To take a quote from one of our favorite movies.... some of you may be wondering, " Now why don't she write?!" I haven't fallen victim to violence on the western plains and lie rotting in a coulee somewhere... (as in Dances with Wolves) I have a hard time writing without speaking what's on my mind, and I haven't been sure whether or not to share what's been in the forefront of my thoughts the most lately. I can't really focus on anything else until I put it out there in the Universe, so, let's get it out and get back to the business of the riverway...C., my husband, has had kidney disease since he was a youngster - a genetic issue. (This is Not a picture of it to the left; this is my art-sy close-up of a really cool tree down by the river...) It's gotten to the point now that he's on the last medication available to him to try to keep his kidney protected. Of course, our family wants to know - well, what does that mean? Well, it's really EXPENSIVE as it doesn't come in generic! :) We will have his labs again in two weeks to see if they are working to slow down his protein and creatinin dumps... otherwise, I'm not sure what the next stage will be. We're crossing our fingers and hoping that the new medication will work, and then manage his diet. It looks like we'll be going even heavier into the veggies, as a diet including protein goes straight into his kidney and adds to the damaging affects (as does caffeine). We also have to have our two kids tested to see how their kidneys are functioning so far. The good news in all of this, is that if it C's condition is the worst kind - Alport Syndrome - it supposedly can't be passed directly to our son, as it's carried in the X chromosome. Our daughter would at least be a carrier and any son's she has (our grandsons) would be affected.
Okay, so now I can fill you in on the wonders that have been occuring on the river. It's been amazing around here lately! The ice broke up!!! The first undeniable, irrevocable promise of Spring - in February. No more snowmobiles. No more tenative hikes up the middle of the waterway, with the occasional gutwrenching moan and scratching of ice sheets. Now a days, the river stays pretty much open, with just a frosty icing on the top first thing in the morning that melts off by noon or so. We enjoyed a couple nice hikes up the waterway prior to ice-out; here are some picts!
Then, we started seeing just a couple of different species of birds migrating back in - nothing really exciting yet as far as the migrants go... but, we have some really wonderful eagles in the area now. In fact, I've found the local eagle nest. It's on the way to the kids' school, maybe a mile or so downstream from the house! I've been able to get some great pictures of the eagles, but you'll have to wait and see them in the next 'eagle blog'.... :) I also found out about another eagle nest on the Boy Scout Camp a couple miles from here and made contact with the staff. 'Ranger Dave' and 'Ranger Don' are wonderful maintenance guys that care for the camp between seasons... they gave me and the kids permission to go back and get some photos of their nest as well. Very cool!!
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