The Weekend with the Stranded Boys

Phineas Update First:
Doug and I had a long talk with the Vet on Friday, and they had the pathology report and all. No bone cancer in the dog (see previous entry) and a reasonably affordable surgery to take care of the issue. 

As Doug told him, there's a huge difference between 3,000 and 13,000 so. If we are honestly way down the range there, we can do it. 

I haven't emailed his former mama B yet. It's been busy. 

His surgery is Monday. This Monday. Fast. They really wanted to get him in fast and they had the opening. So Doug said "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly," pulling from Macbeth. So there we go. 

The Weekend with the Stranded Boys:
Friday afternoon I had a doctor's appointment to get cortisone shots in my knees. The last time I had them was in 2017 and the ortho was super surprised after seeing my film that I hadn't come in sooner. But. Things haven't been a problem. Until very recently, like December was when I think I started to fall over sideways. Maybe around the same time as Phineas developed his nonsense. 

Going up and down stairs was hugely painful. One leg at a time. Right leg better than left, which she told me was weird because my right knee is worse than the left. I had to keep my blood sugar down below 200 daily 2x a day for 3 weeks, and my A1C below 8. 

My blood sugar tracking was between 120 and 170 daily. I kept a chart. And I didn't get my A1C tested until after the shots, because she was satisfied with the readings. Good thing I didn't get it test before the shots because the A1C was over 8. Not by much, but yes. And they don't give the shots if that's the case. 

Gotta get back to getting that reading down to 7 again where it was before the winter. I've been off Team Triscuit for several weeks and on Team Keto a lot. I haven't had alcohol for a week (but I am right now, as a treat. One cocktail, gin & diet tonic). 

And I have a weekend story to tell. 

While I was waiting for my shots, playing pokemon in the room (like ya do) my friend JW texted me and said she had an emergency. She was in Boston, back home, taking care of her aunt after surgery (like I took care of my cousin). Her ex lives locally to us, and was staying with the boys while she was up north. 

He had an unexpected medical emergency Friday afternoon, and had to got himself to a hospital. But, the boys would be alone all night. 

Now, in all honesty, her oldest could probably ride the solo big brother role for a night. He's so good with his little brother, and responsible like no other 15 year old I've seen. He could get the little one to bed and all and he was already  going to feed him. But she wasn't ready for that to happen yet. 

She asked me if we were in town, could I go over and stay with them overnight since Dad was going to be kept over at the hospital and she was trying to change her flight but it was too late for that night. 

We were in town indeed, but we had plans to go see Ben Folds' Declassified series at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra and William Shatner. 

William.
Freaking.
Shatner. 

The Shat Man. That's a whole entry of itself and I could talk a lot about it. 

But back to the boys. We wouldn't be home until late, after midnight and all, because the show didn't even start until 9. She said that would be fine, Josh would wait up for me.

After the show we connected with a friend of mine, Dave, and his band mate Tarquin and Tarquin's daughter. They had flown down from Connecticut to see this show, and we had a nice catch up. We thought about the possibility of going out for a drink or something but Doug reminded me that I needed to go see "The Stranded Boys." 

Dave said he hadn't heard of that band. Are they locals? 

Oh my gosh. Hysterical. 

We explained the Stranded Boys to him and it was ... truly hilarious. Everyone loved it. We agreed to connect another time, start a jam session called the Stranded Boys.  We parted ways so we could get home to get me over to the house. 

I arrived as I expected at 12:30am. Both boys were up waiting for me. The older boy had made up a bed for me in the guest room (full size bed, he couldn't find a full size top sheet but put a twin on and I smiled at how he just got it done for me. I encouraged them to bed and said we'd go out to breakfast at iHop in the morning if we were up early enough.

The younger one got up at 6:45. I woke up at 7:30. The big one got up at 8. I said that we should go soon because it was going to get crowded fast. I was right. The line for take-out was out the door and we got the last table. 

Here are my breakfast dates. My buddies. 

