A Trip to Saint Louis: More on Ken

Speaking of medical research, Gerald got to be a part of it today since his cardiologist connected him with some lovely folk at Washington University who were doing cat scans and MRIs today to train doctors from all over (Puerto Rico, Peru, many states on some newer stronger machines).

We traveled up for that experience, and I felt good Gerald was helping in research. One nurse told us that procedures that used to take four hours now take less than an hour. There is no question that research has brought some amazing results. We met in the Cortex building, and it was beautiful. This was their first time in this building, and the nurse told Mary Ellen and me that they were working out all the logistics, but we were impressed at how the training/testing seemed to be running. Mary Ellen and Brian came in for a brief visit and lunch with us.

After lunch we drove over to Barnes to visit with Ken and Opal at the Siteman Center. Ken looked good. And so did Opal, who sleeps on a couch in his room and has been right there almost every minute during the treatment. They’ve been hospital bound for a month now as of today. Ken’s fourth week of treatment is almost over. He may be going home this weekend.

Unfortunately their daughter Joyce will be having two surgeries on an eye on Monday at Barnes: cataract removed and a retina repaired. Kyna will be taking her up. Fortunately, Kyna will be on spring break as all our Williamson County schools will be next week. Opal stayed with Joyce for her last surgery--she has had many because of diabetes. The doctors tell Joyce she needs to have both these surgeries on Monday for the health of her eyes--even though they will not make her see any better. (And as Opal said, hopefully they will not make her see any worse.)