Bill's Birthday, Alan's Surgery, and Whirley

Bill's 90th Birthday

Alan's dad recently celebrated his 90th birthday with a party for extended family at their home. It was a wonderful day honoring Bill. Grandchildren came from as far away as New York, Nashville, and Huntsville to be there.

Bill and Anna with Bill's "children" and spouses

All the guests at the party

Alan's surgery:

I have written in the past about Alan's longstanding problem with severe, debilitating headaches.  He has been through a decade-long search to try to find the cause, as they are migraine-like in intensity, but not migraines.  They have always felt like they were in his right ear.  At long-last an apparent cause has been found:  An MRA revealed that one of his cranial arteries has fused to his 9th cranial nerve.  The blood flowing through the artery causes the nerve to fire, causing the pain.  We had never heard of it, but apparently, it is not as rare as you might think.  At any rate, on April 5, he is slated to have surgery.  I won't go into all the details and give you the long complicated name for the surgery, but basically the brain surgeon will "tease" the nerve and artery apart and place a small Teflon buffer plate between the two. (at least that is my interpretation of what the doctor said) Alan has done some research on the surgery, and there is about a 94% success rate, where people have immediate or partial relief of the pain. He will have the surgery here in Kingsport at Holston Valley Hospital.  The surgeon is Dr. Ken Smith, who says that he has done this particular surgery about 50 times.   Alan will be in the hospital for a few days, with about six weeks to full recovery.

Whirley:

Alan gave me a wonderful piece of mobile yard art a few years ago for Christmas. I call it "Whirley." In honor of spring, Alan decided to add streamers to it.  I am not a very steady camera person, but you get the idea.  The flowers are Hellebores (Lenten Roses) that my friend John gave me many years ago.  They have been blooming for over a month now.  What looks like a tent in the background is the sunshade that Alan constructed for the swing in the woods.