We had a wonderful meal, mom called while we were at breakfast and she was surprised we were having breakfast out. But I figured it was a treat. I'm sure the little one was slightly confused about Dad, and mom's plans to come home early. 

He is a little anxious and easily upset. Big tears and silence. I've gotten used to him over the years, and we're good pals. We bond over pokemon. And he thinks I'm funny. 

Breakfast was great, and then the big one was going to go to a birthday party at 1pm that his "friend" (aka, girlfriend!) was picking him up for. Sushi lunch with her, a birthday girl, and the birthday girl's .... "friend." 

Adorable. I asked him if he had a gift for the birthday girl, and he said no. I said, "oh honey. You have to have at least a card. Let's go to Target." He bought a really funny little kid card to edit it (Today you are 6.... "No you are not") and had a good laugh. I kind of loved it because hell how many times have I done that in my life. This young man is a human after my own heart!

We went back to the house to hang out. When I had gotten there last night, I noted the place looked like a bachelor pad. The dishes. Oh the dishes. The trash, overflowing. I knew there was nothing I could do about it at 12:30am, so left it for when we got back. I told the big one that mom was coming back stressed out, and we should do good things to help. 

We unloaded the dishwasher, and reloaded it again. I filled the sink again, and hand washed a ton more stuff. I watered all the plants, some of which.... well. May not be making it. He took the trash and recycling out, and then got ready for his party (all spiffy. I gave him lookin' good advice). The little one and I then watched a bunch of pokemon playthroughs and videos on Youtube, and talked a lot about pokemon. 

The little one and I decided to head over to my house for a change of scenery, and so Geoff could take the jeep to go get groceries. 

Doug took a nap, we watched more pokemon videos. 

I'm right now waiting for the big one to let me know when he is home. I think I left my purse at the house. I had it slung over my shoulder, and took it off to finish the dishes before we headed over here so I hope it is on the kitchen counter.  

I offered to pick up my friend at the airport tonight and she shushed me. But it'll be a very expensive uber ride home. I hope she changes her mind and allows us to bless her with the ride. The Dad is still at the hospital for another night so I hope she can update me and let me know what is happening with him. 

Here's a picture of the little one and Phineas, chilling on the couch. And this is perfect. The big one texted me that they are still at the sushi place, the wait for a table was huge so they went to an arcade. And they are just eating now. I'd told him to head this way when done, but he's fine. I hope the double date birthday part is just awesome. 

Life with the Stranded Boys is alright. 

This isn't the call I was expecting to make today

It has been a weird week. I'll back up to a couple months ago to get the back story.

When we adopted Phineas, his "mom" had gotten all of his shots and medical needs taken care of in 2021. This February it was time for us to take him in for a checkup and Rabies shot and the whole thing. 

His former Mama came to visit us right before the appointment and noticed something we'd also noticed - he was walking funny, favoring his back right leg. I said it was on my list of things to check on with the appointment. 

Appointment came and I asked them to check it out. The vet called me and said his back right leg was kind of "Jacked up" and asked if he'd been in an accident recently, fallen, something. Nope. A whole lot of nothing. We'd noticed the sudden onset of the gimpiness, he wasn't bending his knee much and sleeping with it straight out. He has been a little extra moany and groany, which he always was a little but it has increased to a noticeable way. He had been a little more reluctant to jump up into bed too lately, and one of us always spots him, just in case he can't make it. 

She suggested that he needed a dental cleaning, which had to be done with sedation. We could do X-rays at the same time and see what the story was. 

The appointment was Tuesday, and the vet called me when it was time to pick him up and give me the update. I fully thought he'd tell us he has arthritis. He thought he would be telling us the same thing.  

"This isn't the call I was expecting to make today..." he started with. 

"Oh no," I replied. 

He told me the dental cleaning was great. Teeth are perfect. No worries there. But the leg X-ray indicated nothing wrong with his knee, his hip was showing a fracture that didn't look like a fresh injury, or even a normal fracture. He described it as a "Pathological Fracture" meaning it was caused by something, such as cancer. 

