2009 ~Alabama May 4-5, Tubes and Dental Repairs at UAB Children’s Hospital Birmingham, Alabama

Monday, May 4, 2009  

I rode to Birmingham with Lora Meadow and had a doctor's appointment at 12:00 P.M. with Dr. Nathaniel Robins, a genetics doctor at UAB Children's. Dr. Robins has two interns and a co-worker who will see Meadow.

Dr. Robins has not seen Meadow for almost two years so they will need to take pictures of Meadow for their files.

He ordered some lab work (homocysteine level & some chromosomal study). After the doctors left, Lora changed Meadow’s diaper gave her some milk, and fixed her G-tube in the waiting room.

Waiting at the doctor's office

It is way past lunch time around 1:00 P.M. and we are getting hungry. 

I mentioned going to the Botanical Gardens. Lora typed into the GPS the information needed to get the directions for the Botanical Gardens. We decided to eat somewhere close to the gardens.

We asked these two women where was a good place to eat close by and they suggested going over the hill to the English Village shopping area.

We decided to eat at Billy’s Bar & Grill a family-owned pub located in the English Village. Located at 2012 Cahaba Road, Mountain Brook, and Al 35223 205-879-2238 emails: info@billysbarandgrill.com.

The bar is tucked away in the old-world charm with an upscale atmosphere and has an extensive menu, two full bars with an extensive selection of liquors and fine wines. There is a large moose head hanging over the main bar. 

We ordered a hamburger with fries for Meadow and we split a Greek sandwich with chips. (It was grilled with Monterey Jack cheese, bacon, and onion, tomato served on whole wheat bread with smoked turkey.)

While we waited, for our food, Meadow tapped her foot to the music that was playing and she kept in time. 

We sat in the dining area downstairs because we saw no ramp going upstairs.

The restroom was upstairs, which was much needed after two glasses of coke, along with more dining area, and another bar.

The food was very good; we thanked the waiter and headed back down the hill to the Botanical Gardens.

Lora went to the restroom at the botanical gardens and Meadow and I went to the Rose Garden. I took many pictures of the roses; many were in full bloom, yellow, red, white, and pink, mixed so beautifully. 

Lora was on the phone trying to get us into the Ronald McDonald House.

We walked through the conservatory where we saw plants of commercial importance, such as banana, vanilla, coffee, and cacao (the source of chocolate) are here, as are wondrous tropical species of palms, cycads (including a 100-year-old specimen), and tree ferns.

On the north end houses the Camellia’s and on the south side houses the desert plants such as American agaves, aloes and cacti, Pacific rim plumerias, and succulent euphorbia from Africa.

We walked through Bruno’s garden of fresh vegetables, and herbs. We saw fresh sweet peas, Lettuce, onions, kale, cabbages, and broccoli.

On the Herb terrace, we saw rosemary, & thyme.

Japanese Garden Birmingham Botanical Gardens

Next, we walked to the Japanese garden which was opened in 1967 by the Japanese Ambassador to the US and sits on 7.5 acres of land.

I said to Lora, “ I see a red gate ahead” and she said that it was probably a sign outside of the gardens. Instead, it was this spectacular curved top torii, “The gate to heaven” painted a traditional bright red. 

Lora had been to the gardens several times before but never to the Japanese gardens.

After entering the gate, we stopped to take pictures next to the bonsai trees, and Japanese Maples. A man stopped and asked us if we wanted our pictures made of the three of us and we said yes.

The path was not paved with concrete but was filled with pebbles and it had rained a lot for this time of year and that made the path very hard to push Meadow’s wheelchair.

The man said that there was a large goose at the pond so we headed toward the pond.

It was such a beautiful pond dotted with boulders within and without and the stream flowed into the pond. You had the feeling that you were actually in a Japanese garden. It was so beautiful that day, even if the day hung with rain clouds.

The pond had fish, turtles, and two geese. The geese were not afraid and would come right up to us. I got a little too close and one of the geese flared up his chest at me.

