Seattle Trip

Jayden at Pike Street Market

March 14th and 15th was spent driving over to Seattle so John could have some further medical tests done at Virginia Mason. His physician, nor anyone else here knows enough about the pancreas. We drove up early morning and arrived in time to check into our hotel; the Ramada downtown. They even charge for parking at the hotel!! Incredible:) We met with the doctor for an initial consultation and liked him immediately. For the first time in years, we felt a little hopeful.

Afterwards, we had the rest of the day to play so, after lunch we took Jayden to Pike Street Market. The guys at the fish market were so impressed to see a teenage kid hanging out with his parents that they invited him to come behind the counter so they could throw him so fish:)! He was thrilled and it was hoot to watch. Jayden had his first insight into the life of transients as we passed one on every corner. He did get a kick out of the street side musicians.

Later that evening, we walked over to Seattle Center to see the Space Needle. Everything was closed up but it was fun just to walk and hang out!

Tuesday we were at the hospital by 7:30 so dad could have his procedure. Jayden and I hung out for 5 hours waiting. We got a little bored and took the elevator up to the 17th floor so we could have our own rendition of the space needle. :) And it saved us $18. a person for a quick peek. Outrageous!!

They released John by early afternoon so we started for home. The doctor promised we'd here from him by Monday. We made a pit stop at the temple (tradition of sorts) and showed Jayden the Seattle Temple. While there we struck up a conversation with the grounds keeper. End result was, we loaded a beautiful bamboo bush they were tossing out into the trunk of my Toyota! ha...too funny. After a late lunch, we hit the road--taking a back, but shorter route home. It rained like crazy so I snoozed in the back. John was told not to eat or drive! ha... He's been through these ordeals too many times to fall for that:)

Good news is they said the pancreas isn't inflammed and it looked good for someone with pancreatitis. They think the surgeon who performed the original surgery wrapped the stomach too tight during the procedure and that's causing the pain now. They're trying to control that with low doses of a high blood pressure medication. Hopefully it will work:) All in all...he's still alive and kicking!