Really? What? You're joking. He said no.

They went back in for more images, and found a mass in his abdomen. So his thoughts were that Phineas either had bone cancer that had metastasized, or, the mass was the original cancer and had spread to his bones. He recommended a pathological radiologist look at the X-rays, and try to make a call on what was happening. We agreed to have that done. Got the results today. Here's the medical jargon: 

FINDINGS: The left coxofemoral joint is normal. There has been prior trauma to the right coxofemoral joint. It is very likely that there has been a chronic fracture of the femoral neck with a markedly displaced femoral head. There is severe remodeling to the acetabulum and there is dystrophic mineralization around the presumably fractured femoral head and neck. The greater trochanter is cranially displaced. There is marked muscle wasting on the right. The lateral position of the patella bilaterally is considered positional. A focal lucency within the proximal tibia bilaterally is a normal finding. The stifles otherwise appear normal. 

Within the included abdomen there is a large mid-abdominal soft tissue mass.

CONCLUSIONS: This is very likely a chronic fracture of the right femoral head and neck with secondary severe remodeling and dystrophic mineralization. A more aggressive process is unlikely. However, there is also a large intra-abdominal soft tissue mass which may be arising from the spleen. Malignant neoplasia such as hemangiosarcoma or a benign hematoma are possible. Other origins of the mass are not excluded.

Above here, in the right hip, you can see that his right femoral head and neck are completely trashed, compared to the left one there which looks perfect. 

And it is almost like his right leg is shorter than the left too.

And there's the mass - it's kind of huge. That's the major issue right there for him. 

We are not sure at all what happened to the hip but it's probably been that way forever. If he's never had X-rays, his former ma would not have known. No one would know. 

And then there's that mass. I asked if they could do a needle biopsy and he said he wouldn't do that. If it is a hematoma, he could puncture it, cause internal bleeding, and it would be the end. He also said he wouldn't get a good sample of anything to test with a needle biopsy, so they'd have to operate anyway. 

Here's what he recommended: We remove the spleen and the mass.

1. If it is a hematoma, he's all set - no further fixing needed!
2. If it is cancer, it's out of there and we bought him time. Who knows how much. 
3. If it is cancer, we probably wouldn't do the whole chemo/radiation thing to an 11 yr old dog. We'll just give him his amazing life.
4. Removing it would be a good safety move, in case it bursts or he gets hurt and it ruptures. It could continue to grow, and rupture. And if it is cancer it will probably spread to the next vascular neighbor, his kidneys or liver. So his prognosis would be very short.

If we thought everything with him was perfect in January, his gimpiness and wobbly walk could be because he's uncomfortable, because the mass has gotten so large he's just having a rough time with it. 

Doug asked for an estimate for surgery, and it actually affordable and reasonable. We were kind of surprised. 

I believe I'll call tomorrow and set things up, the sooner the better, I think. 

We thought we'd get another 3 or so years out of the old bean but it feels like we'll be lucky if it is 6 months. 

We will see what happens. 

Visitors from the North

 Twice this week I got to meet up with friends. 

Back in the day, when I worked in Boston, our office was closed. As you know. We were all spread to all points of the earth when that happened. 

We opted for the relocation, but so many people with younger kids or who owned homes were not into the idea of relocating. My manager JW convinced me to make the move that she was making, and I am happy we did. 

But several people didn't. One of those people was Sara. Pictured here in the center between me and JW.

Sara's daughter was in DC with her school band to celebrate the Lincoln Memorial, and she reached out to us to see if we wanted to have dinner. Yes. Yes we did. 

She came up to meet us in our town, which was convenient, and wonderful. JW wanted the full hibachi experience at a restaurant in our town, so we had a fantastic meal, great conversation, and tons of fun. 

I love Sara, I often approach borderline crisis situations saying "Sara would sign heavily here" then dive in, ask what should we do - and come up with good strategies. I try to channel an inner Sara as often as I can. I learned a lot from her when we worked together.

