Countdown to Chemo. . . .

Back to Maryland again.  My mother's first chemotherapy session is tomorrow, and so on one of the biggest car-travel days, I'll be heading back down to Maryland.

Yesterday I crossed over the NJ Turnpike on my way home from work and the southbound lanes were a solid parking lot (I work just above Exit 5, if the reader is a coinnoiseur of the Turnpike); it looked like the northbound lanes were also starting to slow to a crawl.  That was Saturday at about 3 pm.

Fortunately things were relatively quiet at work - it's always a bonus when we're finished and the staff can go home by noon, and call has been almost nil.

So I'll get four to five hours listening to the Philadelphia and Baltimore oldies stations, reliving high school and college - and feeling like a bit of a geezer.

Happy Thanksgiving to the Blog-o-Sphere

I am thankful that blogging is free, considering the costs and lack of availability of good therapists these days.

I am thankful for all those who have helped Micah make such gains in his language skills, and I am doubly thankful he doesn't talk in his sleep, so we do get a break for a few hours each day.

I am thankful for a million other things, I could type until my fingers are nubs, but I'll spare you.

To all those who are celebrating Thanksgiving, enjoy!  On this Thanksgiving, I will be missing my father, German dumplings, my grandmother and sauerkraut with pork spare ribs, not necessarily in that order.

We got our 'free' turkey breast from Shop Rite, so one of these weekends I'll try to make the dumplings and sauerkraut.  It's just not Thanksgiving without it.  My mother starts cooking it early in the day, so by the time I was up for breakfast, I could grab an early bowlful - which annoys her to no end.  Sauerkraut rules!

Back and Forth

Down to Maryland on Friday the 13th, back on Sunday the 15th.

Saturday Thea, Mom and I made our Fall pilgrimage to the National Lutheran Home - and because we left Micah with Steve, we made it there earlier than usual, so the baked goods and fudge had not been ravaged by hordes of carbohydrate-craving Lutherans and the Home's staff.  Thanks to Thea's bladder, we scored a fabulous parking spot - I pulled up to let Mom and Thea out after Thea said she had to pee, Mom swung out to the trunk, yanked her walker out and popped it up and the two of them trotted off to the ladies' room.

All of this was witnessed by the staff member directing traffic, and he let me park right in front of the building right in front of the No Parking sign.  Thanks again to my walker-slinging mother and my daughter's bladder.  Usually we park on the shoulder of the road, and my mother insists on not being let out of the car at the curb, so she slogs across the grass, leaves and uneven ground with the rest of us.  The great parking spot was motivation to shop and make periodic drop-offs rather than having to carry the loot around.

Best of all we really got to shop, since no one had to make sure Micah's little fingers were up to no good.  I love him, but Micah is a man in motion, both physically and verbally.

After shopping and lunch we went over to see our former neighbors - and for round two of shopping.  Mom wanted a baby quilt and doll quilts, I wanted doll quilts (either for presents or for May 2010's Q is for Quail / Quilt week at Micah's school.)

The kids and Steve got to hang out at the indoor pool at the hotel - and Micah's ear did not get wet he was proud to say at school on Monday and we went for a late dinner at Silver Skewers.  Luckily it was after 9pm and the restaurant was empty (though people were in and out for take-out orders) so Micah in his ansty-pants mode didn't disturb any other diners.

Sunday Steve got to use his Redskins tickets and we went over to Oma's and to Olive Garden for dinner.

And the damn Redskins won. But it's the first win of the season.

Truly I Fear for Them . . . .

Between all three of the people I live with there is such a dearth of simple observation of surroundings, it just boggles my mind.  Before looking for anything on their own, most of the time, it's "Mom, where is. . . .?"

Mom, where is the back of my truck?  (Between the easel and the cabinet, right where you left it.)

Mom, where is my white phone?  (It's silver, and it's out in the garage on the blue table, and it needs batteries.)

Mom, where are my Pikachu and Raichu Pokemon cards?  (I have NO IDEA.  Nobody's perfect and there are too many of those damn cards floating throughout the house.)

We had a set of keys missing for a few days.  Steve's.  He let Thea get out at the mailbox, fetch the mail and run it to the house.  Somehow in the unloading of the car, dumping of the lunchbox and backpack and tossing off the coat, no keys.

And while he thought they were in the house, there was the off chance that Thea could have closed the mailbox and left the key in the lock.  The ring has a car key, the mailbox key and our house key on it, and while our neighborhood is relatively quiet and crime-free, the idea of keys being out in the universe somewhere was just a wee bit unsettling.

Supposedly Steve, both with and without his accomplice, tore apart the house several times without any luck.

Saturday we put a sign up at the mailbox (with his cell phone number only).  Tonight I started to look through Thea's backpack and there was the key ring right on the steps where she drops her backpack every night.  Practically in plain sight.

Detective work or anything requiring close observation of their surroundings is not in any of their futures.  Some days it's like living with Helen Keller, Ray Charles and -(insert the name of a visually-impaired person of your choice because I can't think of anyone else)-, I swear.


