided to readmit her to the hospital immediately.
A procedure that we aniticipated might be forthcoming in the future will apparently be put on the fast track, although quite honestly I wasn't involved in the discussions. I'm assuming it will be done tomorrow and will require several days of hospitalization.

I again find myself asking for prayer. Prayers for healing, guidence,and wisdom for all involved. I selfishly ask that you also pray that God grant me patience, energy and hope.

God bless.

I'm Such A Drip

It's well documented here (reference :1, 2 and 3 to begin with) that I am completely inept when it comes to repairing anything around the house.

Still occasionally Amy will allow me to pretend I have some small fragment of mechanical skill by permitting me to attempt a household project....because of past abuses this has now been limited to replacing light bulbs.

Last week though, she looked the other way, said a small prayer, and approved my offer to install a new shower head in our bathroom. It's a duel shower head with a hose attachment that makes it easier for Amy to shower and still keep her central line dressing dry. Truly, it was a job even I was capable of doing. I unscrewed the old shower head, put some pipe tape on the pipe and screwed on the new one.

End of story.

Of course not.

For whatever reason, after I installed the shower head I noticed that the tub faucet was suddenly dripping. The faucet controller is attached with one screw, which I suspected only needed to be tightened a bit and the leak would stop.

To me, this seemed like another household handyman chore for which I was perfectly suited. I was able to hang onto this illusion primarily because Amy was asleep when I made this decision (reference: 4).

Being careful to remove the outer cover of the faucet controller without damaging it, or waking Amy, I got out my screwdriver and gently tightened the screw.

It still leaked.

I tightened it a little more.

Drip, drip, drip.

I started to tighten it further and then noticed that I was close to stripping the screw so I stopped - in 47 years I have learned some things...of course it took me about 46 years to learn most of them, but I've screwed up enough screws to know that when you reach the point where the screw head starts to give way, it's time to give up.

I put the cover back on the faucet controller and decided a slight drip was no big deal. No harm, no foul.

So then yesterday afternoon I returned from my daily walk and hopped into the shower. I noticed that the water was warm....very warm, so I turn the faucet toward "cold". I then noted that the water would no longer be considered warm per se...hot was a better description...boiling hot!

OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! HOT!! HOT!! HOT!!

I fiddled with the faucet for about 2 more seconds before coming to the realization that I either had to get out of the shower or I would soon morph into what most folks would likely refer to as "broth".

Obviously I screwed something up...by tightening one screw.

Taking my usual approach toward such dilemmas, I turned off the water and tried to ignore the entire situation. I went upstairs and used the other shower.

Today however I returned from my walk and decided I had to fix the problem. Once again I carefully removed the cover to the faucet controller. I unscrewed the screw and peered around the faucet innards apparently looking for wisdom.

There was only thing visible in there, so I used some pliers to center that thing assuming I must have tightened the faucet into a permanent hot water position. I then put everything back as it was before and prayed.

Miraculously it worked! The cold water returned. I could now take a shower without the risk of the neighbors thinking we were watching "The Wizard of Oz" at 2000 decibels due to the screams of, "Help me, I'm melting!" echoing from our house.

Of course the faucet still drips.

How sad is that? I now consider home repairs where I manage to return things to the way they were before I attempted to fix them major successes.

A Tee Profane

I saw this initially on Katy's blog "Fallible.com" and sort of closed my eyes and tried to make the image go away.

It didn't. It's really true.

Planned Parenthood is really selling these t-shirts.

Obviously as a Christian I'm pro life, but I find it hard to fathom that even people who are pro-abortion would want to announce such a thing like it was a badge of honor. The ad says they're selling these as a "powerful message" in support of women's rights.

What's even more offensive is that they claim the shirts are "soft and comfortable."

How could anyone, no matter your beliefs, be comfortable in such a shirt?

There's a difference between being pro-choice and being proud you killed a child....at least I thought so.

I'm closing my eyes again.

This time I think I'll pray.

Monday, July 26, 2004

One Of Those Days...

It's been one of those odd days...those sort of out of sort days. It's been one of those days when the world seems weirder than usual; one of those days when I feel like a left over piece from what appears to be a completed puzzle. For all intents and purposes things look right, but something doesn't fit.

I was struck by the weirdness of the news today...which in itself is weird, since I'm in the news business and I seek out unusual news stories quite deliberately.

I had to laugh when I heard the story of Leland Laird. It's actually a story from last week, but I hadn't heard about him until today. It seems Mr. Laird was struck by a train in 1989 and has been in a wheelchair ever since. Almost every day he sits in his wheelchair near some railroad tracks in Appleton Wisconsin. In fact as trains pass Mr. Laird "waves" at the engineers and crew...okay, he doesn't exactly wave....it's something more akin to a salute except Mr. Laird doesn't utilize all his fingers.

He's not angry that a train ran him over, he's embittered that they make so much noise by blowing their horns as they pass through the intersection next to his house. He's made it his personal mission to express his displeasure.

The train crews have become quite familiar with Mr. Laird, and many actually look forward to seeing this 54 year old man each time they pass.
They wave to him and he gives them "the bird".

It's admittedly an odd relationship but I get the impression everyone involved seems to enjoy it at least a little.

