morrowlife

Here are Shannon and Mark at one of the many scenic spots in Worlds End State Park in Pennsylvania. That was a really memorable camping trip. The park was nothing short of spectacular, from its endless forests to its huge rock formations. Highly recommended. Great Art courtesy of my old Minolta camera and part of my famous Shannon, Vacation, and Camping series.

Well, the cruise is over. I really had a nice time and met some very pleasant folks. Let’s see if I can remember what happened on Friday. First, it cooled off quite a bit. I wasn’t able to spend time either on the promenade deck or on my balcony. It was cold and the water got just a bit rough. The ship rolled a bit – still nothing like the worst we saw on previous cruises, fortunately – and the wind was pretty strong. So I stayed indoors. I happened to pass the gay ladies I went to the beach with at Cabo and they invited me to sit with them and a couple other friends and play some of the trivia games. Passed an enjoyable hour or so with them. When we were going our separate ways, they made me promise to come to a cocktail party they were having a couple hours before dinner. I said I’d be delighted to attend. It turns out the party was for a couple of guys who got married at the beginning of the cruise. Juanita, one of the ladies, is the travel agent who made all the arrangements for the wedding and other events on the cruise. I felt just a little out of place at the party, since I didn’t know any of the family members there – just their travel agent – but they were very kind to me and I had a nice time meeting them and spending an hour together.

Retired to my cabin pretty much immediately after dinner to pack and relax, which I did. The ship rolled possibly a little more overnight than it had during the day, but my gift of sleep served me well and I had a very good night’s sleep indeed.

I awoke early on Saturday and watched through my window as the ship came into port and docked by the Queen Mary. Then I got up, got cleaned up and dressed, and went to breakfast, never to return to my lovely cabin. I found a comfortable sofa to read and wait for my turn to get off the ship. My turn came after a while and I disembarked, made my way through the Customs line, got in my beloved pickup, and drove home. Uneventful and easy, just like I like it.

Mark and I spent the weekend quietly at home and enjoyed being together again. The house was in excellent shape when I got home and everything that needed to be done had been done. No worries, no troubles.

Mark’s looking into starting back up in college in the fall. He’s leaning towards UNLV and has started the application process. I’m really excited for him and am sure it will be a worthwhile endeavor. He’s not sure whether to major in Computer Science or IT. I don’t think he can go wrong with either.

The health insurance people from Lockheed Martin had called me while I was gone, so I returned their call today. They told me I can change insurance plans and who is covered, so I did that. I went to the higher-deductible plan and dropped coverage for Mark and Andy. Andy’s covered by his new employer and it was so expensive to keep Mark on that we’re going to try to get him enrolled in an Obamacare plan. We have until the end of this month to make that happen. It’ll save a lot of money and hopefully be good insurance as well.

With the adjustment to my retirement pay due to Shannon’s death and the change in my health insurance, I’ve gotten a large increase in my take-home pay. In fact, it’s pretty much doubled. That’s good. I can use more money. Money is good.

Feeling lonesome today.  There are lots of reminders of my old life and I’m still tending to indulge myself in them. It’s so comforting, but it also makes me feel such a loss. Things are getting better, though. Slowly but surely.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: traffic-jam-creating beaver!

See you tomorrow.

Here is perhaps my favorite picture of Shannon and Mark. It’s fuzzy and very poorly lit, but I think it captures the special love that existed between the two of them. Mark just adored her and she him. She adored all of our kids, in fact, and I know the feeling was mutual. Great Art courtesy of my old Minolta camera, taken during the 2005 McCulloch family reunion somewhere in Utah, and part of my famous Shannon and Vacation series.

I had a really nice day today in Puerto Vallarta. The “beach hideaway” excursion was really beautiful. It took about an hour on the tour company’s boat to get over there. The first thing we did was have an unlimited amount of an excellent Mexican lunch buffet and unlimited drinks. Then we were free to wander around their property; which included a “nature” area with a monkey, a parrot, a hawk, and something else I can’t remember; and a very nice little beach with kayaking, tubing, snorkeling, and surfboard paddling. They also had numerous extremely comfortable places to sit and relax, which is what I did all day. I also went swimming briefly. It was beautiful and very relaxing. I went with two people from my dinner table, so it was nice to be there with people I know. Their names are John and Jessica and they’re both really nice.

