There is no Kudzu in Montana

Well, race fans, I am finally over my springtime maladies- the final healing came on a trip to Montana! Ahhh, Rocky Mountain high! And then surgery. Last Friday I had tubes put in both of my malfunctioning ears. I know what everyone is thinking. Tubes? How old is Merrill now? Don't 2 year olds get tubes? Yes. I was waiting to be wheeled in to surgery and there were two small children waiting on either side of me. Little Bobby, Little Timmy, their mommys, and me and my mommy. (Jay claims he couldn't take off work for my surgery. Or maybe he was trying to make me feel younger with my 30th birthday swiftly approaching.) We watched Diego: Animal Rescuer together. We sang the theme song together. At least we can all hear better now. But really, my problems since February have been from some unknown allergy (the tests for normal stuff came back negative), or so my ENT says. I have never experienced anything this long or miserable. Congestion, Coughing, Bronchitis, Hearing Loss, Torn Intercostal Muscle from Coughing, Three rounds of Antibiotics, Bottles and Bottles of Medicines, Steroid shots, X-Rays and Headaches. What a saga. I really went through some low, low days. In general I don't like taking medicine, and I have really taken for granted the fact that I have always had short illnesses and colds. A week, maybe, and I bounce back. This time there was no bouncing. Besides bouncing back to the doctor because I was worse. I come out of this so thankful for how God made our bodies to heal, and how he has given our generation great medical knowledge to fight things that need fighting. I am also thankful that my only symptom from antibiotic withdrawal was a rash, and it wasn't even itchy.

One thing that made me laugh during all this, and on the day when laughing was excruciating due to my torn muscle- you know all the warning labels and side-effect labels the pharmacy slaps on prescriptions? I was prescribed some steroids and Jay and I were joking about how it would make me really strong for a couple days-. We thought the sticker they could stick on there could say: "may cause super-human strength."

In other news, all those who eagerly read about the Cimarron Club closing its doors....the Cimarron was torn down a couple weeks ago. Bulldozed- and I got to see part of it in progress. I was as excited as my children, who are huge bulldozer fans. So I guess Old Shell and Cody is one step closer to a Walgreens or a Baptist church. They also tore down that seafood shop beside the Cimarron that had been overtaken by Kudzu approximately 4.5 years ago. Kudzu is sort of like denial, it just covers stuff up so you can ignore it without really getting rid of it.

There is no kudzu in Montana. (This is my segue to the trip to Montana, about which I will write in the days to follow.)