Three down, three to go

I would like to remind all that I am only contributing to my sister's blog and I would not be posting to my own as I usually think they are a bit obnoxious.

Finally got to meet Dr. C on Monday when Mom had labs to make sure her counts were high enough to start another treatment on Tuesday. Staff and doc thrilled to know she's got another daughter. She also introduced family friend M from Texas as "her fifth or sixth daughter from Texas." From here on I shall be referring to M as Tex, just so we can keep all the players straight. He accompanied me to Hawaii to assist with the care-taking and to try to learn all of Mom's food idiosyncrasies. He will be covering the gap when I leave and Gay returns.

What did Tex notice most about Dr. C? She had black toenails. The doc had positive info about the latest CT scan - chest area is looking better. Great news, but sometimes you worry about getting too hopeful. My mantra is still One Day At A Time. Every day spent with Mom is a good day.

From what Gay had told me after the second treatment, Mom usually has pretty good energy the day of and the day after. This time was no different. This morning she woke me with a (new) request for a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. I am happy to indulge all requests as they are far and few between. In fact she asked for an orange Jamba Juice when she was finishing her chemo and Tex and I drove around Salt Lake for an hour trying to find the one closest to the hospital according to his GPS, Hilda. Of course, Hilda could not know that the Jamba Juice was gone, now replaced by a Genki Sushi. After finally coming to that realization we asked Hilda where the next closest one was and headed there to fulfill Mom's wish. I told him we were going to all get a drink and we had better enjoy it, too.

So, Wednesday was a pretty good day. Mom was up and about puttering around, trimming her naupaka plants, sitting outside watching The Nephew and Little E playing around in the water for a bit, allowing visitors Married to a Farmer Boy, Farmer Boy, and Lady D upstairs, and supervising by osmosis the painting of the downstairs walls by Tex and Farmer Boy.

The weather has been beautiful for the past couple of days even though they've been predicting storms, record surf and destructive winds. Since The Flood of December 11, 2008 I am hyper vigilant about the rain. I am ready to run outside and hook up the drainage pipes to the rain gutter at the first pitter patter. I have discussed The Flood with Tex who agrees that the gutter people failed when they set up the system a couple of years ago. Another project to consider, but kind of at the top of the list since I don't feel like filling sandbags without my sister.

I'm sure the first is always the hardest, and I will try to keep up with the posts whether funny or mundane.