morrowlife

Behold the Staplex. The biggest, toughest, meanest stapler out there. Wouldn’t want to get my finger caught in that thing. Great Art courtesy of LRN1, taken in May 2012 at LRN1’s former office in Utah, and part of my famous Machinery series. Or was that LRN2’s desk? Apparently, he inherited it from LRN1 when LRN1 moved on to a new job.

Biggest, toughest, and meanest? Well, there’s this. But you won’t find that thing on somebody’s desk.

Very good day for LRN4. She’s feeling very well, her fever has gone away again, her lungs are sounding very good to the stethoscope-wielding medical practitioners, she’s able to stand up and walk around her room, and everything is pretty good. Her internal disease guy says if things continue to go so well, she may be able to go home early next week, which would be great. But we’re not counting on it. If there’s one thing we’ve learned this past year, it’s not to count on things.

On the downside, her white count has doubled yet again, and the cancerous cells are up from 3% to 8% of the total. They started her next round of chemo this evening, right after they finished giving her two units of red cells and two units of platelets. I’m hoping the chemo starts doing its job quickly before her numbers go too high for comfort.

Did no work today, although I should have. Instead, LRN2 and I went to the DMV and got his car titled and registered in Nevada. It took three hours, but it all worked out. LRN2 still needs to get his driver’s license updated. Maybe next week.

The [amazon text=new monitors&asin=B008A3KFB8] I ordered yesterday are scheduled to get here tomorrow. I can’t wait! I’ll of course need to do some extensive testing before the conference. So I expect they’ll be unpacked and in use by tomorrow afternoon.

And it’s late already, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: roof-dwelling horse!

See you on Monday

Here’s a picture of a much younger me in Kazakhstan, standing in front of two of our team’s Ford Transit vans. They were our sole transportation there, other than the golf cart our spacecraft team typically brought with them. Those other two guys were our Loyal Drivers. Great Art courtesy of … umm … somebody’s camera, taken in June 2001 during the Astra 2C launch campaign, and part of my famous Machinery series.

Pretty good days yesterday and today. LRN4 is doing much better, thank you very much. She’s breathing well, she’s getting a full 99% blood oxygen, her lungs sound nearly clear via a stethoscope, she’s able to stand up and do a little walking in place, and she’s generally feeling much better.

On the negative side, she’s running a very slight fever this evening: 99-point-something. Let’s hope we’re not looking at another setback. Please.

We moved from the heart (second) floor up to the cancer (third) floor late tonight. I think that’s a good sign.  We’re now in room 0x177. Drop by, Loyal Readers!

Quite a bit of progress on the work front. I’ve done a tiny bit more work on the PhotoDoc manual. But today I got a bunch of work done on the February conference. I selected and paid for the furnishings for the booth (table, chairs, carpet), bought a couple of monitors to show off our stuff, and made flight, motel, and rental car reservations. I’m starting to get excited! Also nervous. There’s so much more to get done and so little time remaining.

Fortunately, I’m delegating. The Loyal Son-in-law has started editing videos and a Loyal Nephew-in-law is working on the new logo, LRN4 having been taken out of the logo sweepstakes due to unforeseen hospitalization. I got a first cut at the logo tonight and love it. It’s just what I had hoped for. It’s basically a simplified, flattened, cleaned up version of the original logo. Very nice.

Progress!

And I’ll let that be it for tonight. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: cole slaw disaster!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s my new business card. It hasn’t been printed yet. I had just finished designing it on the Staples online print shop and was about to order it. Their online system showed me this amazing digitally-generated prototype. Doesn’t it look real? This Great Art is a little rough because I took a picture of the screen, rather than taking a screenshot. Don’t know why. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in LRN4’s hospital room a couple days ago, and part of my famous Las Vegas series.

Wait, I remember why I took a picture of the disembodied hand with my upcoming business card – I was on the phone with my nephew and business partner John and wanted to order some for him too, so I wanted a quick approval. The quickest way I could think of on the spot was to take a picture. So I did.

