A word with Janne

I forgot to mention that I talked to Janne last week. He said he had checked out our house and everything seemed fine; he went inside and the bathroom was plenty warm (although it's been mild lately).

Before he and Marg leave for Floridian sunshine in the New Year, he'll give the house a good once-over. Having Janne's seal of approval will make me a lot more comfortable.

More on Lyme disease

Two key points for my readership:

• First, there are about a billion Lyme disease websites out there. Most are not happy reading. My favourite quote so far is: "[Lyme] causes functional, chemical, and structural changes to the brain and alters almost every organ system of the body." Lovely. May I offer the same advice I gave Sooz: don't go googling for "Lyme". It's better that way.
  
• Second, in hindsight, I really should have seen the doctor when I originally developed the red spot. I managed to post a photo but not to get treated. Stupid on my part.

Tick diseases

I posted more than a year ago about a tick bite on my ankle; it flared up into a red spot (and blog post) a few weeks later. The spot went away and I forgot about it.

A few weeks ago, 16 months after the bite, I noticed a bulls-eye rash on my ankle, right on the same spot. Since the bulls-eye is a characteristic of Lyme disease (or Swedish, borelia), I visited the doctor to check it out.

My local surgery took some blood and sent it off to be tested. Just in case, they gave me a 2-week prescription for antibiotics.

Yesterday, I got a call from my doctor who told me I tested positive for Lyme antibodies. So it appears that tick bite did indeed carry borelia. Technically at least, I have Lyme disease. Bummer.

The good news is that I have (and have had) no symptoms at all. I feel fine. Sooz isn't too happy, but in a way, I consider it a badge of honor!

"Stockholm suffers nearly sunless November"

Only 17.5 hours of sunlight shone on the city for the whole month. Details here.

Another moose sighting!

Marg writes in this evening:

"Janne and Cal just finished up a boys weekend out on Aspö; they were 8 or 9 guys in total, great time.

The attached photo was taken by Ronnie during the weekend, when they had an unexpected visitor - hoping for an invitation to join the boys I guess!"

Saab Style

The Local has a great photo gallery on their website of Saabs over the years.

Being a fan of old cars, Sweden, and mid-century style, I got a real kick out of the photos, especially the first dozen.

My favourite one is attached. That's Sooz and I in another life, on our way to Stavsnäs.

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving day in the USA. It's a little funny for Americans living abroad, as it's such a big holiday at home, yet pretty much non-existent outside the US. I've found that ex-pats band together and have their own makeshift family dinner. In fact, we've already had ours, last weekend with friends in the Kent countryside.

Last Thanksgiving, however, was a terrible one for us; it's been exactly a year since Ollie hurt his back.

I found it interesting to go back over my past year's posts about Ollie's surgery and recovery. In hindsight, I was a bit optimistic about his progress early on. However, he did recover well enough to travel to Sweden this summer and enjoy his experience there, although outdoor life did tire him out quite a lot.

However, Ollie probably won't come with us to Aspö next summer. We aren't going to drive again, and we probably won't spend as long a period there as we did this year. My general plan is a couple of two-week visits: one family vacation early summer before Grant goes to university, and one late summer as new empty-nesters. I'm not sure if it makes sense to fly Ollie out just for a couple of weeks.

To be clear, although Ollie is slower, he is perfectly happy and pain-free. It was good fortune he was able to have surgery at all, and I have been thankful for his recovery every day of the past year. That makes this Thanksgiving day especially meaningful for all of us.

Celebration!!

Our loan came through today, so my bank account was in six digits, but only temporarily, as I paid Jesper and Anders straightaway.

Even better news is that my mom's home!