Summer Like Winter

This morning I woke up, came upstairs and it was blowin' like stink, as our old sailor friend used to say. This is the best summer ever, weather-wise. The middle of the country is suffering with heat, and it is dragging the marine layer over our part of the world like a cozy blanket. The little boy cat is in his window, surveying the neighborhood, and mrguy is dressed for cool weather and working in the garage.

The junk folks are coming today to take away much of my mom's old furniture. The tyranny of chairs. Bye chairs! After they leave us we'll have a tiny splash of room in the garage where we can do further triage.

In the meantime, mrguy has still been blown off by the allergy department and will rattle their cage. He had a brain MRI yesterday, and will have an electroencephalograph tomorrow. Hoping they find nothing, but we still have to figure out why his thighs itch and he loses control of parts of his body when he's being infused.

Tomorrow is filming in the archives. Man, do these people like forklift designs! I have to find an outfit and do my nails and think of things to say, in case they ask. They might just want my hands to point at designs. You never know. I am the designated pointer.

 

But There's More

I know a little boy who is waaaay cozy today. There is something about this particular blanket that came from my mom's apartment that is even better than the previous blanket. Who knew? He sees it, he meows at it, he gives it two licks and then hops on or next to it. They have a thing going on.

In other news, I am no longer afraid that he will die from eating a salad plate-sized hole in one of my sweaters the other day while Cack and Blick were here. I believe that today he pooped out the last of it. Sheesh. Then he begged me to chase him around the house. Then he was happy.

It's a quiet day here at the manse. I've been doing some genealogy and laundry and I might decide to have some fun repairing that sweater hole. I feel like creating something other than food (although I like that too).

The update on mrguy is that he's spoken with his oncologist and neurologist. The news is basically positive. He's in remission and the doctor is going to halt chemo until we know what's going on. The doctor suggested that we go to Hawaii in the interim, because they need tourists right now. So basically we went from mrguy is going to die of a stroke to 'okole maluna. The neurologist says he did not have a stroke, but we want an MRI. He only had Herceptin when he was infused on Tues. He's still feeling the effects, so he's trying to stay awake and lively until baseball time later in the day.

Genealogy is going well. I am deep into the O'Neil family of Navan. I'm figuring out their scenario, but I'm still unsure of whether Mathew O'Neil is my great great grandfather. Many signs point to yes:

• My great grandmother was an O'Neil
• Last place in Ireland was in Navan
• A Matthew / Mathew O'Neil was the godparent of one of the children in my family
• Oldest / one of oldest children is named Mathew
• Family story is that the O'Neils were millers. M. O'Neil of Navan was a dealer of corn and oats
• Bridget was insane and her intake docs say that her father was also
• Mathew was in Mullingar Asylum for a while. They let him out. Shortly afterward he drowned himself in a barrel of his own making

Good times! If you like family history, anyway.

What If It's Ok? 2025 Edition

This is what I have to remind myself on days like today.

Yesterday mrguy was in the middle of his infusion. We were feeling great after another clean scan and I'd gone to work, which is about 3 blocks away from where he gets his treatments. I got a call asking me to come over there. They couldn't tell me what was happening.

Today it is as if nothing has happened, but at the time it looked like he was having a stroke mid-infusion. His mind got jumbled while he was listening to a podcast, then he lost his ability to control his right hand. He took his left hand and rang the bell. When the nurse arrived he was unable to respond to commands. It passed quickly. 

He'd had a small version of this during the previous infusion. And after the last infusion and the one before it he had large fevers.

He took an ambulance and I took the car to the ER. Our issues seemed less than everyone else's, so it took a long time for him to be seen and attended to. He had two brain and neck CTs and then they sent us home. In the meantime the guy next to us who was sucking all of the attention in the ER was complaining about how racist it was that nobody was seeing him. They eventually arranged home health care and transport for him and he got to go home. There was nearby moaning. And the guy who went home was replaced by a lady with congestive heart failure who needed her meds tweaked. This sounded familiar from my dad's problems with the same thing. Except she needed a translator, who was a family member and later a professional translator. I was pretty impressed that they found an Amharic translator that quickly. Once I knew the language I was able to look up where she was from: Ethiopia. If only she'd been at the rehab facility where my mom went those two times. Everybody working over there was from Ethiopia. Reminded me of the kindness of all of the great nurses, CNAs and doctors who worked there. And out of thin air I was even able to remember the name of the doctor: Biranhu. One of the prettiest names I've ever heard. Anyway this inadvertent pocket photo sums up my state of mind.

