The Upson-Downs of Boston

Downs ~ So we go to the airport knowing that the weather in Boston is crummy. Kelly had already warned us about that. However, our plane left 3 1/2 hours late which meant Kelly ended up having to pick us up at Logan at 2:30 a.m. and I looked like the Pillsbury doughgirl from swelling (Pain? - let's not even go there).

The next morning we tried to eat an inedible breakfast at the Doubletree breakfast buffet. The eggs benedict had poached eggs that were hard boiled and sauce made from a "packet".

Ups ~ Then Kelly picked us up and we were off to see Revenge of the Sith (ROTS) which was really great, some great shopping at Macy's and a great lunch at Cheesecake Factory including cheesecake made with Splenda!!! Keith and I went waterwalking to try to get the swelling and pain down in me and then Kelly took off to pick up more folks from Logan. Vicki and Trevor came into the pool area to say hey while I was finishing exercising and Keith took off with Kelly for Trader Joe's to stock up on some food (much cheaper and better for us than room service).

Ups & Downs ~ The next day was graduation. First thing in the morning Keith and I waterwalked to try to keep swelling and pain down. Then Kelly arrived and she looked beautiful as you can see in this picture and the rest of us didn't look too bad either. The graduation ceremony was very nice although they had a fit because they had about 20 seats set aside for disabled people and their family members. We had 5 in our party and they only wanted us to use 3 seats. Keith offered the most reasonable solution ~ let our party sit together and if more people came to use the seats, then some of our party would move. But the uptight guard person would not go for that so Keith and I sat in one place and George, Vicki and Trevor ended up in another place. In the end NOT ANOTHER SOUL showed up to sit in that section and so our family could have sat with us. Two minutes before the graduates marched in, the guard came to us and told us to have the other 3 come down but there wasn't time for them to do that by then. STUPID PEOPLE!!

After graduation, there was a nice reception where we had food to nibble on and got to meet Kelly's dean and watch an elderly lady fall down and probably break a hip. We all piled into the cars to go over to Kelly's school for a school tour before we went to the restaurant for dinner.

We went to the law school and Kelly showed us the library, the room where she had the majority of her first year classes, and most importantly the Student Organization Office that she was voted into her first year and helped with throughout law school. Kelly said most of her papers and studying was done there too.

Then we got into 2 cars and drive 1.5 hours to a seafood restaurant called Perriwinkles. They had fabulous clams served with the bellies (for any of you clam experts out there), great chowder, wonderful bread, great sweet potato fries and lobster made of RUBBER. That was the down part. Then we drove 1.5 hours back to the hotel and I hobbled into the room and I was in very BAD shape! Way too much sitting and even with the waterwalking to try to mitigate it, my one poor kidney just couldn't handle it.

The next day we thought we would get to spend some time with George, Trevor, and Vicki since we really hadn't gotten to yet, but they got held up and we had to leave for the airport before they got back from their site seeing tour. Oh well, maybe next time. We flew home and we were so thankful for on time flights and an uneventful day.

I was hoping a night in my own bed with no pressure points would help the swelling and pain to lighten up. Unfortunately the next morning I was worse and couldn't walk at all without my walker and had a red streak across the top of my left foot. Since in my mind I should have been better, I thought I should get checked out to make sure my kidney was okay. Off to the Emergency Room we went and got to spend Sunday there. The doctor said he was very unhappy with level of my swelling and the fact that my pain was still so high even after lots of pain medication so he gave me two other prescriptions and told me to see my own doctor as soon as I could. I am going tomorrow.

As you can see, the trip was filled with Ups & Downs The joys of watching Kelly graduate after a job well done, a great movie, cheesecake with Splenda, "crack bread" (Kelly said it was so good it has to have an addictive ingredient in it) and, unfortunately, weird weather, odd hotel food, rubber lobster, long periods of sitting, swelling and pain.

I told Laurel this was my last airplane trip unless it was an emergency. She said to pray that the next event was a long time away or a drivable distance. I agree with that!!