LRN4 appears to be on the mend, finally. It’s been pretty touch-and-go for quite a while, but we hope she’s finally turned the corner. Her fever appears to have subsided (not necessarily permanently) and her breathing is much better. She reported tonight that this afternoon was the first time she could breathe without concentrating on it since she got to the hospital. She looks a lot stronger too.

Our doctor told us tonight that we’re continuing to beat the odds. She’s been sick enough the last several days that her survival has been at stake much more than we realized. The pneumonia in her lungs has been so bad that her heart was starting to malfunction. That appears to have turned around at least a bit, fortunately. But more progress is needed. Courage, LRN4! Also, courage, me!

We still have no idea when to expect LRN4 to come home from the hospital. I miss her. I want her to come home. I want her to live. I need her to survive.

And that’s it for tonight. Nothing else matters. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: official-residence-infesting possum!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s LRN4 with The World of Golf. We put that puzzle together ourselves! Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken at the City of Hope last April about one month before LRN4’s sadly failed stem cell transplant and when she was unfortunately feeling much better than she is now, and part of my famous Medical series.

Happy 2014! I missed a couple days of blogging there. The new year hasn’t started out extremely well for us. LRN4’s having a very difficult time trying to heal up from her flu/pneumonia. She just doesn’t seem to be getting any better. She can’t breathe. She can’t get out of bed. On a positive note, they took another chest x-ray this afternoon and reported this evening that she doesn’t seem to be getting worse.

It certainly seems like she’s getting worse, though. She’ll steadily improve for a couple of days and it’ll look like we’re on track for her to come home. And then she’ll start running a fever again and start needing 100% oxygen to be able to breathe at all. And we remain on track to stay in the hospital another week or so.

Worst of all, though, is LRN4’s morale. She’s finding it more and more difficult to keep her spirits up. She has felt terrible for far too long. I confess I’m a bit discouraged too, but I’m making it my mission to help her build her courage back up. Help me, Loyal Readers! She needs us.

Not much else going on. LRN2 and I need to put away the Christmas decorations. Maybe tomorrow. I also need to ship LRN1’s Christmas presents to him. Maybe tomorrow. I also need to do a bit of laundry. Getting that done tonight. Probably ought to buy some more Cocoa Krispies too. I bought some a couple days ago and already finished them. Oops.

And that’s about it for tonight. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: retired chicken!

See you on Monday.

Here’s yesterday’s sunset in Las Vegas. I like it here. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken from our master bathroom window, and part of my famous Las Vegas series.

Happy New Year! 2013 was not our very best one. In fact, I suppose it was our very worst one. The highs were sweet but brief and the lows were deep and bitter, but also mercifully brief. Mostly, it was just a long, hard slog and it’s nowhere near over.

But that’s okay. I’m mostly filled with gratitude for the good things. My relationship with and appreciation for LRN4 have grown tremendously. My sense of “aliveness” has become sharp. I’ve learned how to care for someone in at least a few ways. I’ve felt a renewed love from and for my family. I’ve been financially secure enough to be able to devote essentially my full time and effort to my wife and her care. I’ve learned to let go just a little bit and accept whatever is coming to me. And I’ve learned that I can be happy no matter what.

I’m learning how to live and to love. And I’m grateful for that. Maybe 2013 wasn’t all that bad after all.

Yes, it actually was all that bad. Fervent hope: 2014 will be much better. LRN4 will get into a durable remission. And we’ll live happily ever after.

LRN4 is still in the hospital and will be there for the foreseeable future. Her flu/pneumonia appeared to be greatly improving a couple days ago. They took her off the oxygen. We were a day away from coming home. And then her lungs filled up, her blood oxygen level plummeted, and her heart rate spiked. They stuck the oxygen mask back on and turned it way up and things started getting better again. As of tonight, she’s down from 100% to 50% oxygen, but she can’t go more than a few seconds without it before her oxygen drops below the safe level. Makes it a bit difficult to eat dinner, but she’s struggling along.

We passed a pleasant evening at the hospital playing Gin tonight. Lots of fun.

And that’s it for this year. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: turkey home-invasion specialist!