Our last weekend

The last weekend (28-29 March) was rather unusual. Two major events took place. Event #1 made us rejoice over the fact that we were not poor students anymore who have no decent health insurance. Event #2 started a new phase of our life.

Event #1

About 5 years ago Andrew became a proud father of his first kidney stone. At that time we went to the ER as we had no clue what was going on + that's what you do when the pain is so intense that you are crying. Anyhow...the ER doctor upon discharging us predicted more stones in the future. That time it took us only a year to pay off that trip to the ER.

This Saturday that MD's forecast came true. It was a lovely day, warm and sunny, one of those that makes you so giddy after a long cold winter (I thought a lyrical intro to the story would be appropriate). We were out and about looking into improving our housing situation when Andrew noticed that something in his body was out of whack. In fact he was experiencing some pain. We hurried home so he could rest and get better. However, that out of whack sensation turned into excruciating pain. At that point we decided it was time to use our magic plastic card that prevents bankruptcy (in the majority of cases at least) when you choose to seek medical help. After figuring out what to do with Erin ( the Dyer family rocks!) our landlord AKA friend AKA realtor took Andrew to the ER where my dear husband was overjoyed to find no waiting line.

By the time I got to the hospital Andrew received his drugsies (Quoting Andrew :Demerol, mmmm! Good stuff!). We were discharged in about 4 hours with the kidney stone diagnoses and percocet prescription. We went home and life went on (the bill for the visit was processed).

Sunday came-the dang stone did not. It quieted down, stopped moving and pretended it was not there...till about 5 that day (it waited for dinner). The stone decided it had enough rest and continued its journey into the bladder. By midnight that day we were getting ready to return to the ER. However, what do we do with Erin? Drag her out of bed? Blessed be pregnant women suffering from insomnia for I know one of them. Irina, my good friend from back home volunteered to hang out at our place to make sure Pook was safe and sound. Her husband was volunteered to drive us to the same ER (Thanks Travis!).

This time poor Andrew had to wait for an hour before he was admitted. He was in so much pain that everyone in the waiting room had the same expression on their faces: "Poor dude!". They all kept looking at him ( that is except the guy who was in a not better shape, very pale, pucky and it looked like with a fractured bone in his leg). I am not kidding or exaggerating. Eventually Andrew was taken through the magic door that separated him from the lovely Finding Nemo themed room (ironically enough the same one he was in just a day earlier) where more Demerol was waiting for him. Another four hours and a CAT scan later we were on the way home. The ER doctor pronounced Andrew to be a "stone factory". They'll need to be blasted or something, 'cause passing them all the natural way is masochism.

The stone has left Andrew's bladder and the bill is in the mail. But all joking aside I am very grateful to have decent health insurance and Andrew not in pain. All is well again in the Mortensen household!

Event #2

We bought a lovely town house in a perfect location for a close to perfect price (free would be the perfect price) with a great reselling potential. If you want more details on what makes it that attractive contact me, Andrew or Erin in person (you'll need a translator to get the info from the latter).

At the start of the year a possibility of becoming home owners was distant and not alluring. That was until the stimulus came our way. Free money to buy a house? Hmmm. We thought we'll look into that. We were rather disappointed to personally visit over a dozen properties in our price range. There is no point of buying a dump! You can't resell a dump! So the idea of painting walls and doing yard work began flapping its wings in an attempt to take off and not be seen for about half a decade. Than an additional money was waved in front of us in case we buy something newly constructed. Hmmmm... There is no way we can afford a newly built single family home. Should we look at townhouses? So we did and found out that there are only two complexes along the Wasatch front that would suite our needs. One of them turned out to be in an excellent location, with excellent elementary school (sadly, good ones are not that common in Utah). We researched the place, then went and looked at it on Saturday. We liked what we saw and decided to make an offer. Our realtor was starting to wonder whether he would get to prepare an offer in the ER (he drove us there). We joke about it now, but on Saturday that was a possibility:). I imagine that would be one of the few instances in the real estate history when someone tried to purchase a house from an ER, hehe.

Anyhow, the place is almost ours. We just need to close the deal and move.

PS: Hey! If we ebay the leftover percocet we can buy a fridge. Buahaha!