Yep.....the 2018 Spring Classics are in the history books, and May Day (May 1st) was just a few days ago. And with May Day every year comes THE GIRO! HOORAY for the Grand Tour season! I only wish I could actually WATCH IT. Unlike Le Tour, The Giro isn't broadcast daily on any of my TV (satellite) channels...where-as le Tour is on every day and thankfully my DVR records all the stages that I can watch at my leisure! Ah well...such is the travails of life.
On Monday I fly to Houston to stay with my Mom. My little bro and his family are heading to Oklahoma for their kids speech competition regionals (which both kids qualified for in multiple areas). Mom has taken a downturn in the last week, it seems the ammonia in her bloodstream has returned and the medication that helped with that 2 months ago isn't helping now. Her Dr. says it's just the progression of her cancer. Once the liver is compromised most people only live 4 to 6 months. Her last MRI's (which showed spots on her liver) were back in January, which is when her oncologist stopped her treatment and told her to 'make her final arrangements'.
So...she's not doing so well...and I think my little bro will stay with me (and not go with his family). He thinks we need to get her into a nursing home very soon...as she has very quickly overwhelmed them with her care-needs. And also Houston doesn't have Hospice facilities all over (like Las Vegas where my step mother passed away back on April 2nd). There is only one, and it's "downtown"..which doesn't do us much good...too far away.
So that's my current plan...fly and hang out and help however I can for a week (longer if necessary, but his family is back by the end of next weekend).
Nothing much else to add just now...I'll know more very soon as I will be deep into it.
Later gaters!
Cheers!
OK...so I'm IN Houston at my brothers...and boy, what a difference 2 months makes! What this disease is doing to her is just evil...right now (starting less than a week ago) the ammonia in the bloodstream is back up, and the medication that WAS keeping it under control isnt working anymore. Her mind is way clouded and slow..and she is lethargic and uncoordinated. Her Dr. says sadly this is just the natural progression of the cancer. Her liver is under attack and thats what's SUPPOSED to be filtering all the ammonia and other toxins from her system...and it's not doing very well all of a sudden. We will be visiting some places to find her a home over the next few days where she can get better care than my bro and his family can provide...suddenly they are getting overwhelmed. I know I feel overwhelmed...she is BARELY able to even do her basics by herself (by barely I mean sometimes yes and sometimes no)...and she is confused. She hung up her blouse last night with the hanger poking out the arm hole...and this morning when she was trying to get dressed she had a pair of underwear on as a bra (with her head poking out one of the leg holes) and was confused as it obviously wasn't right....really hurts to see such a proud and smart woman affected like this. My bro said her Dr. said way back in Jan when the first liver spots showed up on the scans (which is why she cancelled the chemo) that most people only go about 6 months after the liver is attacked. Mom is now in her 5th month (and we don't know when the liver attack started...she was only getting the full scans every 3 months..it was the 9 month checkup when they showed up).
So Hospice has started up helping her full time now...there will be a nurses aid coming over every day to bath/help her dress and such...today was her first day and was quite welcome as my brother and I are still a bit tenative over all this...though we are quickly getting better.
And so...here we go
And HEY! On an entirely different note, how about Kileuae Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii? Isn't that CRAZY??? I'm still floored by it...those poor people who built in that subdivision (volcano zone 1...meaning there is no insurance available cuz it's a high probability of losing it due to volcanic action) might end up all losing their homes before this is over...it might be flowing/erupting out of this new area for days, weeks or even years. Very sad for them but very exciting for the world to be witnessing volcanic activity on an inhabited island...
OK...all for now....hope ya'll are doing fine. And Rae...WOW! Getting CLOSE NOW,,,LESS than a week! OMG!!! I'm SO JEALOUS!!!
And also thought I"d add this link (interviews with the Devil, aka Lance). Read it this morning and really thought it was pretty good. Food for thought anyway....
Lance interview
Hey Matt, have you found a place for your Mom? I'm so very sorry things have taken such a sudden, bad turn. And you're right, seeing a parent like this is, well, I know it's the "circle of life" & all that, but it's hard! I'll keep thinking about her & you & pray that all goes as well as possible. Say "hey" to your little bro for me, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I keep thinking about Rae too! Are you there, Rae? Tomorrow's the big day, right? (5/12)? Are you happy? Excited? Relieved? Worried? Have you thought any more about this next chapter? I'd love to hear any thoughts as I've been thinking more & more about my eventual retirement & I feel like an animal frozen in headlights - just don't know WHAT I'll do, where I'll live, if I'll move, I don't know nuthin'! Except that moving to Fla is off the agenda. I would still LOVE to be somewhere warm every January & February or maybe just one of those months, & I want to travel a LOT for the 1st 6-10 years or so. Go all the places I've put off my entire life. :) Anyway, would love to hear your thoughts.
I'm frustrated that the Giro is not on American TV! At least NBCSN will once again broadcast the Tour of Calif. Will you be able to go to one of the stages, Matt or will you still be in Houston or back in Colorado Springs?
The NBA conference Finals start this weekend & my Sweet Pea (LeBron) has his team competing once again! :) After an angst-filled off-season & entire "now what?!" regular season, things finally seem to be clicking for the Cavs. If LBJ can get this team into the Finals once again (that will be 8 straight & 7 straight for me!), I will consider that a HUGE WIN! However, I'm already distraught that he will leave the Cavs this summer in free agency & go to the hated Lakers! Sorry, Matt, but I HATE the Lakers! Mostly because of Kobe & that their fans are as obnoxious as Yankee fans (hate that team too & I don't watch baseball!).