Sadly, it made me miss our Boston office, and the people. I love them all so much, still to this day, nearly 5 years after we all spread to the wind. One of my colleagues said that us working together was "Lightning in a bottle" because we were honestly all the best people to be in the same place at the same time. I believe that, in my heart of hearts.

Then on Friday night, Doug and I had dinner with some friends from our old church in Massachusetts. Early in week, the husband in the couple (he is A & she is J) had put on Facebook "Any recommendations for dinner in DC?" And I was like "uh, hello. We live here?" 

Dude, don'tcha know?

So we started a dialog, he didn't want Italian, he was hoping for small plates/tapas, something "fun." I found the José Andrés jam Zatinya, but the prices were too high for his liking. Too bad, I was thinking this was beyond perfect and I'd always wanted to go there.... 

So I put Doug to work to find a good spot. Doug is very good at picking places, and coming up with plans. It is his super power. 

A&J had a reservation at a hotel in the GWU neighborhood, and there are honestly no decent restaurants near there. Dunkin', Starbucks, Chic Fil A, Roti, fast food.... There are a couple "normal" restaurants, but literally .... you are on campus, dude. The hotel is On. Campus. The hotel is surrounded by Food Halls and student housing. No. There is no restaurant. Near. Your. Hotel.

I would have had Doug make us reservations at Tonic or at Founding Farmers, but I had him search for small plates, by request. He picked Uptown Market, which is near the Zoo, ...ish. 5 miles north of the hotel but very easy access by Metro. In fact there is a metro stop one block south of the restaurant. This is the neighborhood I'd live in if I lived in DC. It is a perfect spot to meet.

We agreed upon a reservation there at 6:30pm, piece of cake. They'd get in, check in the hotel, and either Uber up or metro. We'd be metro-ing down, perfect.

But at 4pm everything changed. 

In my work slack, a message went out saying there was an active shooter situation happening at the Van Ness/UDC Metro. Which... was exactly the location we were meeting. Shelter in place, everyone hide. Helpful for everyone who lived in that neighborhood (a lot of folks do, and heck I would...) but now dinner was not going to happen there.

I reached out, they were still a ways south of the city. I said that they should not head up there under any circumstances and we'd find a new meet up spot.  They were already kind of cranky, they were driving up from the Outer Banks and traffic was (as always is) horrible. A said "please pick something close to the hotel."

Honestly though, I had already pointed out that the hotel is nowhere near anything, but we'll try. 

Everything had been booked up, and the earliest availabilities were 8-9pm. 

They got to their hotel as Doug was finishing up a meeting and they checked at the front desk. I had suggested I order Uber Eats or Grub Hub and we just eat at their room. I really wanted to see them, but part of me was honestly like "oh fuck this, I'm tired." 

A checked at the front desk, said they told him they had a restaurant in the building. Thing is, on Google Maps of the area - it did not show up unless you zoomed super close. They. Have. A. Restaurant. 

I told them to make a reservation, they told me the front desk said no reservation necessary. Huh. Cool... we'll see you there. Doug and I got on the metro, took the ride down, got there at 7. 

They had a chance to freshen up, and we connected with hugs and happiness. 

We had a wonderful visit - I mean, truly lovely. What a good time. A is full of puns and weird stories. 

He's a little weird. Likes the "Dad Jokes" in the world, and we often groaned at his jokes. 

J and Doug served on the church Deacons together when we lived up there, so they were very close. J is now the chair of the search committee to find a new pastor, and Doug was the chair back in like 2016 when we had to pick one then. He had lots of good advice and encouraged her to be in touch if she needed to talk. 

We wouldn't have made the effort if these folks were not important in our past and part of our lives in ways that mean so much. It was very nice. Very. I'm very happy it all worked out, even if there was an unfortunate incident near our original place. The picture above is me and J. And below all 4 of us. I'm not good at Selfies. 