After we got back to the ship, Jessica and I walked over to the local Walmart and the shopping mall that Shannon and I had visited on our last Mexican cruise. They’re walking distance from the dock. Didn’t see anything I wanted to buy, but it was nice to be there again.

And that’s pretty much my day. Dinner was filet mignon, but it tasted more like a lesser cut of steak. Enjoyed it just fine anyway. My nightly walk around the deck was probably only about ten minutes long. I’m simply exhausted tonight, so I came up to my cabin and sat on the balcony for quite a while instead. It’s also a good place to think, although I think I prefer walking and thinking to sitting and thinking. So I’ll plan to walk again tomorrow night. At any rate, I got to talk to Shannon and report the events of the day. I felt the usual separation sadness, but that was okay. I also felt the usual closeness, which was wonderful. I never want to lose that feeling.

Two more days at sea, and then we’re back to Long Beach on Saturday morning. We’re done with Mexico for this trip.

And I’m so tired I can’t keep my eyes open. So I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: canine arsonist!

See you tomorrow.

Here are Shannon, Andy, and Mark in the dining area (mess hall?) of a WWII-era submarine in Baltimore. Great Art courtesy of my good old Minolta camera, taken during our holiday trip to Baltimore that year, and part of my famous Shannon, Machinery, and Vacation series.

My mom went home today. We had a very nice visit and she really helped me over some very large humps. More humps to go, of course, but she was here during a very difficult time. Thanks, Mom.

Mark and I had a quiet day. We stayed inside and pretty much relaxed. Had stuff from the freezer for dinner – not much excitement there, but it was fine.

I had a fairly long conversation with my PhotoDoc partner John this evening. His speech at the AAFS conference was today, and the response was excellent! He had several people come up to him after the speech and ask him how to get a copy of our software. We have it available for download as a demo, but I still haven’t set up the payment system for it. Need to get that accomplished this weekend.

My brothers and sisters got together and sent us a bunch of frozen meals! They arrived today. It all looks great! Thanks so much, brothers and sisters! Mark and I will get a lot of mileage out of that excellent stuff.

And now we come to what might be my best idea of the day or possibly my worst idea of the day. I was going through my emails today (including all the numerous emails directed to Shannon – I’m working on getting her various subscriptions undone) and I saw one from Carnival Cruise Lines. They’ve suffered a bit of bad PR in recent years, and the deals seem pretty good right now. I signed up for one leaving at the beginning of March and spending a week on the Mexican Riviera. Well, it spends a few days at sea, but there are two days in Cabo San Lucas and one day in Puerto Vallarta. The price was quite reasonable, and they’re not even charging me extra for occupying a cabin by myself.

I’m still trying to decide whether this is a good idea or not. I’ve been on a bunch of memorable cruises with Shannon, including one to the Mexican Riviera four years ago this month, and I’m very worried  that being on a ship by myself and going places Shannon and I visited before will be too depressing for words. Even if that doesn’t happen, I’m worried being on a cruise by myself will be boring. Could happen. Especially if I can’t convince myself to get out of the cabin, be with people, and even – horrors! – make a friend or two.

Things in favor of going: I’ve always loved cruising, it may be really good for me to get away and think and be alone, I haven’t been on a real vacation since before Shannon got sick, and I really want to get my new life started.

Should I wait a bit longer? Maybe. I don’t know. Doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve already paid for the trip. I’m going. I asked both my sisters and my daughter if they thought it was a good idea, and the vote was unanimous in the affirmative. Plus, it’s already paid for. Did I mention that? And the price was great. I’ll try to remember to take some pictures.

Note to house burglars – Mark will still be home. So you can just go ahead and burgle somebody else’s house.

Emotions rose to the surface only once today. I don’t call that either good or bad. It’s just what happened today. All I know is I miss Shannon.

And I’ll let that be all for today. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: yawning chimp!

See you on Monday.

Here’s Andy back in March 2012 with his shiny new Ford Raptor. At least he wishes it were his truck. Itu might have other ideas about that. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in Canton, Michigan during our March 2012 visit there, and part of my famous Machinery and Vacation series.

Boy, has a lot of water flowed under the bridge since then.

No post yesterday. My cousin’s Internet connection was on the fritz. That’s why I’m blogging from the hospital this afternoon, just in case. They’re paying good money for Internet service and absolutely not getting their money’s worth. Betsy tells me they’re switching providers soon. Couldn’t be soon enough for me.