Rose Garden in Botanical Gardens

Vulcan Museum

We were just coming out of the Japanese garden when it started to rain and we headed to the van. By the time we had loaded the wheelchair and Meadow, it had almost stopped raining but we were soaked.

Next, we to Vulcan Park and walked around, I took pictures, and we visited the gift shop.

Vulcan the Iron Man is located on the summit of Red Mountain overlooking the heart of downtown Birmingham and stands 56 feet. 

We stopped at Walgreens and got Meadow some gauges for her g-tub irritation.

Next, we rode to the  Ronald McDonald House where we will spend the night.

RMH sleeping

The clerk at Ronald McDonald House said our room would be ready at about six P.M. and that our Room number was 211 on the second floor.

We checked in and ate supper of chicken, beans, and a brownie. Our room was not ready until 7:30 P.M.

I gave Meadow a bath, dressed her for bed, and turned out the lights, Meadow went right to sleep. 

Meadow could only have clear liquids up until 2 P.M. so Lora got up during the night to give Meadow some clear liquids.

The next day we had to be at UAB CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL at 5:45 A.M.

Birmingham Children after dental surgery

May 5, 2009

I heard the clock go off, I got up, took a shower, and dressed.

Lora got up and dressed.

Meadow woke up in a very good mood and I dressed her.

We loaded into the van and rode a couple of blocks to day surgery. 

Meadow is going to have tubes put into her ears by Dr. Shirley and Dr Curtis is doing crowns and fillings in her teeth. Dr Robins has ordered lab work to be done while she is asleep.

Dr Curtis cleaned & did a fluoride treatment on Meadows's teeth. 

Meadow came out of surgery about 10 A.M. and she was not a happy camper. Once the anesthesia wore off she became more agreeable.

She amazingly started sipping some water out of a cup! The water felt good to her dry throat and she drank about four ounces. She did so well that we were able to leave about noon. 

We rode to Ronald McDonald House ate lunch, packed, and then checked out.

Meadow ate some more of the soft chicken that was left from the day before. I was surprised she wanted to eat after all the dental work. 

I was afraid it would rain all the way home but it was very nice and we were home about 4:30 P.M.

🚙2009 ~ April 13-19 Traveling with family to Atlanta, & Pelham Ga

Day 1; Monday, April 13, 2009

My husband took me to Lora’s at 5:20 A.M. We loaded up the van and left about 5:45 A.M. The kids were actually up, ready, and had eaten breakfast.

We arrived about 11 A.M. at the Atlanta Aquarium. We paid five dollars for parking. 

We walked to the aquarium and stood in line for tickets. 

There were buses for school kids, teachers, parents, etc. The aquarium was full to capacity.

Georgia Aquarium is located at 225-Baker Street NW Atlanta GA.

We started at Georgia Explorer Discover this gallery was an interactive touch pool full of horseshoe crabs, sea stars, stingrays, and shrimp.

Next, we went to the Coldwater Quest, the chilly unknown, where we saw Australian weedy sea dragons, beluga whales, giant Pacific octopus, Garibaldi damselfish, and Japanese spider crabs hanging among rocky ledges and kelp for food. 

At the Ocean Voyager, we made a journey with the giant fish. Here we walked through an acrylic tunnel where we saw whale sharks, manta rays, Nandi, schools of predatory trevally jacks, squadrons of small and large stingrays, enormous goliath grouper, and hammerhead sharks. 

This tank contains 6 million gallons of saltwater with over 4,000 square feet of the viewing area and the window is 100 feet long. The tunnel has 185 tons of acrylic windows and is the second-largest viewing window in the world. It is 23 feet fall by 61 feet wide and 2 feet thick.

We made our next journey through the river scout where we found freshwater mysteries from Africa, South America, Asia, and Georgia.  

We saw Asia otters, Electric Eels, catfish, and razor-sharp teeth of voracious predators the piranhas. 