Ironically last week, Mr. Laird rolled his wheelchair a little too close to the tracks and got clipped by a train car. He fell out of his wheelchair and scrapped up his arm, but I'm told that will not prevent him from saluting the next train which passes by.

It's nice to know he hasn't lost that apparently important part of his life.

Meanwhile, a 50 year old man in India has found a part of his life that he thought he lost 16 years ago....his car keys. That may not sound like much of a story except that the keys were found...in his leg. Apparently, when he was a bit younger he shot himself in the leg with a rifle. At around the same time he lost his car keys. He never made the connection until recently when he started having pain in his leg and underwent an x-ray. Doctors found his long lost keys, which somehow fell into the gunshot wound and stayed there.

It's my understanding that doctors have decided to leave the keys in his leg, for what reason I don't know....maybe they figure it'll keep his knee from locking up on him.

Isn't that always the case with lost keys? You invariably find them in the last place you look.

Speaking of which, some folks may be looking at their food differently now. That's because they can use their eyeglasses as chopsticks or forks.

A company has invented eyeglasses that can quickly be converted into eating utensils.

All of a sudden I'm in the mood for seafood.

A woman named Giovanna Guidoni has apparently seen a lot of food. She's won the "Miss Chubby" beauty pageant. The pageant's intent is not to mock people who are overweight, but rather to point out the media's obsession with making people think they should be thin.

Guidoni weighs 416 pounds. She's 20 years old.

Last year Miss Guidoni was the runner up and I suspect that this is one competition where no one is worried about contestants bulking up with steroids. Miss Guidoni is a restaurant owner.

I'm sure she serves wonderful desserts.

I'm going to pass on dessert if I'm ever in Japan. The Japan Ice Cream Association has introduced new flavors designed to get more people to eat ice cream in Japan. Among the flavors: garlic, potato and lettuce, and cactus and seaweed along with raw horse-flesh.

Now that's a horse of a different flavor.

The real topper to today though happened only moments ago as I was about to hit "publish" for this post. The phone rang. It was SBC. The caller was taking a survey to see how satisfied SBC customers are with the company.

I enjoyed that...even though I am sitting inside at my desk I felt a fresh breeze, like I was outside waving at a passing train.

Suddenly this puzzling day seems complete.

Sunday, July 25, 2004

Seeing Sunday

I woke from a brief nap a few minutes ago...I opened my eyes and wondered what I had missed.

I suppose I should explain.

With Gordon on vacation, we did church the old fashioned way today, with everyone playing a role. It was actually a nice change of pace and something I enjoyed watching unfold.

One of our newer members took to the pulpit (actually we don't have a pulpit, but figuratively that's what he did) and he did a great job.

Amy's pain has been more persistent and harder to control over the past few days, so I kept her home which left the job of leading music to one of our other members and she was also flawless.

Several additional members of the music team were out today as well, but another relatively new member stepped up to play the keyboard and she didn't miss a beat.

I got the job of coordinating various other "assignments" for our service. Luckily I had a plan, I got to church early and when someone walked through the door I said, "Hello...how have you been? Would you mind doing ____ during today's service?"

I thought it was a very fair way to distribute the duties and it actually worked out very well.

Of course no one may show up early for church ever again.

One of the most startling parts of the day for me actually occurred before church when I stepped out of the kitchen after putting out donuts and making coffee to see this wide eyed beautiful little girl sitting on the floor of the hallway seemingly alone.

I literally said, "Hi! Um who are you?" I did resist the impulse to ask her to lead us in the opening prayer...she's only 11 months old.

After a few very long seconds I realized those big blue eyes belonged to Maddie the daughter of our friends John and Lexie. John was about 4 feet away in the nursery, but he was out of my view.

I see Maddie all the time, and have actually mentioned her in this blog directly or indirectly several times including about 45 minutes after she was born.

For that brief moment today though she looked like an entirely different child.

It reminded me how quick some big moments can be, and how lucky I am to see them.

In a little while I'm meeting a friend of Gordon's who is driving down from Austin so he can spend a night or two in our education building in spiritual reflection.

He will also observe a side of our church not always visible to others.

That's why when I awoke from my nap I almost felt cheated.

There is so much out there to see....don't you see?

My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises. - Psalm 119:148

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Saturday, July 31, 2004

Why Elvis Is On Our Fridge

Friday, July 30, 2004

What The If?

Killing Is A Sin Right?

Thursday, July 29, 2004

Painful Prayer

While The Dogs Do...

Woo Hoo!

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

U-Turn

I'm Such A Drip

A Tee Profane

Monday, July 26, 2004

One Of Those Days...

Sunday, July 25, 2004

Seeing Sunday

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The Main Point by Michael Main ©

Past Ramblings
The Main Point Archives

Links & Stuff

Saturday, July 31, 2004

Why Elvis Is On Our Fridge

Friday, July 30, 2004

What The If?

Killing Is A Sin Right?

Thursday, July 29, 2004

Painful Prayer

While The Dogs Do...

Woo Hoo!

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

U-Turn

I'm Such A Drip

A Tee Profane

Monday, July 26, 2004

One Of Those Days...

Sunday, July 25, 2004

Seeing Sunday

Past RamblingsThe Main Point Archives

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