Shannon’s having a pretty good day today. Her strength continues to increase. It’s still not great, but it’s improving. She was able to get up this afternoon to take an actual shower for the first time in a few days. That makes her feel a whole lot better. She’s currently sitting up in the chair and watching HGTV – also a significant step. The sitting up part, not the HGTV part, that is. Although I’m guessing my Loyal Readers had already figured that out. We live for clarity.

Her white blood cell count is down to 8.8 today, which is another good number. It continues to slowly decrease, exactly as we hope and expect.

Today’s big news: they did the bronchoscopy yesterday! It went very well. She has had zero pain and no problems at all as a result. The tentative report this morning was that they didn’t find anything in there. I’m not sure what that means yet – I wasn’t here when the doctor came over to talk about it and Shannon doesn’t remember exactly what he said. But any data is good data. We’ll probably know more about it tomorrow.

Anyway. Her lungs are increasingly clear. One of the nurses was listening to them through her stethoscope this afternoon and said she didn’t hear any crackling! That’s the first we’ve heard that report in about a month. And it was music to my ears.

They also did the procedure where they suck out the fluid outside her lungs yesterday. At least they did half the procedure – the right side. They got about 600 ml of fluid. I asked how much fluid a healthy person would have there. The answer: a tablespoon or two. So she was a bit high. They’ll drain the other side tomorrow, if the schedule maintains.

So we have good news on all fronts today. Nothing negative to report at all. Yea!

Happy birthday to Katy! I’ll leave it to her to reveal her age. I just want to say she’s been a major light in my life since the day she was born and she’s grown up to be a brilliant, witty, loving, gifted, wonderful woman and a fantastic mom. I love you, Katy!

And that’s about all I have to say about this wonderful day. I’m really feeling happy and optimistic today. The future looks bright! I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this combination exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity and shocking food violence news: crime-fighting cucumber!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s Weeping Rock. It appears to be a rock that . . . umm . . . weeps. Maybe. I have no idea. But it looks nice.  Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in Zion National Park last September, and part of my famous Hiking and Vacation series.

Okay, we weren’t technically in any shape to hike, but it is the trailhead for three pretty well-known trails and we could have hiked there. So it’s part of my famous Hiking series. Don’t hate me.

Another kind of frustrating day. Early this morning, LRN4’s nose started bleeding quite heavily and refused to stop. We went over to MD Anderson’s emergency room to have them take a look at her and see if there was anything they could do about it. There was. They decided it was due to low platelets, so they gave her some and she stopped bleeding. Sounds easy, no? Well, it took about six hours to get that done, and LRN4 was absolutely miserable the whole time. I guess she was in a fair amount of pain and it was kind of hard to breathe without being able to use her nose and with blood pouring down her throat. Not good.

The other cause for concern is that this is the first time she has spontaneously started bleeding. Her platelets were fairly low today, but they’ve been much lower before without bleeding. Are things getting worse for her or was this just a freak incident? Probably some of both, but we certainly hope it’s more of the latter. We really don’t want to go through that many more times.

So we got out of the emergency room at about 3:45 and then went up to the stem cell transplant center for our consultation, as mentioned yesterday. They were just trying to work us in, so we waited until about 5:45, at which time the nurse came in and told us they weren’t going to be able to get to us today. So we have an appointment at 11:00 tomorrow morning to try again. We don’t think they’ll have anything substantial to tell us, but we’ll go anyway. Maybe something good will come of it. We came all the way here for this, so we might as well go over there tomorrow and talk to them.

We can’t wait to go home on Thursday.

Did a tiny bit of work on the new app with LRN23 this evening. We’re trying to get the computational accuracy right. He and I both have a bit of homework to do and we’ll talk again tomorrow. I think we’re very close to submitting it to Apple, possibly before their holiday shutdown. It’ll be nice to get it out there for him.

Speaking of apps, I got an email from somebody who is hoping I’ll develop a Windows version of my  education app. I really don’t see that happening. I guess I should do a bit of market research and see if that’s the most profitable direction I could go. My current feeling is that I want to move more towards a server-based product, with clients for iOS and either OS X or a browser. Decisions!

And that’s about it for today. We want to go home! I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: spaghetti sculpture heist!

See you tomorrow.