Last, we visited the Tropical Diver, the Coral Kingdom. We saw eels popping out of the sand, seahorses, jellyfish, and fairy bassets, yellow-headed jawfish, and at the center of this gallery is one of the largest living reef exhibits of any aquarium in the world. Living corals and thousands of colorful reef fish are presented in a faithful recreation of a tropical Pacific coral reef.

We ate lunch at the Aquarium and I ordered a dessert.

Jelly Fish 

We left the aquarium at about 5 P.M. and traveled to RHM located at 5420 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd. Northeast’s Atlanta, GA.

A storm had come through Atlanta and there were trees, tree limbs, and debris everywhere. 

The power was out everywhere and the red lights were not working so the intersection became a four-way stop but some people did not honor the stop.

Traffic was being rerouted because of the heavy rain and debris which was causing traffic jams. 

We got checked in at the RMH and unloaded the van.

We rode to Malibu Norcross at 5400 Brook Hollow Pky Norcross, Ga. 

We had a ticket for unlimited go-cart racing, duck boats, miniature golf, and a large pizza with cokes complimentary of Malibu Norcross management. 

We traveled through the 5 P.M. Atlanta evening traffic and arrived at 7 P.M. and we stayed until 9 P.M. 

We rode back to Ronald McDonald House where we took showers and dressed for bed. 

It had been a full day.

Atlanta Zoo

Atlanta Zoo

Day 2: Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Meadow and Marcus, Jr., both have an eye appointment. 

They were seen fairly soon but Meadow was referred to a Retina specialist on the second floor. 

Meadow finished seeing the doctors at 3:30 P.M.

The doctors said that Meadow will have to come back in May for eye repair.

We rode to the Atlanta Zoo, which will close in about one hour, but off we went to the zoo. 

Several of the zoo animals had been bedded down for the night but there were still several animals on view. 

We ate dinner at Steak and Shake.

Next, we rode to Mountain Marietta Park where we had unlimited tickets for go-cart racing and gaming. We stayed until 9 P.M.

We had another full day of fun.

 Wild Animal Safari 

 Wild Animal Safari 

 Feeding the animals at Wild Animal Safari 

The pacing Ostrich

A Day 3: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 

We checked out at 10 A.M. and we arrived at 12:00 p.m. at the Wild Animal Safari located in Pine Mountain Ga.

Lora rented a safari zebra van and bought several buckets of animal food. We load into the van and go through the locked gate inside where all the animals roam freely.

The animals know that we have food and they start coming toward us drooling. 

We feed the American buffalo, deer, cows, giraffes, gravy’s zebra, Kangaroo, rhinoceros, emus, yakatusi, Blackbuck antelope, elk, rhino, camel, and, buffalo as we wind through the 200 areas of the natural habitat of the animals. 

We drove past the caged Siberia tigers, black mane lion, and liger. 

Do not roll down your windows if you do not want a long drooling tongue in your face.

The van has bars on the back windows but the front windows will roll down. The kids loved feeding the animals and we took our time feeding and watching, and the kids squealed with delight at all the animals.

After the safari ride, we had a picnic. We sat next to the fence where an ostrich was pacing up and down.

The rest of the park was a walk-through where we saw 

pigs, monkeys, American Black bears, American alligators, rabbits, capuchins, baboons, donkeys, parrots, peacocks, skunks, swans, turtles, foxes, and wolves

We arrived at Andy’s at about 8PM and the kids were excited to see their cousins and ready to get out of the car after the three-hour trip.

Getting licked by Sampson

Day 3: Thursday, April 16, 2009

Sierra and Madison spent the entire day playing in Sierra’s room only coming out to eat.

The boys played outside building a playhouse in the woods. They were covered in dirt but they were having a good time so, that day we just let them have fun.

For supper, we had two large pizzas from Pizza Hut.

We rested on the sofa watching TV.

That night Meadow, Lora, and I slept in the same bed. Madison and Sierra slept in one bed and the boys slept on the floor.

The remainder of the time we were the boys put up a tent and they all slept outside. 

