Troubles McSteans

So we're back from the wedding, which was beautiful and sweet and a lot of fun. The weather was perfect, food was delicious, scenery was gorgeous, and most importantly, the bride was in attendance! After 4 days in the hospital following her abdominal surgery, and a scare three days before the wedding with an incision site infection, Kristen managed to still hit every one of her planned wedding events. The day she was released from the hospital she was at the salon with the moms and Doug getting hair and nails done. On Friday she attended her bridesmaid luncheon, rehearsal and rehearsal dinner all without complaint and with a smile on her face, even though I'm sure she was in no small amount of discomfort. You're a trooper, K. I am finally getting around to posting some pictures. I've spent most of this week in decompression mode and it took me a while to sort through all 1000 pictures. Doug and Kristen's friend Paige Morrison, who actually introduced them (th...

Ryan and I leave this evening for California. Yesterday I got a call from my mom (who is already out there) informing me that Kristen was back in the hospital from an infection at her surgery site. Yeesh, the poor girl can't catch a break. Anyway, she was supposed to just have to stay overnight and be released today, but who knows with these things. I'll be keeping my fingers tightly crossed. Hang in there, Kristen - we love you! See you soon!

My biggest phobia in the world is scorpions. I dislike spiders, but even a picture of a scorpion gives me the massive willies. About 15 minutes ago, I was minding my own business, watching the Emmys, surfing the Interwebs, petting a sleeping Scout, when I glanced up and saw a 3 inch prehistoric looking scorpion hanging out over the fireplace. Without moving an inch I summoned Ryan from upstairs. While I cowered outside with the dogs, Ryan thankfully took care of the situation. I believe this involved flipping the scorpion onto the floor and smashing it to a pulp repeatedly with a shoe. I cannot thank him enough for this act of bravery. Now I am looking up every 20 seconds or so to do a room check. I am so wigged out. I'm going to have nightmares and not be able to sleep. I don't even want to walk on the floor. I know. I have issues. In other news, I would like to send a huge, whopping THANK YOU to CBS for actually making the Emmy Awards show this year not only watcha...

My brother Doug is having a heck of a week. After returning home from the hospital with Kristen (who I hear is recovering and should be A-ok for the wedding, thankfully), he had to take his kitty Digger to the kitty ER in the middle of the night. He had a surgery consult the next morning to decide if they should attempt to remove a mass as well as part of some intestine (ironically, the same surgery Kristen had just undergone). If Digger had been a younger cat, Doug would have without question done the surgery. But Dig was 14 and has had a number of other medical trials recently. Doug made the difficult decision to say goodbye to his friend. Ryan said it better here , but Digger was a great kitty. I am sorry I didn't get to spend more time with him, because he was always super friendly and sweet when I went out to visit Doug. He had a good life and was even playing and frisky when we were in Berkeley this summer. I know Doug and Kristen will miss him tremendously, and my he...

I've been sick since Saturday and whatever I have is showing no signs of slowing down. I thought it was allergies until Monday, when I started feeling achy. What's worse, Ryan walked in the door yesterday at 4:00 announcing that he also had the crud. He stayed home from work today and is upstairs hibernating. This is not good. We're supposed to be leaving for the Dug's wedding in exactly one week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this passes quickly. The good news is, Kristen got out of the hospital yesterday and is resting at home. It looks like she'll be able to attend her own wedding. Hooray!

So 2 weeks before the wedding, my brother's fiancé, Kristen, has landed herself in the hospital for a good spell. I guess she twisted part of her intestines and has to have some minor surgery to remove that part. When I last heard from Doug (last night), they still weren't sure if the surgery was going to be last night or this morning so I'm hoping the operation went/goes well. As these things go, on the whole the hardest part is rarely the surgery itself. Apparently K will have to remain in the hospital for a number of days for recovery where she won't be able to eat or drink anything. Boredom and feeling helpless and trapped is often the worst part of any hospital stay. What a thing to happen so close to the wedding. I'm sure she's already stressed enough. It's times like these I wish I could be there to help out, to do something . I do know that Kristen and Doug have a large network of great friends in the Bay area who I'm sure will be able to ...