I found us some dinner in the cafeteria, which was quite perfect. Turkey sandwich for him, caprese for me, and some upscale chips. I was very surprised to see that there were two different kinds of cracklins at a hospital cafeteria.

We were able to get home around 8:30. And now we wait. He had half an infusion and a stroke-like thing that only happens when he's getting the infusion that saves his life, and now we really don't know what to do next.

At least he doesn't have a brain tumor.

Doing More Things

I guess I've been making up for lost time. Last weekend I decided that there were three positions in every day off, and I did things in each of them.

Saturday I had my Irish genealogy group.

Then I went to a bar in the middle of the day and saw my first band play for the first time in 30+ years. It was great to see everyone. I had hugs with all parties and a nice conversation with my old boyfriend. I've learned that most of us can relate to each other via our parents and their problems. Turns out that his mom has been a "vegetable" for ten years. His dad is 90 and is taking care of her. He mentioned that he had a friend with Stage IV cancer and that he could introduce him to mrguy.

Then off to the worst movie I've ever seen, Bikini Planet (2002). I got my favorite spot outside the theater. Shot on video, in black and white and color, on a $3,000 budget in local parks and such, Bikini Planet follows astronauts who go to Planet Boobula or somesuch. The Boobulans need more silicone, and when they hear about Silicon Valley, hijinks ensue. There's a DeLorean and zzzzzzzzz. Wow it sucked but wasn't UNentertaining. There were many burst out loud moments. A film buff at work pointed out that the difference between the filmmaker and us is that he has completed a film and we have not. True dat. The director was sitting in front of us and cracking wise much of the time. Apparently in order to find buxom ladies to act in his film he went to a Learning Annex class about breaking into the porn industry, taught by Nina Hartley. He paid his thirty bucks, walked in and the room was all men! His neighbor and his gardener had featured roles, as astronauts.

I did not stay for the post-screening Q&A.

Sunday I did my writing group for an hour, went for a walk with tiny but mighty (pictured with some lemons and dog doo, and then had sumo with clam. She gave boy kitten a good brushing.

At the end of the weekend I really felt like I'd done something!

Nurse Navigator

I love our oncology nurse navigator. I want her to be my mom. So does mrguy. She lives in the midwest and is so soothing and knowledgeable. We only speak once a month, now, but there was a time when I spoke with her every day. Mrguy didn't even have the energy to speak with her for the first few months -- I remember it being a big deal when I brought the phone to the bed and she heard his voice for the first time.

Yesterday she said she might close our case. Mrguy might be graduating, because he's doing so well.

Not sure what to make of this. It's true that we know how to do cancer now, and that his numbers finally went down a bit again, and that they haven't found any observable cancer in the last year, but I want my nurse navigator. She says she'll always be there for us if we need her.

*sigh*

Next week is a CT scan. Hoping for good news. 

July 2025

4th of July weekend has been splendid. On Friday we hung out and I did genealogy in the afternoon. Then we watched the Toronto Blujays prevail over the Angels. Then the city next door did it's annual July 3rd fireworks show and we watched it from the sofa. It was clear on the holiday weekend!

Yesterday I went to the dog park with a friend. We saw this adorable creature (gopher?) digging up the tan bark outside the dog wash place. 

Then we ate a little breakfast and caught up on life. Then we did a little walking and met some nice dogs. I warned her in advance that I'm super afraid of dogs. Hers are tiny, with one spry dog and one old dog who needed to be carried part of the way. This little girl had too much fun.

We also saw pelicans in the distance above us. Ahhh.

I got to hang out a little bit at home, and then went to see a screening of a 4k remastered version of This Is Spinal Tap. It did not disappoint.

Finally, I went out with ms clam to drink an adult beverage and sew. It was delightful.

This morning mrguy and I took our time but then officially started our garage triage. I bought some stickers (colored dogs) to help us see at a glance what decisions had been made for our various items. Then I made a drop off at Goodwill and did some laundry. 

I'm kinda sleepy.