The Journey to Captain Chuck a Mucks

While on vacation in Virginia with my bride, we were driving down around Newport News and decided on a crab shack for dinner. As luck would have it, the one we selected as at the tip of the coast, without clear markings to get there and we ended up on one of the longest bridges I have been on. (one of, not the longest, but loooong)

For those of you who know me – you know this is not a thing I seek out. So, here we are on this bridge to…. no idea where.

We look it up and it turns out we are headed for a somewhat famous place called the Isle of Wight. Now, I learned a bit of Ham trivia here. It turns out that there is a pretty selective process to get a ham called Smithfield Ham, and this is the only place to garner that distinction.

The ham history goes back to the 1700’s and if you are ever in the area, look it up and have some Red Eye Gravy while you are there. That’s a good story in itself. So – back to the original mission, finding dinner.

We are now on this island and looking for some dinner so we hit up the GPS and see what is around. We settled on Captain Chuck a Mucks, sight unseen and made our way there. The journey on the island was interesting and for a bit there it felt a little like a scene from a deliverance knock off or something. Tiny little towns, abandoned homes, twisting into the backwoods of this island.

After twisting around the island for a while, we ended up pulling into an almost empty parking lot and a river dive kind of first impression.

We got in and found we were just a bit early as they were in the process of opening for dinner, but the staff was great – friendly and making us at home from the get go. We got our menus and went with the seafood – kill your diet kind of dinner, but hey, it was vacation.

We took a few snapshots outside as well while there and were pleasantly surprised by the general location and atmosphere. It is worth making it over there if you are ever in the area, and they get fresh fish and serve customers right from the attached dock. We also learned about the fire that shut the place down for some time due to a boat incident that the waitress shared with us along with a photo album. Very Chummy!

The dinner at Captain Chuck a Mucks was unexpected and unplanned, but a good time – sometimes serendipity is the best way to experience things.

 

Links:

• Captain Chuck a Mucks
• PDF Map of historic Smithfield
• The Smithfield Ham site – all about the meat

Home again

Well, it's been 2 weeks but I am finally home again. Lessons learned with respect to Pottstown hospital include Do Not Go There! Once blogger resumes regular service and catches up on restoring my past posts I will start updating the iPad series again. I have a number of topics queued up to cover so I am looking forward to getting started. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

What - are you crazy??

What - are you crazy??

This from my 3 year old daughter as I lifted her to wash her hands at the sink. I guess she thought the water was a little too hot, but really, where did that response come from? When my toddlers question my sanity, I do have to wonder. Ahh they grow up so quickly. :)

Do I get a princess?

 

The other night at our friends, her daughter caught a frog and Tommy kissed it - a very funny event to watch happen as a parent. :) He wondered what all the fuss was about!

Hello from Tommy

 

He has finally mastered the art of "Cheese!" from Roo.

Adrienne is ready to work!

 

Adrienne loves the radio earmuffs - she can't hear mommy or daddy calling and she can rock out all day!

Under Construction

 

We are in the middle of a bit of construction right now, with the kitchen and powder room completely gone. The end product will be worth the mess (I hope!) but getting there is a journey. The little ones are having fun playing in the mess and tracking dust everywhere, keeping mommy busy. This morning Tommy emptied the water cooler on the floor creating a swamp in our dining room that mixed nicely with the plaster dust to make a smooth white mud. Friday the base cabinets should be in and measurements for the counters done so that is a significant milestone we are looking forward to!

Living and dying

It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. It's called living. (quoted) I am finding that the living and the watching can take on a much deeper meaning when considered in the context of dying or the review of the living in memory.

As I look back on what I have lived, I have felt again the cut of poor choices and the joy of positive experiences, once lived and then relived again and again in memory. It is with this in mind that I feel sadness over this personal chapter, knowing this will be a cut I will relive time and again. It is important to salve the memory with positive balance. Time to go find the babies and see if they are up to causing some chaos and being themselves.

May you live in interesting times...