Thankfully I can sleep better now that I don't have to imagine the nasty neighbor lady who felt I backed up into our driveway at a speed that was unsafe slitting my throat while I sleep. . . .

Drip-Drop. . .

Micah is free of his sponges/stents in his new ear canal as of about 5 pm today.  According to his ENT, the canal looks fine, but we still need to put the Tobradex drops in every day.  It is just about three months since the surgery.

And then after five minutes of 'face time' with the doctor, we went out to the desk to make our next appointment and then out into the evening rush hour and the Turnpike.  No more evening appointments, thank you very much. By the time we get done with all the visits for this ear, it will be time to start the appointments for the second ear.

With the late appointment, I used the day to stop at DnD for coffee,  get my glasses tuned up at the Optical Shop, check out the Geek Squad at Best Buy (near endless wait, only to be told that it would be $40 to install a memory card and it would take leaving my laptop for three days, pass - for now, the Squad needs more Geeks if it takes three days to unscrew the back of the computer and switch out a card), go grocery shopping and put the groceries away before hitting the road to pick up Micah from school.  It is so much nicer to go to the area shopping centers without the weekend crowds.

Ear Update

For all of those who read this because of the atresia/microtia updates, news of Micah's ear has somewhat been overtaken by my mother's recent surgery.  Sorry about that.  From our latest visit with Dr. Choe last Wednesday, the stenting with sponges and the Tobradex drops are doing well and the new canal is looking better, so the soft tissue stenosis is currently on the wane. This is good because Micah's starting to get tired of having the drops instilled.  Two more weeks until the current set of sponges are out and then we will get a three-week respite from driving up to Englewood.

Micah's hearing, though as yet untested by the audiologist, seems to be amazing.  I am having conversations with him in the car with the radio on, without raising my voice or turning my head, and we're even whispering 'secrets'.  His speech is also having a growth spurt as well.

He hears well, whether he chooses to listen is another issue entirely.

Home Again . . .

. . . .after hitting rush hours in several metropolitan areas due to my exquisite sense of timing.

Today we went with my mother to the oncologist, Dr. Mathur.  He cared for my father after Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer, and he also counts a few of my mother's friends among his patients and who give him good reviews.

First, the children behaved well during the appointment. Second, my mother behaved well, even though the full impact of what she's up against thwacked her over the head in a manner that was almost straight out of a Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote cartoon.

Chemotherapy.  She anticipated that one.  Not a problem.  Looks like she'll be getting Cytoxan and Taxotere every three weeks for six cycles, and Dr. Mathur says she will not lose her hair.

Having a port implanted by which the chemotherapy would be administered.   Not so much.  Did not go over well at all, like a fart in church as my father would say. Her face showed everything from petulance to just being pissed.

Radiation after chemotherapy.  Didn't see that one coming at all.  This took us both by surprise, but it's also more than four months down the road and it is because of the size of her tumor, 4.3 centimeters, and anything above four size-wise should have it.

So after getting yet another folder of information for my mother to peruse, and with a tentative start date for chemotherapy of November 30th, we sent back to Wall's Bakery and bought more of the massive eclairs, and six chocolate-frosted donuts.  For the therapeutic power of chocolate, naturally.

Then we dropped my mother off for her manicure appointment.  Mom was in desperate need of some grown-up time, since Micah was back in Manic Chatter Monkey mode.  We headed for the little red caboose again (just across the tracks from the nail salon, but we drove anyway) and then to Oma's Special Park to kill 90 minutes before picking up my mother burning off some energy.

At the park, Thea and Micah entertained themselves for the most part, until they were joined by a little blond cherub.  LBC was about four, just in between my two age-wise. And he also combined the balls to the wall energy of Micah with the bossiness of Thea.  Just an ugly, ugly combination.  After listening to him for five minutes, I was ready to toss him down the near well or mine shaft.  Fortunately Thea snapped out of it, asked what grade he was in (Pre-K) and then asserted herself.  Micah was just the happy little synchophant, happy to be bossed around by any and all comers.

This gave me time to phone the surgeon's office and have a chat with the same nice lady I spoke with last week - just wanted to see if we needed to call about the port or would that be one of the topics that Dr. Personality would bring up at the two week follow up appointment.

After Micah and I fetched Oma from her manicure, with me finding that the O.P.I. nail polish color 'Suzi Skis the Pyrenees' was not the cool blue from whatever magazine at LabCorp, but a heinous, sooty grey, we made another trip to Hunan Star III.  Dumplings and egg drop soup for the kids, chow mein lunch specials for the grown-ups.  I know chow mein is about as un-Chinese as you can get as far as the cuisine goes, but the chow mein at this place totally evokes the memories of the chow mein at the Great Wall on Hamilton Street in Hyattsville which was my first memory of Chinese food. An authentic, edible childhood memory.

Then we went back to Oma's to pack up.  So far the only thing I left behind is a copy of the New Yorker magazine I was reading.  But we're going to be back again on Friday, so no big deal.

