Earthquake!

Earlier today a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Washington, DC. That was the first one we've ever experienced. We're all okay -- nothing broke or fell. However, our dog, Spunky, was quite upset that the Earth woke her up from her nap.

We visited our family physician yesterday to see what could be done about the hiccups. I was a bit embarrassed to be seeing a doctor about hiccups, but I couldn't take four days straight of hiccuping.

My family doctor suggested we change my muscle relaxer medication from Valium to Flexeril. He also noted I have poor posture when I slouch in a chair to elevate my ankle on my left leg. He suggested I try and avoid that position and move around the apartment more often. By avoiding the slouched position, I'll reduce the amount of pressure on my diaphragm. I still had a few bouts of hiccups last night, but not nearly as many as the last few days, so it looks like it might finally be under control.

One of our friends, Laurel, is staying with us tonight before she moves to Philadelphia for school. Laurel is a recent addition to our circle of friends. She used to be a nurse with Brooke. It's unfortunate that she's leaving us so soon!

As you can tell from this picture, Laurel either 1) does not know about the power of Spunky farts, or 2) enjoys Spunky farts. The butt to face distance is quite frankly too short for this to be a mere coincidence. I'm fairly certain option 1 is what's going on here, but we cannot yet rule out option 2. When Laurel wakes up from her nap (perhaps after Spunky rips one), we will ask Laurel which option is correct and update the blog.

Finally, I've been using large rubber bands (not the kind you use to wrap newspapers) to help stretch my toes up. Without doing this, my toe tendons that run along the bottom of my foot would tighten up, making it more difficult and painful to walk months from now. I'm not sure how often I'll do this, but, as our potential dog-fart-loving friend Laurel pointed out, it adds some flare to the external fixator.