A Letter to My Grandmother

Those of us in the performing arts have all had people in our lives who strongly encouraged us to pursue our talents and passions.  My grandmother was one of mine, perhaps the most influential.  She turned 75 years old today, and this was my letter to her.

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Monday, May 30, 2011

Grandma,

Recently, as I was going through boxes in storage to gather baby items for Jennifer's soon-to-be-arriving son, I came across an old, tattered, red scrapbook.  This scrapbook had been through the ringer.  It shows evidence of water damage and mildew.  It has been packed, moved, and stored in five different houses over 15 years.  Some of the writing has faded, some of the colors have bled, and some of the glue holding its contents has released, but the book is intact.  And what it holds is priceless: the scraps of hopes and dreams of a little girl who was inspired by her grandmother.

A Surgical Solution

Last Tuesday was my initial appointment with my new ENT doctor.  After the CT scan, he informed me that I need sinus surgery, Bilateral Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery, to be precise.  I do have a deviated septum, but he said he doesn't think it needs to be fixed.  My problems most likely arose from a sinus infection, possibly years ago, that never completely cleared up.  The swelling stayed, and made me more prone to the next infection, and the next, until I ended up where I am now.  Currently, my left sinus is completely inaccessible, and my right is showing signs of significant infection.  The plan is to make some openings to drain what is there, and leave some temporary steroid catheters in place for a month to bring swelling down and make sure everything continues to drain.  The recovery time would be 5-7 days of no heavy lifting, and there would be dissolvable packing that would disappear over a few weeks.  Needless to say, I can't have packing in my sinuses and be able to sing and perform, so I am not going to be able to move forward with this until July.