Micah slept from Waldorf to the Delaware toll, so he's wired for sound. Thea brushed her teeth, put her pajamas on and went to bed, and tonight she was so tired that the usual "I'm scared when I'm alone" didn't even come up.

And miracle of miracles, I am on call this weekend and there have been NO CALLS.  I've checked in with the answering service twice.  And I know I am cursing myself by putting this into words, but since I'm no longer in the car, and I have my computer at the ready, I don't care.

Tomorrow, the Penn Kresge Challenge walk in Philadelphia for T. and me, back in the car once again.

Back in Maryland

Thanks to the NJ State Teachers' Convention, Micah's school is closed today and tomorrow, Thea's is closed Friday.  So I paroled her from school today and we drove down to Maryland last night.  Micah was in Manic Chatter Monkey mode for a good way down I-295 (or so it felt).  His new schtick is "Count the birthdays, Mommy."  So the litany goes something like, "Aunt Shannon's birthday is in January, Micah's birthday is in March (And Bunny Bear? And Tom-Tom (the stuffed cat)?), Donna's and Christine's birthdays are also in March, so is Uncle Ricky, Oma's birthday is in April, Mommy's and Aunt Mary's are in June, Aunt Pam's and Uncle Karl's are in July, Daddy is in August, Uncle Larry's is in September, Elise's, Thea's and Grandma's are in October, Willi's is in December."

And then he asks to have me do it again.

And again.

Thank you to the two children in his class who had  birthdays recently who got him started on this.  I am hoping for an early end to this obsession.

Thea played her Nintendo DS until we were just over the Delaware Memorial Bridge, and then she too fell asleep, so I was left with NPR until just past the Delaware tolls, and then an oldies station from Baltimore (and someone please tell me how songs from 1977 constitute 'oldies' - 102.7 did a "9 at 9" and featured songs from 1977.  It was NOT THAT long ago, thank you.

Anyway, our purpose, other than shattering the peace and quiet of my mother's world for about 48 hours, is to take her to her doctors' appointments today and tomorrow.  This morning was the surgeon, who remains the same charming person he was on the 26th.  Mom went back to get her staples and drains out, and then when he was done, my mother said I would like to talk with him, which was met with "I spoke to the family on the day of the surgery."  Charming.  Fortunately his itty-bitty personality is overshadowed by his clinical competency and surgical skills.  That, plus I saw him sending his own fax - my mother told him that she was seeing the oncologist tomorrow, so he wanted to make sure the pathology reports were sent for him to review prior to the appointment.

Mom is a happy camper now that the drains have been removed; Dr. Personality had to go and tell her that one of them went up eight inches below her skin, which has an 'eeeeewww' factor of significance for even me.  And she did not whine about the staples, whose removal she was dreading.  I made an offer to bring a staple remover from work and give her a demo so she knew what to expect, but the big chicken declined.

After the appointment we hit Wall's Bakery for the GIGANTIC eclairs, buying eight, but they are not all for us and then had lunch at the Town Mouse before going across the railroad tracks to play on the red caboose at the Historical Society of Charles County.  It used to be used on a train that went to the USN station at Indian Head and was painted dingy battleship grey, and then a dried blood sort of red, but recently someone bought a few buckets of fire engine red glossy and went to town.

So now I'm at Borders, Thea is in the kids' section lusting after Bakugan and Pokemon stuff while I cop a free Wi-Fi hit before going home to see if Micah survived his nap with Oma.  He was not pleased at being left, but he was also pretty near fried.

More later.

Happy Halloween - Post-Mortem

Let the sugar rush begin.  We have a ton of leftover candy. Fortunately most of it is Three Musketeers, something Steve likes, but I can happily pass up. The 31st was drizzly and not that many trick-or-treaters came by.  Thea and I put up the rest of our decorations a couple hours before the doorbell rang, and now I have to find the energy to pack it all away until next year - which I hope will be sometime before Thanksgiving.

Micah wanted to be "just like Thea" so while we were at Oma's last week we went to one of those temporary Hallowe'en stores and found a replica of her costume in his size, so instead of the cute cowboy and a fireman, we had two Star Wars Clone Wars characters.  How original - and neither of them has seen the movie; Thea has the Star Wars Clone Wars game for her DS.   Photos to follow.

This week we're going back up the Turnpike to see the ENT to get the sponges changed, I've already gotten November 18th blocked out of my schedule at work.  Then we're heading to Maryland that evening.  The kids are off from school Thursday and Friday (NJ State Teachers' Convention), and my mother has a follow up with her surgeon on Thursday and her oncologist on Friday.

Saturday Thea and I are going to Penn for Homecoming - not for the football game (though it might be fun since it's against Princeton; here's hoping the corner of the Ivy League where I went to school whips the corner of the Ivy League where I live), but for the walk for the Penn/Kresge challenge.  The bummer is I'm call for the weekend, but the up side is that I worked last Saturday.