Having two straight nights of friends was a real blessing for me. I love people I have made friends with over the years and love catching up. I value them enough to go into the city when there's like wild active shooter bullshit happening. It's such a blessing to just know people that I am invested in their lives, their kids, their jobs, the connection they have to the people still at our old church, and to catch up on the lives that we are all living. 

It was good for my heart.

Getting The Things Done

 Doug took Geoff to an open house at a community college in Virginia today. I was going to go with, and bring the dog, and kind of walk around with him but I felt it'd be better if I stayed here and cleaned. I feel like I don't clean for weeks and then I clean a lot. And I'm happier. 

I'd love to pay for a housecleaner once a month to just deep clean the living crap out of the place but Doug doesn't like the idea of a stranger in our house "touching our things." I'm like.... I am perfectly okay with that. Let's go. But no. 

So I stayed home, and did a lot. 

Today's accomplishments:

• Stripped the bed and guest bed, washed the sheets, redressed the bed
• Washed the bath mats and shower curtains*
• Put all the winter things in the closet
• Repotted a spider plant that was in very sad shape, and I hope it will be happier
• Watered all the other plants
• Vacuumed the 2 area rugs in the living room and dining room 
• Swept the kitchen and hardwood floors
• Found 2 milk crates and made a little shelf dealie on my "desk" which I don't use to put more books on and make it look office-ier
• Put the last of the christmas shit away (it was sitting in the dining room on the floor behind the table)
• Cleaned the dining room table because it was gross
• Cleaned the microwave
• Folded the baskets of laundry 
• Spent time in the yard with Phineas. It was a very nice day

What I wanted to do:

• Mop
• Clean the stove top and the fronts of the cabinet (they messy)
• Dust the everything. Did most of it when I was sweeping and then grabbed the swiffer to do some obvious things, but didn't get it all
• Clean my bedroom

*The asterisks indicates there is more to this. 

I usually grab Geoff's bath mat and our bath mat, and throw in a couple towels once a month. Grab the bleach, let them soak... you know. Get super clean and nice. I went to get Geoff's bath mat and took a look at his shower. Desperately needs to be cleaned, but I'll get him to do that and supervise a bit. So I pulled his shower curtain and liner down because it was super gross - kind of moldy/mildewy at the bottom. Figured I'd soak this all together. 

So in every washing machine there's that little space to dump your bleach in, at the top edge of the washer. I filled that with about a cup of bleach, and watched it start to drain in as the water was filling. Then, I realized the bleach was coming out the bottom of the washer, onto the floor, and onto my feet. Nice. 

I grabbed one of the towels that wasn't fully soaked yet, cleaned my feet up and started to wipe up the bleach. Everything smells nice and clean downstairs now - hot hot water and bleach all over the floor, smells like I did a lot of scrubbing.  

I poured a bunch of bleach directly into the washer, I usually do it that way but opted to go with the built in bleach delivery service. And it was a failure. And derailed some of my work. But I survived. 

Tonight I'm very looking forward to sliding into the clean bed sheets after a shower. Can't get into the clean bed being as dirty as I feel after cleaning all day. That'd be a crime. 

All the windows are open, it is cool and comfortable, and I'm ready to be done for the day. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Allegedly, it's going to be hot. So we'll see what happens.

Crankopotomus

Man, I've been cranky this week. 

Doug has been even MORE cranky, so it has taken a lot of my energy to deal with his crankypants. I've avoided bothering him. Avoided him. Any thing we try to talk about he just makes a face and doesn't want to talk about it.  

I feel like I'm always capitulating to what someone else wants. Or needs. I'm always making space for other people. I just do it naturally. But right now I'm crannnnn-kay!  And I am feeling selfish. Which isn't like me at all. 

I went into the kitchen to get water, opened the back window, and someone was using a leaf blower in the driveway behind my house. Get a broom, motherfucker. 

I closed the window and doug took meat out to grill. I went up front and opened the window in the living room. Someone across the way was mowing the lawn. It's 7pm dude stop. Wait until Saturday. I closed the window.

