Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Limbo

It's Wednesday and we are still in Dagsboro. We had a nice weekend. The Man's energy was good, although a nap was on the agenda every afternoon. He puttered around with the scooter while I got beautified (finally!). Auntie and Uncle were in town so we had a short visit with them. We even made it to our local haunt, DFH. It was nice to be missed :-) We had thought we would be back in Baltimore on Monday so we packed, straightened and watched movies all day. The call came late at night saying not yet, we'll call tomorrow. Again, we prepped, the call came, not yet. By now, we both are a bit antsy and bored. We can't really plan anything because we need to be ready to leave at a moments notice. So today, when we REALLY thought we'd be going and we still got a not yet, we knew we had to get out. A trip to Mom's to install a printer which was only supposed to take minutes turned into an hour so we all made the trip to the new Millsboro Bake Shop which was spot on. Delicious! Although I could still just eat a can of almond cake and pastry filling all by itself. Then the intent was to visit a wedding reception venue, which I had incorrect. We just visited a church's fellowship hall. Oh well. In the evening, we decided to walk to the movies. Argo was playing at The Clayton. It was a lovely evening for a walk and the movie was great! It ended up a good day.
If we get a not yet on Thursday, i will bake some cookies, we WILL go to the correct location for the reception venue to check it out, do some birthday shopping for someone special, and of course, it will be thirsty Thursday so we will be back at DFH. Now you know because I've made plans, we get the go ahead. Murphy's law.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Time

It's already Friday. It seems as soon as we get on the beltway we change our pace. We've met family for coffee, for lunch, we've hung out at Barnes and Noble, run errands, had a visitor,I've had two great fitness classes, picked up food from Mom's friend (my Mom has the best, thoughtful friends), and of course every afternoon is at Johns Hopkins. Yesterday was a meeting with the radiation team and today is a meeting with the oncology team. Go, go, go! Luckily every evening MHP is able to grab the remote, stretch out on the sofa, and reunite with Andy and Barney or watch a movie. The girls have been in and out this week.
We are in limbo right now, not knowing whether he will be admitted this weekend for chemotherapy, not knowing whether we will go home.
Pat continues to stay strong, feel good, be in good spirits and of course, inappropriate at just the wrong time. Gotta love that man. I continue to knit, walk, and attend some great fitness classes. I love the choices. We hope to meet up with more friends next week and have more visitors and eat more good food as long as he keeps this up. If not, we are quite content just resting in our home away with our girls in and out.

ETA- Pat's oncologist stated that he has surprised them all. His blood counts have remained fairly steady, his side effects have been minimal. We are home in Dagsboro. Pat is on a waiting list for chemotherapy. They will call us when they have a room. Our bags are in the living room, half unpacked, half packed, ready to go at a moments notice.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Home


Lately this song has been running through my head. The line "Home is wherever there is you" especially rings true since we are living elsewhere. And though it rings true, something happens when we are truly home. All defenses come down.  Decisions are not necessarily difficult but are just not made.  Leaving the house is not desirable.  We hole up with food and movies.  Maybe it's the comfort of being home that causes Pat's body to say "Whew!" and he crashes on the weekend.  There are no appointments, no one to see, no where to go.  In addition to some minor physical side effects this weekend, My Handsome Prince has lost his hair.  When Audrey and I got home from church this morning, Emma met us at the door and whispered, "Daddy is losing his hair...a lot." The girls got out the clippers, set him up in a chair in the kitchen and proceeded to buzz him.  They gave him a mohawk just to take some bad ass photos then cleaned him up, put a hat on him and branded him Breaking Bad.  Every time he enters the room, I'm still a bit taken aback, though truthfully he does not look a whole lot different than his co-workers with their high and tights.  He's just tight, not so much high.



Thursday, February 14, 2013

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Cookie Wednesday

For the gang I hang with these days. Of course I also made some for our children, our host Marie and her Grandkids. Spread the love.

Back in Bawlamer, Hon!

Our weekend home was just what it needed to be. We puttered around the house, got Audge out on her scooter, had dinner at Mom's, got our dog back and then CRASH! Pat was wiped out from Saturday afternoon until Monday evening. He was just tired and achey, all expected. He snoozed and rested until we made our way back here and once here, snoozed during radiation and chilled on the couch.
Tuesday was a much better energy day for both of us. I had a great walk in the morning, even getting lost, which was kind of thrilling in a fun way. We met Bill and Suzan for lunch at a small, local place, Ethel and Ramone's for some Maryland Creole cuisine on Fat Tuesday before radiation. Grocery shopping, cooking, catching up with Marie, dinner with the girls and pups made for feeling like we are home, sort of.
Pat is still feeling good, with the exception of some cold symptoms which if don't change in 24 hours, should probably be addressed. We are going to help Audrey with some things today, Emma and I are attending a Barre class (or getting our asses kicked) and getting Haute dogs for lunch. If ever in the area, The Haute Dog Cart is a hot dog you won't forget. Falls and Lake, cash only. Mmmmm.
I hope to see my Dad this week and my Sissy for more than five minutes. It's already Wednesday and I have a long list of things to do here in Baltimore. We lived in the area, well north by an hour, so there are things I know that I want to do. This is a more intimate experience with the city and there is much to experience, making the best of our time here. Hampden is on our list this week, although I already missed The Charm City Knitters at The Golden West, oh well, next week.