Life in the King household has been interesting of late! A flareup of the nagging illness, little Tommy has Pneumonia (but is recovering slowly), work is chaos and I am banking on a layoff in the near future. Through it all, things are pretty good despite the normal drama added by having teens in the house.

We cut down a bunch of trees today banking the wood against the cold winter days and colder nights. Jimmy will have a good time splitting wood for a while. :) Thanks for your help Jimmy. Ben came over to help and dropped off the splitter, Jeremy and Neil both stopped by to cut in exchange for wood and we got more done then planned.

Neil cut the stump from one of the larger trees into a toilet and was so excited about getting a photo taken with the paper on the tree toilet. I will post one if I remember. I have spent the balance of the last two weeks on the road, preparing for travel, or recovering from travel - it looks like that is the future, short and long term. The upcoming layoff / job situation will drive a bit of that I am sure. More to come on all fronts.

Surgery a Success!

We got the word that the Surgery was a Success! Tommy came through well and may come home tomorrow, while Mark had an incident with his spleen getting nicked but seems to be recovering well.

My Nephew's play

Tommy and Jesse

Dancing with the Pink Ladies

Guy Talk

Stolen Hubcaps!

I took the older 2 up to my sisters and we had a nice, albeit short, visit with my family. My nephew Jesse was in a high school play - it was a rendition of Grease. He did a great job, as did the rest of the kids. Here are some photos from the night.

Heading north and living life

As I wrap up a hectic week at work, I am looking forward to seeing my nephew Jesse in a play at his school. I'm packing the 2 oldest in the truck and we are heading to Wysox with a brief stop to pick up my parents on the way. It will be great to see Amy and Tommy, and the boys and the kids always love getting together.

Jess and the youngest 3 are staying home since Austin has his game Saturday morning early and it is tough to travel right now with Tommy's IV pole, pump, etc.. I am anticipating a great time, even the drive since I will get to spend focused time with the kids which I miss. Things seem so busy lately - the merger activities at work are in full swing and I am processing another acquisition we already had in play in the UK at the same time. It's all about balance in the end. Vacation - sweet vacation, I am looking forward to you!

Hopefully, since the tests are done, we will be able to get to the transplant soon so that force a brief break from work while I recover from the donation process. That's another event I am eagerly anticipating - what is possible with our medical technologies is amazing, but the process is very onerous, especially if you feel the pressure of time at your back. I was hoping to have the surgery in process by now, but it seems to stay just out of reach for one reason or another.

Another adjustment

I'm sitting at the table, having a coffee and playing a game of cards with Jimmy and Jess, when I feel something wet on my leg... I forgot to mention, I'm also holding Tommy who is insistent he is going to help me with either my coffee or my cards. Oh - and I also forget to mention that I had just gone through the prep process for his tube, cleaning it, checking the PH, changing the diaper and so on.

So back to the story, I look down and realize my entire thigh and Tommy's lower half  are soaked - arghhh. Further investigation realizes it is not the usual suspect - a faulty or over full diaper. No... it's the tube cap, once again, coming free from the confines of the tape - freeing itself from the confines of the sticky white medical tape and draining the contents of Tommy's tummy on my leg. It's like it has a mind of it's own.

You might question my taping job - no, it was magnificent, the very epitome of taping genious. Ok, that might be a stretch, but I did put a lot of tape on the valve for it to only last 5 minutes. So you can guess that Jess taped the next one once I cleaned him up, un-taped the tube from his onsie, so on and so forth and got him re-dressed. 

He is now sleeping happily in his bed, getting pumped back full of very expensive calories which I really hope will make him big and strong and healthy. You just never know what to expect around here!

Leave it in, will ya??

So - big surprise here, Tommy seems to not like having a tube stuck down his nose and taped to his face. He has pulled it out a couple of days running despite loads of creative tape work. The bright side is that he seems to like to do this in the morning which leaves an entire day free of worrying about the tube and tape! The downside is it means the bedtime routine is a little rougher as we have to stick a tube up his nose as a first step to bed time - never high on anyone's list of things to do I wouldn't think.

