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Seattle Part Dos
Am I better yet?
After leaving the San Juans, We arrived back in Seattle to more good food and a warm house. I am definitely not feeling hardcore, but you won’t hear me complaining. The plan was to use Bill’s connections to get Nate in to see the best orthopedic hand surgeon in Seattle first thing Monday, which involved a few calls on Sunday and some arguing with Group Health. We did manage to get out on a hike up to “Poo Poo” Point. Not too much poo poo up there, but there was a great view. The top is also a popular takeoff spot for paragliders (although there were none that day) and had a clear grassy takeoff that rolled over into a steep hillside. As long as you weren’t a totally idiot, you could get a pretty good flight out of it.
Monday we went with Nate’s mom to work at the courthouse. I’m sure the security was eyeing us up as we came through the door, but we didn’t set off any alarms and they let us through. There was very little progress in trying to get an appointment with the right doctor, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. We did check out the Seattle main library (awesome architecture and an astounding number of books) and the University of Washington campus. That night we went to Lab Meeting, which is actually a field that a bunch of dog owners gather in and let their dogs go wild. Nora, while being the youngest there, held her own with all the other dogs. There was one dog that took the prize for most painful trick of the night; his owner would toss a tennis ball way up in the air and he would run and track it over his shoulder, which was very impressive. The not so impressive part was when he tried to catch the ball on the fly, which every time resulted in a loud thud and the ball bouncing ten feet back up off of his teeth. Which happened repeatedly. He seemed to love it and we all laughed like crazy, so I guess everything was okay.
Tuesday brought good and bad news on the pinky frontier. Nate got an appointment with the right doctor, which we showed up for promptly that afternoon. The bad news was that he fully recommended surgery. The other option was to let the bone heal, get arthritis and eventually have the joint fused solid, resulting in a perpetual Dr. Evil style pinky. Great for Halloween, but not so great for everyday life. Nate made the decision that it was time to head down to Portland where his insurance actually was to get the surgery (and resulting recovery) taken care of. After another feast and good night’s sleep, we were on the road Wednesday morning back down to Portland.