Thursday, February 07, 2013

Mt. Washington Days

We are developing a rhythm, a routine here in Mt. Washington. We have coffee with Marie every morning, listening to NPR. Marie retreats upstairs to do her thing, Pat surfs the net, and I walk. I love the streets of Mt. Washington. They provide a challenge with the steep climbs and the houses are quite grand. Apparently, in the early 19th century, this area was a retreat for the wealthy to escape the oppressive heat of the city and was part of the streetcar line.
Pat's radiation appointments are set all week for 2pm. It has taken until yesterday for them to get his positioning just right. He already has the routine down, check in at the front desk, walk back to radiation, change, and wait for his therapist. The radiation only takes 10-15 minutes. Right now, in his words, easy peasy. I went back with him yesterday as there is a waiting area for both patients and family members. It was very intimidating for me. The doors to the treatment area are 3 feet thick and close slowly with the patient inside. I told Pat when his door first started to close I wanted to scream STOP! And get him the hell out of dodge. He laughed at me.
Apparently there is a schedule and routine to the patients who are undergoing radiation. Same bat time, same bat channel. They know each other and an easy banter flows among them. I was a newcomer yesterday but by the end of Pats radiation I had histories of two patient's illnesses and questions about my knitting.
Evenings are spent with our girls. We remain at Marie's house. I've cooked and ordered out. We always invite Marie to join us, and she does when shes home and then we take over her living room, her tv. It's an invasion. I hope we are not overstepping and always ask her to tell us when we do. We watch movies and last night played our family favorite, a game of euchre. The good of all this is time spent as a family again, dinners together, games, and movies, not rushed or crammed into a weekend.
Pat continues to feel good and has a good appetite. Today we are going over to The Quarry to walk, have lunch and maybe do a little shoppy shop. Its good to get out other than the hospital.

Sunday, February 03, 2013

Super Bowl Sunday

JHH is like a ghost town on the weekend. Even more so today than yesterday. The same in Pat's room. He had a steady stream of visitors Friday and Saturday. We had music playing, games in progress, walks around the small wing and tons of snacks. He has been his charming, outgoing, inappropriate self. Today was just us with the exception of a short visit and prayer with my Dad. It was needed too. Pat is having some minor repercussions of the chemicals in his body and rest was difficult last night. He spent most of the day snoozing but woke up early enough to be ready for the game. Those who were working in this ghost town were sporting their purple. Audrey and I stayed until halftime then left him on his own. I got a text later in the evening stating his last bag of chemo was done! Discharge in the morning!

It is now Monday, his fluids are finished, he is good to go. I'll get him set up in his home away from home. That means sofa, remote, computer. I'll put on a pot of potato soup. We'll start a new routine for the week.

Friday, February 01, 2013

Friday

Yesterday I dropped Pat off at Hopkins at 10am. I then left to get a key from Marie, the woman in whose house we are living. Sometimes the kindness of others leaves me speechless. She moved out of her first floor bedroom and bathroom so we could have them. She knows, first hand, the difficulties that can be encountered. I managed to get back to Hopkins to get the full description of the port being place in Pat's upper right neck/chest area. They gave us 1 1/2 hour time frame but he was done in less than an hour. He came out of it feeling fine and wears a rubber bracelet stating he has a port. The girls arrived in time to visit in recovery. Luckily Pat was assigned a room almost immediately and they escorted him straight up to his room. We were told the night before that the possibility of him getting bumped and not getting a room was great so we were quite happy to get a room. He has a large, private room. The staff is very acommodating. This wing is set up for families with a small pantry where we can store food. The whole time Pat was in his room, there were people taking vitals, labs, surveys, urine, etc. I left around 7pm because I still had to do a bit of grocery shopping to set myself up at Maries. I was home (in my new home) by 8:30 after dropping Audrey off and shopping. Emma stayed with Pat until his chemotherapy bag was set up. They did not set it up until 9:30ish. They had to give him so many liters of fluid then measure his output before they could start. I called Emma a little after 10 to check in and see if there was anything I needed to know. She stated that he will be in the hospital until Monday.
It's 10am and we are having our morning ritual of being on our separate computers chatting about whatever we find. The poetry of the Seth and Scott filter through the ipad. He is feeling good.. Our girls will come in again today and we will continue our game of Farkle we started yesterday. There were too many interruptions. I think today will be a bit quieter.

Addendum: Pats's day nurse today lives in the house next door to the one he grew up in, in Uniontown. They are chatting away about the town, mutual acquaintances, memories, etc. such a small world.