Another Week

I am in the living room writing this entry and catching up on all that has gone on this week when from the kitchen Dawn cries out, "Oh no!  This is really bad!"  Now tell me, honestly, what would go through your mind?  I immediately began to think that she had cut herself and needed me to call an ambulance, or maybe a water pipe had burst and was spraying all over the kitchen, or even worse yet, something on the stove had spontaneously burst into flames and we needed to get out of the house fast and call the fire department! 

No.  None of the above.  She tried to pick up an open box of spaghetti and a bunch of it fell out into the cupboard.  As she was squeeling about that, her pitch became even more frenzied as the bottom unexpectedly opened and the rest of the spaghetti from the box fell out onto the floor!  When I entered the scene, it looked much more like she was bored and wanted to play a game of pick up sticks!  It was rather funny!  [Not the part about her being frustrated, but the way she reacted to it - even Jackie agreed!]

You can always tell when our lives get crazy; my entries get further apart.  This past week, my pep band played at two basketball games, I had two other rehearsals for the musical I'm playing in this weekend (The Music of Mamma Mia), and have four performances through this weekend (Friday, Saturday and two on Sunday).  And that is the way my schedule continues to look throughout the coming weeks.  After all, it is pep band and jazz band season, the next couple weeks will usher in our PMEA Festival season, and on top of all of that, starting Tuesday, I begin my work toward a Masters of Education, Administration degree for principal certification.  That will put a serious bind on my calendar for the next couple years.  But in the interim, I will continue to update you as much as I can on all that is going on in our lives as we continue to move through this journey we call "life".

Emily was feeling pretty good this week so they released her.  She is still weak and wonders why she should go home - after all, she can't do anything regardless of where she is.  Her bone marrow transplant has been tentatively set for mid-February and she will more than likely have one more chemo treatment before that.  Her next appointment is Tuesday morning.  It is so tough going from day to day not knowing how she'll be feeling at any given time, most of us have a really hard time just being sick for a couple days, so it is hard to try to imagine what it would be like to work through something as long term as Emily is facing.

Jim had his consultation last week and was marked for the radiation treatments (they have to mark the spots where they focus the radiation).  He will begin his treatments over the next couple weeks and we are hopeful that they will bring some relief to him.  With colon cancer there is a great deal of discomfort regardless of the position you try to sit in and he said that it is even painful and uncomfortable to lay down.

Mary is continuing to press ahead and meets each new day with fire.  She has her ups and downs but will always be quick to say, "I'm fine."  Regardless of how she really feels, that is her answer and she is sticking to it!  She never wanted to be a burden to anybody and has expressed often how she doesn't want to put Mel through this, but of course he is quick to tell her that he considers it a joy to help her regardless of what she needs.

Tonight brings our second performance - if you stop by, you will find me playing the tenor sax in the band.  The show starts at 7:30 in the Academy Theater, Meadville.  Tomorrows show begins at 2:00pm  (tomorrow evenings show is a private show, sorry).  You know, just in case you are looking for something to do...   =)