Good News From Johns Hopkins

We left our home at 6 am this morning.  

Warren, Georgia, Chelsea, Chadd and I.

Our mission was two fold...

with the second being a bit iffy.

We saw the sun rise in all of its beautiful 

pink glory.

Wow!

It was hard not to stare.

Flowering trees and other Spring decor made us sigh

with contentment all the way to I-95.

The back roads of Pennsylvania and Maryland are

simply at their finest right now.

The one thing we knew we were going to do was 

find our way back to the Neurology Outpatient Department.

It had been eight years since we had been there with Warren's father.

Those visits had been rough!

So, there was definitely some tension in all of us as we

approached the hospital area.

Both Warren and I were going in with expectations that 

this doctor would likely agree that the cysts on his brain

were not worthy of further treatment, 

which is good and bad. 

Good....because no one should have brain surgery 

if they don't have to.

Bad...because we don't have a sure answer for what is

causing his symptoms.

However, with him feeling better most of the time

we were surely hoping for a recommendation of 

watchful waiting.

That was exactly what we got.

Our doctor was soft spoken and very kind.

He carefully reviewed the MRI we brought with us

and put our minds at ease.

To further be sure that what they are seeing are truly 

just small cysts they will do follow up MRI's 

over the next year or two.

If there are no changes we will just be free on that count.

The second part of our agenda depended on this good report.

That was going over to the Inner Harbor.

That was the reason Chels and Chadd came along 

so I really hoped that it was going to happen.

We got done at the doctor's appointment just after 9 am

which made for an easy decision to go across town

to the waterfront.

We've discovered that we like to park in the Hyatt parking garage

and walk across the third story bridge over the highway.

It is nice to not feel in danger of getting hit

 just getting to the 

other side.

Our first stop was Barnes and Noble for a quick snack.

Breakfast was long gone by that point

and so we rode the escalator to the second level 

in this fabulous restored building and 

enjoyed some bites while on the balcony looking over 

the water.

Here's a bird's eye view of what we saw.

The others wandered off and Warren and I stayed here a while 

to enjoy the feathered critters and decompress from the appointment.

We just enjoy spending time together....

even after all of these years.

Then we met up with Georgia for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.

Several times we have attempted to go there for dinner when we

have visited only to find a wait of more than an hour.

We've always passed.

This time we were there when they opened the doors

 and got a prime table 

on the deck.

Oh yeah!

Chelsea and Chadd found a Chick-fil-a for lunch on their own.

Those silly kids. 

:-)

We finished off our lunch with a shared piece

 of their 30th Anniversary Cheesecake.

By now Chelsea and Chadd had joined us again and we coaxed

Chadd into helping us eat it.

Yes, it was as good as it looked!!

Finally it was time to head out.

I remembered just in time to get a photo, or four, of the 

cute couple....

Here's one.

It was a very good day.

Topped off by a nap upon our return and dinner made for us 

by Chelsea.

And now I must prepare for a craft show tomorrow

to raise money to help families in Guatemala 

learn to start small businesses

of their own and become 

financially independent.

I love my "job"!!