Have fun at Wild Adventures Theme Park 

Day 4: Friday, April 17, 2009 

Today Marcus, Jr., Nevada, Madison, and Sierra walked to the cemetery across the road and I gave Madison my camera to take pictures of the tombstones.

We went to 1:00-8:00PM to Wild Adventure Theme Park.

We ate corn dogs, funnel cake, and French fries.

The bigger kids ride all the big rides and Meadow and Montana ride all the smaller rides. 

We ate dinner at McDonald's.

While at the park Madison put her leg between two boards in a fence and got her leg stuck.

Lora had to grease her leg with suntan oil and Madison slowly worked it out. 

Montana and Meadow rode the Ferries wheel, merry-go-round, airplanes bug out, wild safari ride, snake, and swings.

I rode the smaller rides with the kids and I took many pictures.

We had Another full day.

watching the fish at the Flint River Aquarium 

Day 5: Saturday, April 18, 2009 

Lora, Meadow, and I rode to Flint River Park. The bigger kids want to stay and play, and Andy said he would watch them. He was going to watch the Alabama football game that afternoon.

Lora, Meadow, and I left about noon, Charity said she did not want to go with us so she went shopping with her friend Heather.

Lora, Meadow, and I went to Flint River Park where we walked around the park and looked at the Ray Charles Statue.

 We went to the Flint River Quarium to see the animals and fish that live in the Flint River and all the different types of catfish that live in the river. 

We ate at Barb Q sandwiches and fries at the Flint River Barb restaurant. Some back lady came over to our table and was telling us about a special school for children like Meadow she said the Lord told her to come over to our table and tell us about the school. We told her we were from Alabama.

After we ate we walked along the overflowing Flint River where we met this nice couple from New Jersey. There were misquotes and they started to bite us so we headed back to the park. We stopped at Winn Dixie and I went in and got a two-gallon bucket of Napoleon ice cream, two packages of cookies, pecan sandies, pecan sandies with chocolate chips, and two packages of ice cream cones. I went to bed with Meadow because she was tired.

Lora washed clothes until 9:30 P.M.

When Charity returned she and Andy went to Outback Restaurant for dinner and they brought their leftovers home with them.

Montana asking if he can go!!

Sierra and Madison

Nevada and Marcus

Montana in his Sunday Best.

Day 6: Sunday, April 19, 2009

Our last day which was Sunday, Madison, Marcus, Jr., dressed and went to Sunday school with Andy. 

Lora and I packed and cleaned.

We left about 10:30 A.M. Montana came up to Lora and said,” Aunt Lora, if you will take me with you I will give you all the money that I have in savings.” He was very serious about that.

Andy came back to tell us goodbye it was between Sunday school and Church. 

Inside Desota Caverns

Inside Desota Caverns

Riding the tubs 

Riding the potty seats

Visiting Desota Caverns 

Going inside the Caverns

We stopped at Childersburg, AL at Desoto Caverns.

We stayed until they closed at 5 P.M. 

We bought some fudge, and cokes and snacked.

We toured Desoto Caverns which, took an hour. We saw stalactites which are rock formations that hang down and stalagmites are rock formations that reach up, other mnemonics to help us remember this is that the two words differ in the sixth and seventh letters — using the sixth letter, stalactites come from the ceiling and stalagmites comes from the ground. 

We saw a light show beginning with the first day of creation to the seventh day on that day God rested. It was awesome.

We exited Desoto Caverns and went to the park area where there were rides, archery, cave crawl, and mine for gemstones, we walked through, a lost trail maze. 

Lora, Marcus, Jr., and Madison rode the Hamster wheel and we all rode the bathtubs and potty seat scooters.

A man walked up to Lora and said the Lord told me to give this to you and he handed her some more tickets and wrapped up in the tickets was a twenty-dollar bill. 

Lora thanked the man but she did not know about the money until he had walked away.

We stayed until the park closed at 5 P.M. 

Lora fed Meadow and we rode home in the rain. We did not know that there was a tornado warning all around us.

The Lord was looking out for us that day and we made it home safe and sound.

