Under the knife

Hi friends and family,

I'll provide a summary version first just to avoid undue stress or concern from anyone. Kendra's outpatient knee surgery was today. It went well and she is recovering at home. Two days off her feet will provide plenty of time for her to watch Joseph Prince, home renovation shows, and FoodTV network where she'll discover several new recipes to try out after her recovery.

Knowing she would be out of commission for several days she spent almost an entire day out on the town with Ouma. I attempted to surprise her with dinner reservations at the Melting Pot for a fondue dinner. I say "attempted to" because she ruined my surprise with her extraordinary common sense. Kendra figures out the ending to every movie within about 60 seconds of the first scene. Figuring me out is even easier for her than that.

My plan was to have flower arrangements at the table when they arrived. I told her I would send the address of their dinner spot about 20 minutes of the reservation time. However, she pestered me to give a rough idea of the location. I did so reluctantly. Just as I suspected... I drove to the restaurant after confirming with the hostess by phone that they would accommodate my request. Upon arrival, guess who was sitting in the parking lot! Kendra and Ouma.

I hadn't sent the address yet because I needed time to drop off the flowers, but she took a guess instead of shopping or sitting around for another 20 minutes somewhere. As we talked car to car in the parking lot Layla screamed out, “We bought you flowers, Mommy!” I did my best to gloss over her comments and keep the flowers hidden in the car, but I’m sure Kendra already knew the truth. I wished them well and then had to decide what to do with the flowers.


I pretended to drive away as they walked into the restaurant and then called the hostess again to explain my predicament. She came out to the car and took the flowers to Kendra and Ouma's table as a surprise. Well, at least it was a little bit of a surprise.

The real rogue element I threw in was a card for Ouma when they arrived home. Even though my Dad taught me the value of a hand-written note I only do this 2-3 times per year. It's the digital age and I'm a computer geek working for a computer company! Even so, I did my best to share a brief note of thanks for Ouma's superhero efforts these past 10 days.


OK, enough touchy-feely stuff, let's talk about haboobs. I'm referring to the weather phenomenon where a storm collapses causing a wall of dust, which blasts through the city with howling winds. The 4 Webbs and Ouma battened down the hatches and rode this one out.


I sat out front with the twins for a few moments watching the lightning, hearing the thunder, and explaining the monstrous dust storm approaching. It was minor compared to the previous ones a few weeks ago, but still fun to experience. Easton is freakishly intrigued by weather and the Earth. It's easy to see why. :) We went to the library over the weekend. My expectation was for us to go to the kid's section and pick out a few cheery story books. Easton became visibly sad and started crying when we passed by the other sections.

I didn't realize he already knew where the animal/Earth/natural disaster section was located. He wasn't belligerent, just disappointed. I stopped and we discussed what was going on with him. I understood his request and agreed he could choose from the grown-up section of the library. He started pulling books left and right. snakes and lizards, volcanoes, whales and dolphins, Earthquakes. I had to cut him off because he hit the limit for the number of books we could check out.

My job as a Dad is to encourage and develop whatever he is interested in so that's exactly what I do! We maxed out our book allowance after trading a few natural disaster books for Layla's princess story books.

Another oddity is Easton and Layla's extreme inquisitive nature. Kendra and I fielded their deluge of surgery related questions before and after Kendra's surgery. They asked about what the doctor would do. Kendra is good about giving them truth and facts in a way they can understand. No "stork and Santa Clause" lies at our house. If they ask a question, we give them answers. Part of their interest may stem from the "Human Body" exhibit they visited a few months ago.

Anyway, Kendra's arthroscopic surgery was a big success other than the fact nothing was fixed after $40,000 worth of medical treatment. She was in and out of the hospital in 4 hours with nothing abnormal to report. I should have taken a picture before the surgery, but here is Kendra in her half-dazed state before we left for home.


What's wrong with Kendra's knee? The short answer is that we have no idea. However, we have a list of reasons which are proven NOT to be the root cause of her symptoms. I'm so frustrated with the health care field. They should take the word "care" out of health care because caring is certainly not what we've experienced over the past 12 months. Sometimes I feel like the proximity sensing urinal at the airport is more aware of my presence than the doctor.

What if I treated problems at my job like a medical doctor? "I don't know what's wrong. Let's try this thing or that procedure... Nope, that didn't work... good luck! go see some other special specialist who will try some other random smoke and mirrors tricks." I would get fired, yet this is the 3-ring circus called "health care" in which Kendra is starring. The happy news is that Kendra is resting safe at home. We have hope that the doctor repaired her knee and a full recovery will transpire over the next 4 weeks.

This kind of blog post is what happens when I write from what's in my heart and my head instead of about the twins. The way to avoid this in the future is for Kendra and I to take more pictures so I have reference points along the way.

See you soon!