| Author | Message | ||
     greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 4126 Registered: 5-2001  |
You have a point about Katie Couric. I admire what she did. Speaking of reality TV - this may be tasteless, but I'm kind of surprised that Fox hasn't yet found a way to make a reality show out of electing the next Pope. Something along the lines of "Survivor: Vatican City" | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 4128 Registered: 5-2001 |
So, I call Greenemom on the way home from work just to chat & I mention what Cynical Girl said about the book. She says that it's not exactly that she doesn't want schmaltzy, it's that she doesn't want to read about people who are sicker than she. "After all, I have a mild case of lung cancer. That's how I think about it". "True", says I, "so you can't get caught up when other people are sicker, because you know you'll see them and meet them". "I know. I see them at chemo. I feel good and I look good. Did I tell you about the outfit I wore yesterday? It was really cute and I..... wait a minute. Who said what about the book"?  Busted. Well. I have been posting - anonymously - about the situation. Well, no. There are other people in similar situations and it just kind of came up. No, no one knows who you are. What do you mean 'the whole world doesn't have to know'? It's not like you didn't threaten American Express and tell them that you have cancer and can't take any stress and may not live the 6 weeks it will take them to post the credit to your account. Don't worry, no one knows who you are. What kinds of things have I posted? Just the funny stuff. Example? Well, about my lady-like mother whose world suddenly revolves around gas. No, no. It is funny. Mom, calm down. Then I tell her that the readers' favorite seems to be grandma and the egg salad. At which point, she bursts into laughter and proudly says "Yes - I love that story and I was there"! But, I didn't tell her the name of the website. That dumb I ain't! | ||
| Cynicalgirl Citizen Username: Cynicalgirl Post Number: 1279 Registered: 9-2003  |
Some quick good things, at least one of which you could tell your ma: Sunday, Beautiful Sunday: Kid and I did yard work for hours, thus making qualitative diff in backyard patio. As y'all know, it was beautiful. He felt pretty good, and walked in the yard trying to diagnose what was up with the ferns. I cleaned the backporch real good, the place we 3 like to hang most. I made roast chicken, seasoned rice thing, veg. Husband actually sat to supper with us. We discovered that he could eat the chicken, if it was mini-chopped in the Braun chopper. "It's not the meat, it's the mo-...TEXTURE!" So, that was great. I come from a long line of women who must feed people as a show of love. It has stunk that he's not been hardly eating with us. Kid and I sit like single mom and daughter, with father groaning in background from the couch. We felt like a normal family. He and I sat on porch drinking wine and listening to John Prine and Lucinda Williams. Another good thing. Even though Monday is Chemo Day, I came home from work and he wanted to eat out at the pub. We went there, and he ate one of the 2 monstrous battered fish fillets they give you with fish and chips. Just peeled off most of the coating. On the way home, I put in Bruce Springsteen and he and I totally embarrassed our daughter by BLARING "Baby, We Were Born to Run" out the car window, and singing along. Yes, that was us you heard going up Parker... | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 6283 Registered: 1-2003  |
Someone else thought of a variation of your idea:  | ||
| las Citizen Username: Las Post Number: 94 Registered: 10-2003 |
Greenetree and Cynicalgirl: Rudy the piddling chihuahua has maintained his weight at 1.5 pounds since last week. This afternoon he piddled on the paper all by himself. He also humped the remote control. Hugs, las | ||
| Cynicalgirl Citizen Username: Cynicalgirl Post Number: 1288 Registered: 9-2003 |
las, does this mean the progeny will be, maybe, an iPod? Way to go, Rudy! | ||
| las Citizen Username: Las Post Number: 101 Registered: 10-2003 |
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| Cynicalgirl Citizen Username: Cynicalgirl Post Number: 1295 Registered: 9-2003 |
This just in: Husband had an endoscopy a coupla weeks ago. Aside from discovering that he had an utterly inflamed, barely functioning stomach etc, the doc found a little adenoma. Been waiting for results. First results? Inconclusive, Been waiting for the serious results, from the diagnostic place down around DC where they examine, say, presidential polyps. Anyway...}Got this e-mail from my husband this morning: "The Armed Forces whoever labs say that there was NOTHING found in the biopsy. NOTHING; not even pre-cancerous cells. Tra la, tra la, tra la!" Big smiles all 'round! | ||