2009 ~ Thursday, May 14, "THE GROUP "RAIN"

After spending a full day with my granddaughter in Montevallo, I went to Huntsville to watch the group RAIN.

I registered to win tickets to see the Group Rain with one of the television stations and I won. 

My husband and I rode to Huntsville, stopping in Madison at Thomas Pitt for a rib plate and 

Walgreen’s, where we bought five cases of Mountain dews and some domes pills.

We drove to the Civic Center,  parked in the parking deck, we walked to the concert hall and waited for the Rain to begin performing.

At first, I was not too impressed with the first half of the show, but the last half was great.

RAIN  A tribute to the Beatles VBC concert Hall Thu May 14, 2009, 7:30 P.M.

Rain dressed just like the Beatles did when they were performing.

They changed clothes and hairstyle as the group aged as they performed.

They did thirty years of Beatle style performance as well as the different instruments that the Beatles used.

It was an older crowd but they really got into the music by waving their phones, dancing in their seats and just singing along. 

The performance was over by 9:30 P.M. I enjoying the show very much and I did not want it to end. 

The four women sitting in front of us were drinking beer and wine and by the end of the show, they were feeling very good.

One of the women had called a friend on her cell phone and was holding her phone up to her friends could hear the band play. 

At one point she misplaced her phone but she soon finds it. 

Here is some history that I copied from the Internet net about the group.

February 9, 1964, was a Sunday night that would change the course of popular music, popular culture—and history, forever!  Millions of Americans tuned into The Ed Sullivan Show to watch a group of four mop-topped Englishmen in dark suits that called themselves The Beatles. What they witnessed was a new and exciting brand of melodic, guitar-and-harmonies-driven rock 'n' roll that was as infectious as it was original and unique.  Little did the members of RAIN know that they would themselves come together in a band, forging a career that would keep them together longer than The Beatles! All this while raising the bar for professionalism and preserving the legacy of the immortal band's recorded music on stage to wildly enthusiastic audiences. Spanning the generations, their audiences include the vast majority of older fans that never got to see The Beatles perform live, and fans that were not yet born when The Beatles hit America.

The story of RAIN actually begins in the mid-1970s when keyboardist Mark Lewis joined forces with four other local musicians who together formed the band that was originally called “Reign” and played throughout the Los Angeles/Orange County, CA area. With their mutual love for the music of The Beatles, Reign was in demand to play Beatles music and rode an enormous wave of nostalgia for the band that had broken up in 1970. Before long they had built a strong devoted following in and around Los Angeles. Following numerous misspellings in the media and advertising, “Reign” became RAIN (also the title of a 1966 Beatles single). A big break came for RAIN when Dick Clark hired them to record the music for the 1979 made-for-TV movie Birth of the Beatles.

Rain’s intention was not just to cover Beatle songs, but also to take it to a new level. To do songs that The Beatles had never performed live, and do them note-for-note, just like the records. At this time, ‘tribute bands’ were non-existent. 

2009, Tuesday, June 2, Caught in an electrical storm on the Singing River Bridge

I had a dentist appointment at 9:00 A.M.

After the dentist, we rode so I went to Kohl’s where I bought a pair of shorts and a top.  

Next, we went to Sam Club where we bought two lawn chairs to use at music in Wilson Park on Wednesdays. 

We stopped at Ruby Tuesday where each of us ordered a rib plate we had a buy one get one free coupon.

We went to Lowe’s where we bought a thermal for our swimming pool and two screwdrivers.

I had loaded my bicycle into our Vue and was planning to ride it across Patton Island Bridge later that day.

Hubby's iPhone had issued a weather alert, it said a storm was brewing in Mississippi.

I felt like the storm would not reach Florence until after I had finished riding my bicycle across the bridge and back.

Hubby unloaded my bike while I went to the park's restroom to change into the shorts and top that I had bought. 

It was very hot and clear when I started across the bridge, but before I reached the end it had started to sprinkle.

Don’t know what I was thinking because I did not have my cell phone with me, or I would have called hubby to come pick me up, but  I had forgotten it.

