5/23/18
Since I’ve started and stopped this post 4x already, my dates are ridiculously out-dated and very un-chronolgical, if that makes sense. Rereading this now makes my writing resemble an episode of “Westworld”, minus the special effects and naked robots, but complete with future forward and sideways references, and flashbacks. So I guess roll with it if you would, and take the timeline(s) with a big grain of Himalayan pink sea salt.
So here we are, back at MGH for Abby’s 4th round of her current chemo/immunotherapy regimen. Just found out she’ll get a new round of PET CT scans in 2 weeks, so that will be a big week for her/us. We’ll pray that the new(ish) drugs are working and that the scans show improvement. If the scans aren’t good, well, it will be Plan B, or Plan C or whatever alphabet letter we’re approaching. But as we've found out, going to try not to get ahead of ourselves, because thinking about what may be or may not be really doesn’t help your psyche and only creates more worry and stress. And yes, it’s easier said than done.
The few weeks since my last post have been somewhat smooth, at least in terms appointments, Abby’s health, scrips and medicines, outstanding ambulance bills (coming up on a year almost). Ben graduated from MassArt last Friday with a BFA in film and video, and hopefully will be a cinematographer to reckon with one day. If you know of anyone needing video/commercial work, or a production assistant, he’s pretty darn good considering his age. Luckily, he’s been doing a decent amount of freelance, and supporting himself. He has a great work ethic- good for him. Eventually, he’ll most likely be heading to LA. Gotta shill a little bit for my kid, ‘ya know. And Aliza’s home for the summer from Emerson; she’s working at Mission on the Bay, hostessing downstairs, and also now serving on the roof deck. Be nice to her as I know you are, and tip your servers well. She’s also taking 3 summer classes, and shadowing people in the Speech Pathology dept. at Spaulding Rehab in Salem so she can get her observation hours in. She’s going to graduate a year early (2019) and hopefully start her Masters that much sooner. Again, just a bit root-a-tootin’ on my kids behalf, because I/we do feel very lucky and fortunate in many ways despite the shitstorm we’ve been enduring, and having our kids have their crap together makes us proud, but also makes things a lot easier when you aren’t fighting a battle on 2 or 3 fronts at the same time.
One of the more, um, interesting nights in the last few weeks actually had nothing to do with Abby or her health. I was awoken by Maggie, one of our cats, at about 2:30am, meowing meowing in my room. Now, what she likes to do, as do many cats, is bring you presents. In our house, it’s usually socks, due to the lack of actual small critters living with us, and she doesn’t go outside. So often, there will be one, or a trail of socks that she brings to us, in lieu of live prey, just a loving gift. So I’m sure you’re thinking, “Craig, what did Maggie bring you?” As I turned on the light, expecting to see a limp athletic sock, I was so very surprised to see her sitting there so proudly, with a tail hanging out of the corner of her mouth. Then the tail wiggled, and Maggie assumed that would be a good time for her to drop it by my bedside. The poor mouse was stunned, but regained its composure long enough to shoot across the bedroom floor. Maggie, instantly recognizing a game of cat and mouse when she sees one, leapt across the floor, paws all akimbo, skittering into the wall, bouncing around then chasing the mouse out of my room. Mitzy, our other cat, being a later arrival, followed in hot pursuit, probably hoping she was going to find a can of tuna at the end of the rainbow.
As the cats continued their chase from room to room, I was dragging my bleary-eyed ass out of bed and hoping Abby’s door was closed with the 3 dogs tucked safely inside. It was and they were, and Aliza’s door was closed too so I was free to join in the chase. The cats finally cornered the mouse in the bathroom, so I ran in and closed the door. I’m pretty much an anti-kill anything, short of ants, cockroaches (luckily left those in the city), silverfish and earwigs so my goal was to try and do a catch and release. Unfortunately, Maggie had other ideas, and there was already blood in a few places on the tile floor, as well as on the bathroom rug. The poor mouse kept getting away because Maggie would catch it, bring it to me, drop it, and it would naturally, run. I wanted to be catching Zzzz’s, but here I was catching mice. This little game went on for about 10 minutes more, and I thought the mouse had escaped because it squeezed behind the vanity, but nope, Maggie got it again, but this time when she brought it to me I had a red solo cup at the ready and managed to capture it. This was not a mouse that was not going to make it, and I’ll spare you anymore gruesome details, except to say that the mouse is in rodent heaven, hopefully gnawing on a delicious piece of aged cheddar.