| Wendyn Supporter Username: Wendyn Post Number: 1559 Registered: 9-2002 |
Congrats cynicalgirl! Great news! | ||
| SoOrLady Citizen Username: Soorlady Post Number: 2016 Registered: 9-2003 |
 very good news! | ||
| Pippi Supporter Username: Pippi Post Number: 826 Registered: 8-2003  |
cynicalgirl! that's GREAT news! | ||
| Debby Citizen Username: Debby Post Number: 1791 Registered: 5-2001 |
Wow! It's about time you guys got happy news. Hope it's the first of many. | ||
| las Citizen Username: Las Post Number: 103 Registered: 10-2003 |
I'm smiling ear to ear... | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 4131 Registered: 5-2001 |
What a great post to come home to! Congrats. Just got off a plane. Will post more later. Must shower, etc. | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 5374 Registered: 5-2001 |
Cynicalgirl: That's just wonderful news. Isn't it great when such a negative report can have such positive results? | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 4142 Registered: 5-2001 |
Well, this has been an interesting week. Mom had her second chemo cycle. Given that she almost died during her last chemo because of the pericardial issues, her cardiologist wanted to make sure that she had an ECHO this week, before chemo, to make sure the fluid was gone. You know how you go to the doc, they tell you they want to follow up in one week & then you go out to scheduling & they tell you that there is no appointment for 3 weeks? Yeah, well. So, the week before, I told her that if she did not insist that they give her an appointment for this past Monday, that I was gonna call. Not wanting that to happen, she was able to get a Tuesday 9:00a appointment for the ECHO. When she made the appointment, she told them it had to be read immediately, becuase of the chemo situation, etc. Her cardiologist called and said the same thing. So, when she is done with the ECHO on Tuesday, she says to the nurse "The results will be ready this afternoon, right"? "Oh, no, Honey", it takes a few days. Well, Greenemom is just as capable of melting down as is Greenetree (where I got the skill from in the first place), so the results will be ready by noon. Greenetree calls mom (who is on her way for her "trial radiation" - apparently they do it once without the poison rays to see if they are on target) and mom sounds really stressed. She is (understandably) very, very nervous about chemo & keeps saying things like "this won't hurt me because even if there is fluid, it's not cancerous, right"? I keep reassuring her, but I'm more worried about the repeat fluid than anything else. So, I call the cardiologist's office. The guy was out for a few days, apparently having had a vascectomy that morning. And no other doc in the practice wants to look at the results because of her history. I say "well, someone has to look at her report before she has chemo tomorrow". Doesn't do any good for the results to be ready if no one looks at them, right? So, I get my knickers in a twist because I can't get a committment & start dialing every doc who has ever seen my mother since the day she was born. FYI - her pediatrican apparently died about 30 years ago. Anyway, long story short and several hours later, I am standing outside the CVS in Millburn screaming "I want to know who is going to look at this report and clear her for chemo. You are not going to yank this woman around. She is stressed enough". So, if you were there, yeah - that was me. But, apparently I made enough waves that the report was read from someone else in the practice and the cardio nurse called mom to let her know that everything was fine. Mom calls me back. "I didin't even know I was nervous until she called me and told me it was OK". I knew you were nervous. You did? How? By the fact that you have been talking in a voice several octives higher than your own all day. Who loves ya, baby? So, then I tell her that she won't be able to reach me for the next couple days because TS is taking my cell phone to exchange it for a new one. This happens to be true, but the larger reason is that I am going to Portugal and she freaks whenever any of us travel overseas. My brother is coming to take care of her for this chemo cycle. I have to let go of control and let them pitch in. They are her sons and love her as much as I do. They may not do everything that I would, but things will be fine. I take a deep breath, pop a valium and get on my flight. I call mom Wed. She is too out of it to notice the foreign number on the Caller ID. I ask her to tell my brother I need to talk to him. She says OK. I call mom on Thursday afternoon. We chat. "Why didn't you call me yesterday? Is it because you know something is wrong"? Mom, I did call you