The valves on the tubing also get loose VERY quickly - despite taping them, we have also had 2 blowouts from them which makes a mess and sort of defeats the purpose of pumping it in... We are getting the hang of it despite these minor setbacks and working with the home care nurse on alternate strategies. Lifes a journey all about learning, right? I have to say - right now, I am as tired as I have been in a long time and I am sure Jess is right there with me, but all in all, things are still good. Tommy is doing great and so mobile. It is fun watching the little ones interact and play all the time - we are so very blessed to have such great kids.

Another night down

We go the tube in last night with minimal fuss though Tommy was unhappy and not ready to sleep for another hour or so. I think he is struggling to adjust to the process and the tube must feel weird pumping into his stomache. Once he went to sleep, he slept well, and this morning the unhooking went well with just a little mess. We will get the hang of this soon. Tonight we are upping the quantity and rate so I hope that goes well. He does seem to tolerate it well.

Adrienne is also doing well with the whole process and is a little mother sometimes. All the kids are supportive of him and the babies in general, we are so lucky for that.

I will be posting some photos of the process soon...

Tommys NG Tube

So, we got it all hooked up and got through a night of feeding... It was not without adventure though. I have to get used to the sound of the pump when it kicks on as I am sure he does. Also - there is that little joy when we were woken from the sleep of the exhausted by a screaming pump and monitor complete with flashing light. Wow - I was so confused I did not know where to go or what to push I just wanted it to stop - auughhhh what's happening??? oh no - it's an alarm, is it bad? no - what's it say - can't read it, to small - too light - where's the off button - no can't push that, we'll loose our place in the cycle sowhaddayadowhenitsscreaminginthemiddleofthenight????

  So, after that little episode, we worked together and got it straightend out and my wonderful wife settled him down for round 2.

This morning she sent me a txt - he pulled out the tube - had to see that one coming! Tonight when she gets home we put it back in and try again. We'll get the hang of it yet poor kid!

Little Tommy

We went to CHOP today and got the feeding tube training and placement. It was an experience - things went well though a little challenging. We are so fortunate that the challenges we are facing with him are so minor compared to so many of the families we see there.  Now we simply need to adjust to this new reality and see how things go. We are hoping for a significant weight gain.

A perfect day

This past fall we went down to my sisters place and Tommy (my brother in law) and I spent part of the afternoon fishing before heading to dialysis. It was one of the best times I have had in a long time, and this was the pond we were on. The fish were biting, the company was great and the weather was perfect. Sometimes life gives you memories that are worth more then anything you could ever buy, and this was one of them. Dialysis seemed a rude intruder on our time, but even that was time spent together and when I see him as little as I do, I'll take what we can get. I'm looking forward to many more summer afternoons on the water.

Sick mommy

I got a text from Jess today, seems she has the stomach flu, which explains how rough she felt last night. I feel so bad for her as she has a very swollen / sore neck & upper back already from last week and being sick on top of that has got to be miserable. I came home to finish my workday from here and have been taking teleconferences while keeping babies somewhat quiet. That worked until Barney finished and now Adrienne is running laps around the first floor singing at the top of her lungs. All I could do was explain to my colleagues that I have little ones... At least they play nicely so I can still work. Speaking of which - back to it.

Still testing - waiting on Tommy

I finished the first of the (I hope) last 2 tests needed to make the decision on the transplant. I am hoping to take care of the last one this week, based on things with little Tommy. I just heard from his dr. and he is still not on the growth curve. I am planning to call back today to see what our options are as the voice mail from the nurse was not very helpful. If he is tracking to his own curve, but below the main curve, that should be ok. The concern is if he is not on a curve, which is where he was a month ago. Either way, a decision will be made soon and if it is the tube, we start Wednesday at Childrens Hospital. The pricing is sort of a la cart in that it breaks out for the food, hardware and help. On the bad side - it is crazy expensive, on the bright side, we sure will hit our deductible quick, even thought it's huge. They want to do a liver biopsy if things do not straighten out there, but his white cell counts were ok so far. More to come...