The News Isn't Good

Time to catch up after a few days of silence.

We've spent the past few days dealing with Helen's broken ankle. There was disappointing news on Wednesday when Helen got a call from a radiologist who viewed her xrays and said there is an apparent misalignment with her broken bones. Now we have to find an orthopedic doc to check it out. Helen got a referral from her primary doc in TC to an ortho doc out here, but the ortho guy REFUSED to see Helen. What a jerk! So now we're trying to find another ortho doc to look at her. She'll be working on that on Monday. With the holidays looming, I hope she can find someone who can care for her immediately.

Meanwhile, she's enduring a lot of pain and discomfort. Everyday practices like getting dressed, going to the bathroom and even watching TV are difficult. She has to keep her leg elevated to reduce swelling, so she sits with the ankle propped on a pile of pillows. Not comfortable, but necessary.

I am able to get away for an hour or two each day and Helen sends me out to try to win some $$$$$ to cover her medical bills, which are mounting. I also visit the Walmart Pharmacy a couple times a week to get her painkillers.

So on Thursday I went to Red Rock to play blackjack. It started out poorly, so I switched plans and drove to Suncoast, thinking a change of scene might also change my luck. I was right! I sat down at a bj game that has an added side bet. If you get a pair on the first two cards, it pays 10-1 and a suited pair pays 25-1. So I would play a $10 bet, along with $5 on the pair square. I was doing OK and then hit a 3-hand streak where I hit QQ suited ($125), 4-4($50) and K-K suited ($125) for $300! That pretty much made the day and I walked with $475.

On Friday, I finished up writing a couple of stories - one on the dry cleaners who keep Traverse City's police uniforms looking spiffy and another on a family that has been in the banking business for 158years - FIVE generations.

Then I headed right back to Suncoast, hoping to repeat that BJ success. It started slow and went downhill. The pairs didn't come as fast and furious as the day before. It was up, down, up, down, up, up... After two hours, though, I did grind out a $50 profit before heading home about 3:30 pm.

Helen and I watched TV and I made us a "breakfast for dinner" meal of Cheese Omelets and corned beef hash. More TV and it was off to bed. But today the LV adventure continues...