yesterday. You didn't feel well. Remember? Oh, yeah. You wanted me to tell Greenesib to call you. Is there something wrong? Are you hiding something from me? What did the doctor say? Mom, I am not hiding anything. I wanted to remind him to mail me the prescription for your wig so I can submit the claim. Are you sure? You're lying. You are hiding something from me. OK, mom. You are right. We didn't know how to tell you this. You died last weekend. You aren't funny (said laughing). Mom, you can't freak out every time we do or don't call you or want to talk to each other. We've been talking for years, even before you had cancer. It's called being a family. And once in awhile, it's not even all about you. Oh shut up. Where are you, anyway? In a meeting. Yes, but where are you? Standing outside, on a break (this is true). What city? Sintra. Sintra, NJ? No, Sintra, Portugal? You're in Portugal? Why are you in Portugal? When are you coming home? When does your flight get in? Now I have to worry.... See why I don't tell you anything? So, I get home Friday, all is well. Talk to my brother. Mom is having trouble eating. I tell him go for high sugar, no dairy, no low-cal but nothing fatty or hard to digest. Give her tea with honey, applesauce, jello, popsicles and a glass of soy milk if she'll drink anything. He tells me that she didn't want the Poptarts that he bought her. He's going to order pizza for dinner, but he doesn't think she wants it. Really? I tell him to stick to the BRAT diet. He says that the nurse at chemo said the same thing & asks me to explain it to him again. How do you have 3 children and not know what the BRAT diet is? The man has two master's degrees, owns his own company, was also recruited by a major Fortune 500 firm to be president of some division that does some financial thing (not my area of expertise or interest) and is on his town council. And yet, Poptarts and BRAT-ignorance. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on him. Mom got thru this chemo cycle with no incidents and is doig pretty well. But I'll bet he didn't set up her bed tray all nice & pretty when he took her jello and tea.}} | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 4144 Registered: 5-2001 |
Between chemo and radiation, Mom had a hard time eating this weekend. She picked at bullion, popsilces and baby food (BTW - bananas w/ tapioca are good at any age or health status - personal favorite food of mine in college). I called last night to check in on her & she said "I owe you an apology". Why, mom? For making you eat Cream of Rice when you were young & had stomach viruses. It tastes like crap and is just vile. But, it was great at binding you up. | ||
| Cynicalgirl Citizen Username: Cynicalgirl Post Number: 1313 Registered: 9-2003 |
Sounds exhausting, Greenetree. You're right to let your brothers do what they can. Too much for any one adult child. They can be trained. Your rant about the test results is all too familiar. I had some mini-rants yesterday with the onco doctor's nurses. Like I give a rat's behind how scheduled they are. Make time. Make it NOW! And, when you can't reach the "health practioner" you're PO'ed at, I did find another outlet for constructive complaint: online shopping sites. I ripped Target a new one because the crappy stickers on the Isaac Mizrahi placemats wouldn't come off without intensive scraping and appliation of 409. Made me feel better. Too tedious to detail but trying to get Mr. Cynicalgirl to eat more. Got himself all scared of food when digestion was bad so he's been subsisting on chicken noodle soup and icecream. Anyway, as any immigrant off-spring knows, the key to good health is FOOD! Given his surgery, he needs protein. Had a good holler at him yesterday about this. Having watched my dad get scrawny and sleepless, and knowing that without adequate sleep and nutrition, one thing leads to a bad other. Downward spiral. So he's asking me why doctors don't ask him about what he's eating, and nutrition. I say, "BECAUSE THEY"RE DOCTORS, AND THEY'RE MEN AND THEY VIEW NUTRITON AS PERIPHERAL YOU DOPE!" So, I exacted a committment to eat certain things each day while I'm at work. I will be checking the liverwurst and brie levels. He doesn't need to be doing the BRAT thing for where he's at, but he needs protein like crazy. Memo to self: bring home hummus. | ||
| Brett Citizen Username: Bmalibashksa Post Number: 1631 Registered: 7-2003 |
liverwurst, brie, and hummus. Good god. | ||
| SoOrLady Citizen Username: Soorlady Post Number: 2025 Registered: 9-2003 |
Brett - people who endure chemo often lose their sense of taste for a while, therefore making food boring and less desirable. As long as Cynicalhubby's system can handle it, I'd say Cynical's choice of food is right on.. go for things with intense flavors! |
