Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
The Ride Continues
It's still pretty crazy here, but my bro had the transplant and it was a success. The day before he had it and before we knew a liver would be available we received a text from the sis-in-law that the bro had a week to live. Two max. So when my sister and her HH arrived we decided to take a road trip to FL. In the meantime a liver arrived. Thank God. My understanding is there is a window of four hours to get the liver to the recipient. They flew it in by jet. The surgery was a success and each day has been an improvement. Thanks to all for the prayers and well wishes.
Since we were in Tampa on my birthday, the carnivores kindly took me to a seafood restaurant. Lucky for me they had a pasta dish. Heh.
AND...
We had celebrated birthdays the night before we left for Florida.
AND...
A little poetry from the HH.
Mean Streets at Ten
Years Old
M J Cox
I Step out the front door and down
the concreate steps
Into the summer brightness. Turning
right
Would be a big mistake. That only
leads to the old brick grade school.
Way too many hours spent there
already.
So left it is as the old deaf guy
across the street
Yells something unintelligible at the
TV.
Don’t know why the volume is turned so
high.
He can’t hear it anyway.
No time to fool around. That weird lady
In the house covered in shrubs may
let her
Doberman out. He’ll come roaring across the street
Like a winged lizard, smoke streaks
in his wake.
In the middle of the next block
Dicky’s house is on the left.
Always trying to be a bad ass.
Just doesn’t work for him though.
Across the street is Doug’s house
He was a close friend until he
wasn’t.
Not a good time to be at his house,
His dad being off the beer right now.
A few houses down, there’s a boy
In residence. Seldom seen and never heard,
He’s more a rumor or a wraith. The lawn is
Perfect though, every blade of grass uniformly green.
Next corner and a left turn will lead
To Bill’s house. He was always a good guy
Till Viet Nam messed with his mind.
He’s in Nevada still getting past it.
Turn right to Merle’s house
He always played it too cool,
Like he had something to prove.
Two older brothers will do that apparently.
The next corner is Decatur street. Further down
Are Just a few faceless houses straddling
the street
like broken picket fences. At the end
Is the brick home for boys where the ones from problem families go.
There is a steel tube three feet wide
That runs on a diagonal down the street
Side wall, a fire escape that looks like
It’s daring anyone to try it.
On my streets we’re all a little nervous
As if on some apocalyptic day
A great tide will sweep us all down the asphalt
Into that foreboding house of lost souls.
So what's been going on while I've been gone? Do you write poetry? Are you a Capricorn baby?
Friday, January 17, 2020
Weekend Wishes
AND...
The 19th would have been author Carmen Stefenescu's BDay. Carmen, wherever you are, I hope you're partying down.
Blogger buds. I've pre-posted but my bro had his transplant so I will be offline for a bit.
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Did You Know
Did you know, and if you are a Tolkien fan you probably do, that on Tolkien and his wife's shared grave are the names Beren and Luthien?
Blogger buds. I've pre-posted but my bro had his transplant so I will be offline for a bit.
Wacky Writerly Wednesday
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Rollercoaster Rides
Do you love them? They just aren't for me and recently I've been on the most terrifying ride of my life. The baby had congestion in his lungs and had pulled out his feeding tube so back to the hospital he went. While they were putting in the feeding tube they decided to do an MRI. After reading the scan they told my son and DIL that the tumor was back, growing aggressively and that the baby needed surgery asap. The fact that it had been less than four weeks since he'd had surgery and at that time, we were told the remaining tumor/mutation was at this point nonaggressive, knocked everyone flat. It didn't make for a good outcome.
The son and DIL decided to take him to a hospital that specialized in Ped cancer so he was put in an ambulance and driven out of town, with the expectation of another surgery shortly after he arrived. I went to bed thinking we were going to lose this child and how unfair it was for a ten-month-old to get dealt this hand. Oddly enough, when I woke up my entire perspective had changed and while I knew the odds were not in our favor I also knew odds could be beaten and felt we were going to do exactly that. Not too long after this I learned from my son that this hospital team told them it was not a life threatening situation and he didn't have to have surgery immediately. The next day they got the diagnosis. The first hospital had misread the scan. The second hospital was kind enough to say they could see how it had happened. When the tumor was removed and the water drained from the brain the remaining tumor shifted positions and that is what showed up on the scan. This current tumor is not aggressive and the plan is to do chemo to shrink it. Needless to say we are so relieved. I know folks make mistakes in all walks of life, but this one threw everyone in a tailspin, not to mention how it devastated the parents. But it is such a huge relief we can't get too upset about the misread. The good outweighs the bad.
The bro...well that's a story for another day.
AND...since we are both January babies, the sis and BIL are flying in today to celebrate this week. So we are off to the airport to pick them up. Feel free to party down right along with us.
HA...I bet you thought I was through.
The hellebore and kale are blooming.
AND...
Solar bluebirds I got for Christmas.
I'LL END with this parting shot. Heh. To be captioned, I bet you can't see me.
Add on....
Blogger buds. I've pre-posted but my bro is having his transplant so I will be offline for a bit.
Friday, January 10, 2020
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