Can I get some quiet. Earphones in. Music on. Drown out the world. 

I'm dealing with one team member who feels she deserves more, and wants a raise and promotion. Can't say as I blame her, you've been here 18 months. It took me 5 yrs. Can you be patient and realize you can't get a raise and promotion into a position that does not exist? We had a long talk. I don't want to dissuade her but I want her to be realistic. Another coworker is not doing well mentally. I'm actually very worried about her. 

But I'm manager to neither of them. I can be a good listener but sometimes, I just want to scream that I have a lot of wants too, so when can I have mine. Feeling completely irritated, the stupid questions from my job continued to annoy the hell out of me too. 

After dinner, I got a text from a friend of mine in NH asking me if I liked living here or if I had any regrets. 

This is out of the blue? 

Yeah, I guess? Why you ask? She asks if we can talk. Oooooooo. Okay. A distraction to me being a grumpy gus! 

Her husband has a job offer 1 town north of here and they are weighing their options. This would be his "dream job" and the pay is stupid good compared to what he's getting now. He has a great job, so I can't imagine what they'd be paying him. She had questions about here, what our thoughts were. And I told her that "real talk" is that I'm not in love but I don't hate it, and there are so many things I do like about being here, that anything I'd find to gripe about is just basic and silly. 

Except the heat. That's legit. She told me the address of her husband's new job, and it is literally straight up the road a few miles. 15 minutes from our front door. She asked about our neighborhood and the other neighborhoods around. I told her where was good, and we both commented on one house on Zillow that had the refrigerator in the living room, and we'd both seen it. Hilarious. 

It was so nice to talk to her, and to realize that they'll be coming here, and hopefully living VERY close to us. It has shaken me out of my boooooo-ness. 

What an unexpected gift. 

When I started this blog, M was married to Aaron, as you may remember. And we had shit tons of fun. Then, they divorced, Aaron lives in Oregon now.  M is remarried and we're still good friends, and we love her husband who is also an M. This picture is from 2014 from the NH beerfest we attended together. It's cute as hell. 

I look forward to taking them to breweries here in MD and writing about it in the beer blog. 

About Kathleen

Yesterday,  I went to the doctor for my Covid booster shot. 

There is a required 15 minute sit and wait time, so I was crushing some candies and surfing the Guster fan Facebook page to pass the time. Like you do. 

I was the last patient in the office,  just waiting for time to pass so I could go. The nurses and staff were buttoning up for the day, laughing at the stations and offices down the hall. 

I then heard a woman calling for help. She was yelling into the front desk window, repeatedly, asking if someone could help her. One of the staffers came down the hall and I heard her buzz the door open. 

She was telling the story about how she  had fallen at the grocery store, and drove herself to where she usually would go. The KP building.  Surprised to find no one there at 5:05 pm. My guess is she probably wandered the first floor and then came up to the second, until she saw lights on in an office and called in for assistance. 

She was confused, they were triaging her and talking to her. She had hit her head, broke her wrist obviously. She needed X-rays but radiology was closed for the night. She didn't understand why, because she always came to this building for Urgent Care. Where is everyone? The staff explained to her that they stopped doing urgent care, closed the lab at 5pm daily, and had no more Saturday and Sunday hours, because of Covid. 

Side note - one of the reasons why we picked this insurance during open enrollment in 2018 was this location. The long hours for the lab. The Urgent Care. A mile from our house. All things in one location. Surgery, lab, x-ray, doctors.... a small building full of awesome stuff. And I've been equally angry about the diminishment of services "due to Covid" because, as Mike Birbiglia would say "Like fun I'm driving to Gaithersburg."

She was trying to call her son and got ahold of him but he was 2 hours away up in Frederick. I heard them on Speaker phone, and she kept apologizing to him for bothering him. 

"Ma," he said, "You're my ma!" he said.  Over and over. He was going to be there, as soon as he could.

 Listening to this all, the staff explaining how there was no 24/7 urgent care, and her refusal to ride in an ambulance for "something so stupid and simple" I finished my sitting time. 