Well, gotta run. Take care Matt & Rae & congrats RAE for a long & great career! Hope you can stop by here soon for an update. :)
Hello and happy Saturday, or more accurately, we'll call it "RaeDay"! Congrats Rae! You MADE IT!! Somebody (well, you actually) turned on the light at the end of the tunnel, and you walked out into the light! I'm SO excited and happy for you (and also a SUPER BRIGHT shade of GREEN WITH ENVY!) So....now what? One thing I've seen from my friends who retired is that you need to have something to keep you busy...hobby, travel, copious amounts of morning coffee (well, that would be me anyway). I'm SURE you have this totally under control, so I will just wish you the best and hope you truly enjoy this, the FIRST day, of the rest of your life! Well earned My Lady!
ReplyDeleteSusie, thanks so much for your thoughts...we did find a place, and TODAY we take her over and will be leaving her. She has declined so quickly from able bodied and folding laundry, to needing help with the simplest tasks. She now sadly requires round the clock 'help' (not necessarily nursing care)...she can't even get dressed on her own now. We (my brother and I) have been doing our best all week for her but it's obvious that this has surpassed the level of care that we can provide at home. It is time. Her mind has suddenly become quite muddled and she has very quickly gone from being the proud whip-sharp lady to a frail old woman, and that hurts like nothing else I've encountered. We both know we need to do this (admit her to this assisted living home) but our hearts are breaking over and over as the moment draws closer. Sleep last night was brutal...can't shut off the ol' brain working at light-speed, constantly reminding us of our flaws and mistakes. The home we found is an actual HOME in a residential neighborhood (minutes from my brothers work and about 15 from his house). It has a max of 8 'residents' with 2 full time nurses aids all day and 1 at night. The meals are home cooked in the kitchen by the aids, and the ratio of care to residents is at worst 4 to 1 (right now they only have 4 residents, mom will be the 5th). She will have a private room, and we have both toured the place (seperately) and are very impressed with the entire setup, cleanliness, level of care...pretty much it's the answer to our prayers as we did NOT want to put her in any kind of 'institution' (we as a family owned/ran a nursing home oh so long ago). Mom was 1 of the 2 RN's at the home, so believe me when I say we've seen it all (my parents were half owners of the home, bought it with another couple).
The owner of the home (Pat) seems very much like our Mom back in her day at the Nursing Home in the level of care she shows for each of HER residents. It's as much like living at home as can be for something of this nature...which is what drew us to it in the first place. Of course, all that said, leaving her there will still be brutally hard for us. There are no established visitor hours..we can sit there 24/7 if we desire (even eat meals with them Pat says)...and obviously near the end that will be the case, whenever that is.
Both my brother and I are currently stuck in the 'last time' mode right now...pretty much everything we do with/for Mom will be the 'last time'...at least here at home. Last night (DiGorono Pizza and home made tomato soup) was our LAST dinner (at home) with her. Breakfast this morning will be the same.
OK...I need to step away for a bit...for some reason my vision is cloudy...if you know what I mean.
Rae, enjoy the Day! (hey...I'm a poet, and I didn't even know-it!)
Matt, it sounds like you found the best care possible for your mom, and I am so glad for that. Hugs to you. It is a hard time; it is so hard to say goodbye. I pray that she will be able to slip away peacefully, as my father did, and that you will be content with knowing that she has gone on to another great adventure (having seen so many pass away, I am firmly convinced that a part of us goes on). Will hospice services continue to visit her there? They were such a help to my mother, and to me.
ReplyDeleteYes, I am officially retired! My coworkers surprised me with a cake and a gift basket, and many kind words which I very much appreciated. People kept asking me where I would go -- I guess just assuming that I would leave C-bus for warmer climes (and I might, eventually, but no plans at the moment). It just didn't seem really real, though, that that was my last day!
And the next morning, I woke up thinking "Oh what have I done?!" LOL. Also found myself crying off and on through the day. My career, and the fact that I was very good at it, had been an anchor during several really difficult episodes in my life so it is kind of hard to close the book on it.
I really only have plans to train for a half marathon this fall, get back into riding more, and get some more house repairs done. And I will travel, but I haven't decided where to go first! (except, I think I will try to get to the races in Montreal and Quebec this fall) With WOWAir flying out of Cincinnati, travel to Europe is much more affordable. I have sometimes thought of actually going to live for 3 months or so in Spain or France, but exactly where, I don't know. If my daughter could get free to go with me, that would be excellent -- we've always been a good travel team.
I don't have any other plans yet. I will probably have to find a volunteer activity (or 2 or 3) after the summer winds down. I used to volunteer adult literacy tutoring and may go back to that, among other things.
Susie, I am fortunate that my last 2 employers used Fidelity for their 403b plans, so I took advantage of their free services to get advice on investments and budget planning. It's limited, but enough that I felt that I had a grip on a financial plan.
Matt, thanks for the link to the Lance interview. He surely had/has personality flaws, but that was part of what made him an exciting rider also. I don't feel the hate or even the disappointment toward him that some do; I always assumed that he was doping, as most of the peloton was -- that was just the mind set of the sport then. Now, Floyd, that is a different story. It galls me to think that he will be getting $$ from the settlement!!
--Rae