Sunday, November 22, 2009

Notes

Sensei's ACL tear is confirmed. He's got surgery scheduled for Dec. 1. In a bit of serendipity, dojo classes were already canceled for December so he'll have some recovery time before even needing to teach from a bar-stool.

Dad W. made a stab at church today, but his stamina wasn't quite up to the task. Once he made it up the stairs to the communion rail (which took help), he couldn't make it back down without a rest, and ended up sitting with the choir until the end of service. We went straight home afterward and he took a 2-3 hour nap before rejoining the world. We have found a PCP here, and managed to move the transfer date for his insurance from Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, so we should be able to get things moving on getting him treatment that isn't two states away.

Rascal has recovered some feeling in his rear legs, but still has no voluntary motion and has now developed a significant diarrhea. You do not wish to know what the house currently smells like - and just before the family arrives for Thanksgiving!

On that note, I'm cleaning like a mad-woman this week. I had been intending to do this more slowly over the course of November, but I think I can reasonably claim that other things took priority. But it can't be put off any longer. The best I'm hoping for is somewhere above "hovel".

And if anybody was wondering, no, I'm not participating in NaNoWriMo this year. I had been intending to, but it became obvious within the first few days of November that it just wasn't in the cards for 2009. Next year perhaps.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

This month keeps getting better and better.

Take previous week, add Sensei blowing out his knee at the tournament this weekend (possible ACL tear, we'll find out more soon), and an elderly dachshund with a slipped disc (to add to his blindness, arthritis, and heart murmur). Shake vigorously. Can we skip to the next month yet?

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Needfull Things

It's been a week. I could really have lived without this one.

The first and more minor news is that both boys and I have bronchitis. Dad, when he heard me coughing on the phone this afternoon, asked me if I was sure it wasn't pneumonia, so now I'm thinking I should probably haul the lot of us down to the doctor on Monday just to be on the safe side. Even if it's not, it's miserable. No other symptoms, just this hacking cough that produces gobs of phlegm and won't go away for anything. Yesterday I was coughing so much and so hard I was starting to get streaks of blood from my lovely raw throat. Neither Robbie or Aaron has gotten that bad yet, but they're certainly not happy campers.

In more major news, Dad W. apparently has liver cancer. Whether it's primary liver cancer or metastasized from elsewhere is unknown yet. Neither is exactly a good option. To make things even better, he's down at his old house by himself right now because his insurance doesn't switch up to this state until Jan. 1 - until then, everything but ER care has to be down there. After Jan. 1, of course, everything except ER care has to be up here. Which is going to be interesting to manage in the middle of cancer treatment. Right now we're trying to figure out how to get him back up here, since he drove down, but post-biopsy isn't in good shape for driving back up. We were going to go get him this weekend, but he hasn't been released yet, and Monday Rob leaves for Brazil. At this point we're thinking we'll have him fly up, and we can retrieve his truck at a later point. My Brother-in-law may fly down to escort him, which would be welcome. I think Dad W. can probably use all the support and family contact he can get right now. Once he's here, I can provide attention and care, but with no extended family here, there's simply no way I can drive down and collect him by myself.

I hope to God Rob doesn't catch this bronchitis just as he's traveling, or Dad W. once he's back up here. That would be all either one of them would need.