By now it was about 3:30am, and I crawled back into bed, while the cats gleefully high-fived each in the doorway. I was just starting to drift off to sleep when my cell phone started beeping a very specific beep beep. I recognized it as the water detection app I had, that linked up to the water detection device I had bought last fall. It was about 50 bucks; you just lay it on the floor of your basement (or wherever you might have a water issue), and stretch out this 3 foot cable, download the app, and it alerts you to any water or high levels of humidity, or at least that was the theory. It had gone off before, but just in relation to humidity levels; this was displaying “water leak” detected. Now we haven’t had any heavy duty rains/flooding etc., but I knew our water heater was probably getting close to it’s “expiration date”. So down to the basement I go, hoping maybe my little water device was a big fat liar. Crap- it was a truth sayer; there was water on the floor around the water heater; enough to possibly use the portable pump I had, and/or use the wet vac too. But it hadn’t burst yet, so I gave the little detector a pat, and thanked my lucky stars. It was about 4am now, so I shut off the water going to the tank, and wondered how to get the remaining water out. Thank the internet gods for Google and all things search engines- I was able to find guidance on how to drain the tank- I had a vague idea but had never done it before. Long story long I know, but you hook up a hose to the bottom, and seek lower ground, using mostly gravity to do the work. When all was said and done, and the mess cleaned up, it was about 6:30am, Saturday morning. In my house, it meant that Abby could be awake, or the dogs. Lucky for me, I guess they had all partied too hard Friday night and everyone was still asleep. I managed to creep into my bed and slept for an hour.
Of course, things like this always happen on a weekend. I didn’t want to, nor could I afford to, do the emergency plumber route. I called someone who I knew and had used before (thank you Jim Walsh) and he could come first thing Monday morning- unfortunately he was away at a wedding otherwise he would’ve been there sooner. Oh well, no hot water for the weekend. Luckily my wife is a true warrior, sick or not she would’ve said “fine- lets wait until Monday we’ll survive.” I did take a quick cold shower later on in the day, which turned into a quick cold wash my hair since my body felt numb and dumb and it was like doing a New Years’ Day polar plunge all over again. Yes, I thought about boiling some water, which I would’ve done for Abby, but it seemed less than a “manly” pursuit for my own vanity and comfort. Are we not men? We are Devo, D-E-V-O Devo.
Last Thursday, we went back to MGH so Abby could get her chemo disconnected from her port. She'd been wearing a portable fanny pack for 3 days, which is connected to her power port that sits under her skin below her right shoulder- eliminates the need to constantly poke her veins every time they need blood, or anything else running through her system. We we’re in and out in about a half hour- a mere blip in hospital time. Now we wait until this Monday (6/11) for a new PET scan. Then on Wednesday we get the results. If all is good, Abby will continue on and get the same chemo/immunotherapy regimen that afternoon, so fingers crossed that’s the case. If the scans aren’t good, well it’s Plan C I believe, which has not been discussed, or even formulated yet. These are the weeks you anticipate with a combination of great hope, and great dread. As usual, we will be siding with Team Hope, and while you always would like for your Team to sweep, this is definitely going to 7 games and I don’t care if we go to overtime at any point in this game of Life, as long as we Win, and hang a big “W” on the scoreboard. Sports metaphors- yes I’m willing to go there. And as Imagine Dragons say in their newish song; “Whatever it Takes”…
Love to you out there- we couldn’t be doing this show without you.
Starring: Abby, Craig, Ben and Aliza
Featuring: the Pets
Special appearances by: Titos
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