I stood in the hallway. I could turn right and leave. I could turn left and go see who she was. 

Maybe I could help... 

Walking into the room, I found her bandaged and iced. I introduced myself and she asked if I was a doctor. No. I am not. I'm a patient too! But maybe I can help. I offered to drive her to the hospital. It is in my neighborhood. minimally out of my way.  

I talked to the staff, made sure that this was legal for me to give an injured person a ride from the doctor instead of her taking an ambulance (they assured me yes, since I was willing). I took her phone, called the son, and told him there was a change of plans. He was to meet us at the hospital instead of the doctor's office because he wouldn't get there until 7 and she'd be sitting alone on a bench in the cold.  

Knowing the building would be locked up, I knew I couldn't leave her sitting there. 

She was very worried about leaving her car. Was it going to be towed? Was it safe!? The staff got Security to come up and talk to her, and she had a card in her pocketbook with a picture of the car, the plate, all the info they needed. 

She said she sometimes forgets her car where she parks it, so this was how she remembers. Seems like a smart idea to me. Security said it was all set. If someone could help her get the car later, (ie: today) just go to the hospital and do not worry about it... It was settled.  

I got my jeep and then as I was driving it down the ramps it occurred to me she was short and hurt, and may not be able to get up in it. A nurse wheeled her down to the front door, we worked on it, got her in, cheered, and we were on our way. 

Her name is Kathleen and she lives in the north part of our town. She was at the supermarket when she wiped out. No one at the market would or could help her, and she tried to pull herself up with the shopping cart and it moved so she fell again. 

On our drive over I learned all about her. She's 80. Widowed, and has 3 kids. One kid (the oldest, female) doesn't speak to her because she's a raging alcoholic and a concerned mom is too much of a burden and annoyance. The son who was coming to help her lives even further up county, and is going through a divorce. He likes motorcycles. 

I asked if he was going to pick her up on his motorcycle and she laughed and laughed. It was fun keeping her mind off her pain. 

Her third, the youngest daughter, she told me she "also has a severe drug addiction that ruined her life. So she's in Gate of Heaven." I asked if Gate of Heaven is a rehab locally. 

She said "Oh, no, it's a cemetery."  

Oh. That's sad. I'm so sorry. She shrugged her shoulders. "I did what we could do." 

We drove past my house to avoid the main roads, and I pointed it out. She saw two large cardinals sitting on top of our holly tree. "Oh, so my daughter and my husband heard me talking about them, I see. Hello you two." 

I managed to get her to the emergency room, security came out and they helped me help her into a wheelchair and brought her inside. 

I moved my car and called her son, caught him up on why she wasn't at the doctors office, and asked if he knew where the hospital was. He said both his kids were born there, so yes. I asked if he was riding his motorcycle to come get her. He howled laughing too. 

I let him know the car was safe in the parking garage at the doctor's and which floor it was on. He said he was picking his daughter up so she could drive the car back for nana. 

Going back into the emergency room she was being checked in. She had told me she was so hungry when we were still at the doctors office, but one of the girls gave her a bottle of water and some crackers. I told her she would probably have a long wait, and asked the girl at the counter if it was okay for her to eat. The girl said yes. 

I patted her on the head, wished her the best, made sure she had all 3 of her bags, and went home to dinner. 

Turning around to leave, I noticed that since she was wheeled in, there were now about 15 people in line. We got there right at the perfect moment. Whew. Another 5 minutes and we would have been at the end of the line! I asked if I could take this picture to text to her son. She said "share it with all the people you know, so they know there are nice people on the planet still." 

Be a nice people on the planet. For Kathleen or anyone else. Note the Cheers sweatshirt, and, in your mind, please know she sounded almost exactly like Aunt Gayle from Bob's Burgers. Then you'll know how I spent 2 hours yesterday afternoon. Oh, you don't know what Aunt Gayle on Bob's Burgers sounds like? This but with more screaming.