Sad parting coming up

My parents and my brother have been visiting with us this last week. This is the first time that they got to see Priya. Grandma and Priya are now getting along famously. I think it will be a very difficult parting.

I have enjoyed catching up with my brother. It's been a lot of fun talking about the old days and all the shared memories.

This past Sunday we also dedicated Priya. She did pretty good being up on stage - after all, she's a Sen! We were very touched by the number of people that joined us. It was a great testimony to both Tish's family and mine. We didn't get any pictures, but I'll try to get some captures off the video.

Babies are not meant to be eaten

Tish was at Babies 'R Us this afternoon returning a car seat. As she was talking to the lady behind the counter, she heard Priya scream. Looking down quickly, she saw a two year old with Priya's hand in her mouth biting down on Priya's fingers. There were four teeth marks on her middle finger, and the kid had broken skin. Blood was coming out. Poor Priya was screaming in pain and, probably more so, in shock. The mom of the girl seemed to be a teenage mom who acted like she could care less. Just thinking about it makes my blood start to boil.

In other news, I heard back from the doctor's office today regarding my heart scan. They give you a "score" based on how bad the blockage is. The score ranges from 0 (no blockage) to 400 (don't bother coming in - we are arranging for your funeral). Soooooo... four years of high cholesterol numbers.. and my score turns out to be... 0. This was the miracle I was hoping for! That makes me feel so blessed - now I just gotta get my numbers down. But at least I don't have to worry that I'm gonna drop dead any day. God is good.

Boys like notes too

I am currently reading "She Calls Me Daddy" which I would recommend to any father with a daughter. I just finished a part where Wolgemuth talks about how it's so great to write out little notes for your girl (from either mom or dad), and leave 'em in places for her to find, or pack 'em away in lunch boxes, for example. He then goes on to say that you should never send notes for little boys. He doesn't explain why, but says, trust me on this - don't send notes for boys. Hmmm... does anyone know why he is saying that? The only obvious thing that jumps out to me is that boys will get teased. Maybe I'm missing something.

Anyway, why did I think of this? As I was putting away my lunch box at work this morning, I opened it up to get my packet of oatmeal out. There in the corner was a little note with my name on it. It was Tish's writing. Inside was a cute little lovey, dovey note she had written. Well, I certainly enjoyed getting that note!!

In other news, Priya is now seven months old. As anyone with kids will tell you, man time flies. My parents are coming in a couple of weeks, and we have her dedication planned for Nov. 27th. I guess I have only a few more weeks of exclusive claim on her. After that, I'll have to share her with the Lord. :-)

Some clues

Consider the following symptoms: Fatigue, slight weight gain (usually less than 10 pounds and mostly fluid), intolerance to cold, slight memory loss, high LDL level. Sounds pretty generic huh? Well, as it happens, these are the symptoms of hypothyroidism - an underfunctioning thyroid. That is what the doctor's office told me I had from the blood work that came back. So I did some research...

Next to diet, hypothyroidism is the second most common reason for high cholesterol. Basically, the thyroid gland regulates body metabolism. With the thyroid level low, the body's ability to use cholesterol goes down, and hence the accumulation of excessive cholesterol.

My thyroid level was 30 times off than what it needs to be. Being a person who likes to think in terms of cause and effect, this is good news (yea... if news like this can be considered good). Now I know that it wasn't anything I was doing to make my cholesterol levels that high. My glandular system just decided that the wage and benefit structure wasn't good enough, and have called in a strike. We are currently in negotiations.

Thoughts on mortality

Nothing like a nice friendly visit to the family doctor to cheer you up. For years I have been aware of a silent bomb ticking inside me. A few years ago I got the rather surprising news that I was more American than I had realized - I was carrying elevated levels of cholesterol. At that time I wrote it off to years of life as a poor student - too much pizza and fast food. Through diet, my numbers came down. Then a few months ago, I visited the health fair at work, and lo and behold - high numbers back again. Dizzyingly high in fact. The walking dead kind. The nurse who did my test didn't even know what to say to me kind.

So now some perspective. As far as I know, I don't have any family history of heart disease. Cancer, yeah. Heart disease - no. Well.. maybe everyone died of cancer sooner than they would have of heart disease. Who knows. And it's not like I am eating KFC every day (I haven't had any in years). Same goes for most kinds of fast food. So it's gotta be genetic in nature. Great. Tiny little buggers I can't even see are wreaking havoc on me.

Anyway, so I came away with a prescription to keep the Pfizer company solvent for a few more years. I also had a heart scan, the results of which are due in a few days. Good afternoon, Mr. Sen - you'll be happy to know that we have scheduled you early for your 100,000 mile tuneup.

Ok. My writing is merely covering up the fact that I am very scared. Nothing like a growing family to realize how precious life is, and how much you can miss out on. I was sorely tempted to not write this post until after I got my scan results. But I learned a long time ago that it's right to give thanks to the Lord today rather than tomorrow, after grace has been made apparent (or not so apparent).

I feel funny inside. There are moments where I feel peace, and a reassurance from the Lord that my life is in his hands. Then the pendulum swings, and thoughts of doom, and death, and despair peek through. The latter thoughts last less than a second, but it's enough to know that somewhere in the garden of flowers is a dead rat.

So stay tuned. I am going to go look for that rat.