Anthony's Takes CHOP exam
Anthony was taken to his regular physical exam at CHOP, the Children's Hospital of Phili by Grandpa Paul in late August, just short of his first birthday. Health wise, he's doing great, but he really didn't like being examined. He was frightened from the moment they wanted to weigh him until the end of the exam... about 50 minutes in all. He was crying and screaming the entire time and was really quite distressed. He's still in the lower 25% percentile on weight and height and head size, but he's growing right on schedule adding 2+ pounds since his last visit and a couiple of inches to boot. His pediatrician, Dr. Zolway continues to be very pleased with his progress and commented on how strong Anthony is (he really is amazingly strong).It's time for him to take his vaccinations, but in Pennsylvnia, a child must take them after 1 year of age. Anthony will go in for the vaccines sometime in the next month.. perhaps an evening when his parents are free.
Toyota Tercel Serviced
On a Saturday morning, the Handyman took Heidi's Tercel in for an oil and filter change at Gladwyne Sunoco... oops, no mechanics working on Saturdays during the summer. With Heidi's crazy work schedule, she'd have to wait another month unless we took it to another station.Jiffy Lube on City Line Road ( Route 1 ) at the intersection of State Road 23 was open and we tought we'd give it a first try. Actually, pretty good service... they vaccumed the inside of the car and checked all the tire pressures at no charge. Then we checked the air filter. Boy, was it filthy. No only was it clogged with dirt, the wh0le craddle for the filter was loaded with half the dirt of Philadelphia as well! So the Handyman decided to have the fuel injection system checked and cleaned and the gas lines as well.
Turns out the Handyman was a lot more satisfied with the service of Jiffy Lube than the local service station. This little Tercel which is a '94, has had very regular maintenance and low mileage and can probably go another 5 years or more with luck.
Plymouth Meeting Mall
The newest mall visited by Grandpa and Anthony in the Phili suburbs is the Plymouth Meeting Mall. This new mall is actually a very old mall that is being renovated. It has some of the upscale stores like Gap, but not as many as King of Prussia. However, this "old" mall was built with large and wide lobbies and corridors and tall, tall ceilings. The wide open spaces and palm tree decorations gives one the feeling of being in Florida, rather than Pennsylvania. Architecturally, it's a style that this writer prefers over the newer types like Natick Mall.It's clearly not as upscale, and therefore the store selection is much more limited than King of Prussia... then again, there are few malls in the USA that can competer with King of Prussia.
Coehogs and Raspberries
Rachel and Paul were invited to a lovely bar-be-que dinner at the Cape by the Delahunts. Shrimps, bar-be-qued sword fish, steaks and others yummy dishes topped off with a key lime pie which the Bau's brought from their favorate Wellesley Bakery and Cafe.Just before we left to drive back to Boston, Bob, out host went to his refrigerator and pulled out a big bag of coehogs ... we had pulled them out of the Bay earlier that day. In addition, he gave Rachel a pint of his home grown raspberries... ummm, delicious. Bob knows that Rachel like to coehog herself, but could do it this trip.
Rachel turned the hoehogs into a wonderful clam chowder whic she shared with her sister-in law and brothber-in-law the very next day. Home made clam cowder... it just does not get any better!
Paul to Undergo Surgery Procedure
As part of being careful after passing 50, Paul regularly checks for signs of cancer during his visits to the doctor. He's been checking PSA/blood tests, digital rectal exams at least once a year, stool exams too. Well this year, his primary care physician sent him to a specialist to have a sigmoidoscopy performed. What's a sigmoidoscopy?A sigmoidoscopy is an endoscopic exam with a two foot long flexible instrument up the rectum. This is a simpler exam than the more thorough colonoscopy which is a six foot long endoscope up the rectum which is more expensive and requires sedation or anesthesia. In about 20 to 25% of the sigmoidoscopies, they find "palyps" in the intestins or colon and if found, these are to be removed. It seems that many cancers start as palups, and if you remove them early, the medical community believes that you can reduce the chance of coln cancer by 75% to 85%.(Heidi, check this logic out.... ). Well, surprise,,,.... Paul was found to have a small paluy in the colon area and hense, a colonoscopy has been scheduled at MGH for the end of August. Ooooh, Paul hates the knife!
