Ernst Gottlob Arrived

It seems like ages ago that I bought the pastel. It arrived yesterday, in several separately wrapped pieces. It feels weird to acquire something so celebratory in the midst of life that feels dire. Is it ok to be happy? It felt calming to work on putting this artwork back together while listening to one of my many hours of the Barbra Streisand audiobook.

It is either a pastel or an aquatint. I don't know how to tell the difference. It was described as being on vellum.

The coolest thing is the hanger, forged out of iron. It makes it seem as if this was once hung in an important place. The subject was unidentified, but may have been a government official of some sort.

The paper covering the back of the work must have been pretty cool. There are still remnants of it on the framing.

Here is the pastel itself, unframed. It's pretty beat up, but cool. 

When I held it up to the light it looked super freaky. You can tell more about how it was drawn by seeing it this way.

I am guessing that this is his handwriting, which is crazy. 

I realized that the original spacer that belongs between the glazing and the pastel was in usable condition, so I just went for it and repackaged the piece.

I washed the glass. It has a big wave in one area, which is super cool, and also includes little tiny elongated bubbles. It seems like it would be original to the piece.

And here he is put together again, sitting in our non-fancy kitchen. I'm not quite sure where to hang him. I'd wanted to put him in the bathroom with the reproduction of the painting from art.com, but I really want to see him. Not sure. For now he lives in the laundry room.

Another Health Update

And this is where mrsguy will turn into a cancer blog at times. Mrguy was in the hospital from the 17th through the 25th and was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He's home now, while we wait for next steps. There's shock, fear, sadness, more fear. I have used all of my connections and information systems to try to bring myself up to speed, and try to move the process faster. This is my precious person!! My approach is stressing out the patient, and I don't know how to do it a different way, and I feel like I have my own needs. There is so much to know: about treatment, about expectations, about doing the myriad things that he does if his treatment makes him too sick to do them for a while. Surgery or chemo are no joke! People often are hospitalized from the affects of the chemo (fevers, infections).

A separate diagnosis from the cancer is normal pressure hydrocephaly. That has to be treated separately, and urgently. That may be partly behind the migraines. He will have an in-person appointment on the 12th. Oddly, his headaches had stopped for a while right before and during the first part of his hospitalization. Our primary says that this might be due to a lower salt diet. Makes so much sense.

A Health Update

Shortly after I wrote about his malady, mrguy and I were directed by an after hours nurse to head to the nearest emergency room. I have just finished a bowl of soup, at 2:20am, and mrguy is being officially admitted to the hospital.

In addition to his scores of migraines, he's had a cough for about 6 weeks. It's hard to notice a thing like that when you're sidelined with other kinds of crippling pain. And he insisted that he was getting better, but he also had a low grade fever that would come and go...

Anyhoo, this morning mrguy thought about going to Urgent Care. He said that he couldn't sleep last night because he felt like he was being choked. His throat felt like it was closing. I could hear from his speaking voice that his soft palate on the right seemed swollen. And toward the evening he started talking about how his carotid artery was swollen. And it was.

After we fed the cats, we called the advice nurse and went to the local Kaiser ER. They were super nice. His white blood count was only slightly elevated out of normal. They gave him fluids and antibiotics and a steriod injection and a neck CT and lung xrays. At the moment they think he has Lemierre syndrome, which is serious. He has a clot in his carotid caused by some sort of infection. They'll take more views tomorrow to see if there is a second infection in his lung.

He's going to be in the ER for another few hours before they can find him a bed. Our own system doesn't have one, so he'll stay within Kaiser. When he's lucky enough to go home, he's going to get a pic line and give himself antibiotics for 3 to 6 weeks.

Holy smokes, people. Hug your loved ones.

My Other Funny Valentine

On Monday I dropped a few things off at my mom's place. Depends, q-tips and another color of nail polish. It's that last request, on behalf of her caregiver, that made a trip to Walgreens take 20 minutes rather than 5. 

The yucky comments. The disagreeable expression -- what color will she not make me feel shitty for buying? In the end she said thank you and liked them all. But experience has taught me fear. Here's what I chose:

Pinky-white, just in case that was something she'd like. Pink, in case she'd go for something "loud". And her current go-to -- something that would look appropriate on a white person's artificial limb. Check out what was already her fingernails. And look at the bottle of polish on the right. Do I know my mom, or what?

Thank you, Sally Hansen, for making that quick-dry polish. Mom has a habit of touching her fingernails while they're being painted, and with the quick dry formula our caregiver has half a chance. The next time I saw mom, on Valentine's Day, she was wearing the pink that I never thought she'd go for. 

Valentine's Day was a very special day. It was the final day of Operation Fix Mom's Bed! The visit was scheduled for between 10-2. I got a call the night before changing that to 8am. He called around 8:20 to let me know he'd be there soon. And I got there before he did. Yay!! Despite a few blips (ex: new remote had no batteries but we had a stash on hand) the bed controller and remote both work now. Our caregiver was remaking the bed as I left, and I could see that she was using my favorite bottom sheet, the one where mom had written HELP in black marker. I love that sheet.

On the way out of memory care I could see that Big David had left his baby on the table outside mom's room. I hope he and baby had a good Valentine's Day afterward. He's got a wife, but baby is now his main squeeze, and she's got his room number written on the bottom of her foot. Everybody was wearing red and pink and things were looking pretty festive in memory care.

So ends Valentine's Day.

My Funny Valentine

I love him so.

His little girl cat loves him so.

He's had about 30 migraines in the last 2 months and he is exhausted. MRI shows no head full of tumors, which is great. The migraines have stopped for a few days. But he has no appetite and it seems as if every bug that comes our way attacks him. I wish I could help him feel better.

Bon Ton Roulez

Had a Mardi Gras dinner with a friend on Tuesday. I had the usual: blackened catfish with grits.

It was delish. She had a bananas Foster milkshake to go. And she became my first friend to ride in Tiger Brown.

We are going to continue our Gulf Coast of the Bay tour by going to the museum restaurant one of these days soon.

Yum.

Good graffiti on a gate near my parking spot.

Things I Bought: Ernst Gottlob

The other week I was looking at Liveauctioneers, as I often do. I decided to look for items from Leipzig. This is where my people lived for a few generations, and it's a town that mrguy and I have visited and like. So I ran a search and found a rather unattractive pastel portrait by my 5th great grandfather, Ernst Gottlob. His name was misspelled "Ernest", and that's why my saved search for his name in Liveauctioneers did not notify me. I bid on it and won. It was dead cheap. I'm sure it will be much more expensive with the auction house fee, tax, shipping from Berlin and custom packaging, but the base price is $216.

Sweet!

It will go in the lady bathroom, next to the copy on canvas of a portrait by him. My sister the painter was right, when she predicted that some day I would probably own a work by him. I'm psyched. I will be able to own something that he actually created one year before my 4th great grandmother was born. Super cool.