So I turned my bicycle around and started back across the bridge.

I was almost all the way back when the rain started to pour down and lightning was dancing all around me.
I remember looking towards the locks of the dam and thinking to myself, I sure could use some windshield wipers to clear my sunglasses that were covered with rainwater.

All I could remember was trying to get safely across the bridge away from the storm but it was too late, I was caught inside the cage on the bridge in an electrical storm, and had lost my short-term memory. 

I was lucky that was the only thing that happened to me with lighting dancing all around me. 

It took me about 20 minutes to ride my bike about four miles that are two miles across and two miles back. 
The storm hit at 12:53, I must have started about 12:33 P.M.  and I was at the hospital by 2:30 P.M. 

It was reported later that day,  that it had been a terrible storm over the Tennessee River.

I was dripping wet when I arrived back at the park. 

The storm had frightened hubby, he drove the VUE across the bridge to look for me, and he saw me coming off the bridge.

I did not remember riding across the bridge or changing out of my wet clothes at the restroom at the park. 

Hubby said I kept repeating myself all the way home, where did all those wet clothes come from?

When we got home I ate a snack bar and drank a can of soda, I remembered nothing.

Hubby thought I had a stroke, and he said that I needed to go to the hospital, but I kept saying nothing was wrong with me.

Hubby called my daughter, he handed me the telephone, my daughter asked me some questions, and all I could say was give me a minute to think.
My daughter asked me if I remember riding my bicycle on the bridge and I said what bridge? I could not remember anything. 

I had been inside an electric field caused by the lighting.
The lighting had hit the cage that was attached to the bridge, where I was riding my bicycle.

Somehow, my daughter and hubby persuaded me to go to the hospital, and I was seen by doctor Robert Coble. 

They drew blood, took a brain scan, and checked my urine, the doctor was puzzled by the results. 

He said that the enzymes in my heart were going crazy and I would have to stay until they stabilized. 

My family stayed while I recovered.
It took several hours but my short-term memory started to come back and I was released at 7:30 P.M. 

All I wanted to do was go home and go to sleep. 

The next day I felt a little better but the right side of my head still felt a little numb.

Information on Lighting:

Lightning injuries are usually the result of five different mechanisms: 

Direct strike, — direct strike injuries occur when lightning strikes a person directly

Contact injury, Contact injuries occur when a person touches an object that is part of the lightning current pathway

Side flash (splash), Side flash or splash injuries occur when lightning arcs from the object struck to a nearby object.

Ground current (step voltage), Ground current or step voltage injuries occur when the lightning current spreads peripherally through the ground from the site of the strike

Blunt trauma, blunt injuries occur in two fashions. 

In the first, the victim's musculature contracts diffusely, causing the victim to be thrown a distance from the lightning strike. 

The second mechanism is the consequence of large fluctuations in temperature associated with a lightning strike. 

Lightning causes instantaneous superheating and expansion of the air, which is followed immediately by an implosion as the air is rapidly cooled. 

The duration of heat is so brief that thermal injuries seldom occur. However, the explosion and implosion of air can lead to blunt trauma of major organ systems such as the brain, liver, and spleen.

Because the duration of a lightning strike is extremely short, little of the massive energy is transferred internally to the victim. Rather, the majority of the energy flows externally over the victim's body (a "flashover"). 

However, enough energy passes through the body to disrupt and short-circuit electrical systems within the body, especially the heart, vasculature, respiratory center of the brain, reticular activating system, and autonomic nervous system. 

The major cause of death in lightning injuries is cardiopulmonary arrest due to asystole. 

However, asystole can be readily converted to a coordinated cardiac rhythm with timely and aggressive cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Why were the enzymes in my heart elevated after being caught in ground current lighting?

Weather observations for June 2, 2009, Muscle Shoals, North West Alabama Regional Airport 

SCT055 means scatter clouds at 5,500 AGL scattered means 3 to 4 eights cloud coverage.

BKN090 were broken clouds at 9000’ covering 5 to 7 octas of the sky.