I am hearing from people who have missed some installments of what I think of as the Barbara saga. The way I send those blurbs is completely unsystematic and some people got two copies and some got none. I apologize to both groups. I figure if I send them out at random, they will diffuse and find their way to the right places. This is not working so well so please send them to anyone that may be interested. I got so worn out answering individual inquiries that I tried this spammish approach. Unfortunately, I did not realize how many I would need to send so have not kept track of whom I sent to nor who had asked. Some of the mailings were forwarding on so that I have gotten letters from people I had not heard from in years. Apparently the system works partially.
As in all such serials, I ought to begin each installment with a synopsis of the past events. I don't have the strength to do this so let me just say that Barbara had a seizure on Tuesday, July 27 and spent the following harrowing week at Sloan-Kettering. I was there all day every day (except to sneak away for a visit to a good friend who is recuperating from a kidney operation at the NYU Medical Center). We were even able to eat our meals together thanks to system at S-K for guest meals paid for by credit card. We finally came home on Tuesday evening Aug 3, though I felt that Barbara was not yet really well enough to be out of the hospital.
At the hospital it was known that Barbara's condition (walking, speaking) had improved considerably, but that there were still some instabilities in her balance apparatus. So it was deemed advisable for someone to stay by her at all times. This feeling was made more urgent by her reluctance to accept her instability and to act as if she were in her normal physical condition. So the issue was raised whether I could handle the situation on my own. Many friends have since come forward with offers of help and suggestions about how to hire helpers.
Occasional help would be good but B is reluctant to have anyone around. I think this is because she feels that she must be attentive and that requires an effort, which wears her out. This may change. As for getting paid help, I can't imagine going to bed with someone in the next room standing guard over Barbara. And what would such a person do all night? There is no TV and most people would not want to read all that time. We don't have the physical set up for this and I just don't see how it would work.
Also, I don't want to interview people for such jobs. I would rather be worn down than face the psychological strain of hiring and firing — competence of that kind has always eluded me. (When I first came to Columbia, the head of the dept., Lo Woltjer, said he was going off for six weeks and was appointing me acting head. It happened that a new secretary had just been hired. On my second day in office, people came to me to say that the new secretary was a disaster and should be fired at once. Faced with this crisis, I fell into my family's way of dealing with such problems. I stayed home for the remainder of my term till Woltjer came back and did what needed to be done. I often wonder if avoidance of that unpleasantness was the cause of his departure.) Anyway, I'll go on as we are for a time, though Barbara is not making it easy. She does not like to curtail her activities and is too active when she is not sleeping. (She does sleep much of the time.) She has to be watched carefully and I hesitate to go and brush my teeth.
On Wednesday, B had some head pain. She had that two days before the seizure so that I am on red alert just now. We are on our own till the eleventh when we see the new radiation oncologist (Dr. Y. Yamada). We never met the last one since we did not make it to the appointment. These specialists are quite booked up so we were transferred to Dr. Y. The seizure has delayed treatment by at least two weeks. All in all, things have gone very slowly — the first sign of illness was on April 26. Anyway, 650 mg of Tylenol did away with the pain quickly as on the previous occasion. Then sister Mimi brought lunch for the two of them so that I could go and have the bandage on my wrist changed.
On Thursday, a nurse showed up to give Barbara an injection to slow her clotting rate. This was supposed to have been administered as part of the checkout process (as ordered by Dr. Omuro) but had been overlooked. The nurse expected us to have a prescription for the medication to be injected (Fragmin) but neither of us had been told of this nor given any prescription. So there was a flurry of calls and it was decided that the prescription would be phoned in to our local pharmacy. This may prompt another call from Medco such as the one we received on Tuesday evening that upset Barbara with their haranguing about patronizing them even if we needed the stuff fast. (We sent in for the pills for her chemotherapy over two weeks ago but so far none have arrived.) Another nurse is due tomorrow to inject the anticoagulation potion.
So now it is tomorrow, that is, Friday. We expect a speech therapist at 11:30 and the nurse has announced arrival between 1 and 2. (Yesterday's nurse was intelligent and that was nice.)
Barbara seems weak. Her muscles have shrunk and she does not want to walk or exercise, though the physical therapist gave her some simple exercises to try. But that was before the seizure which seems to have been demoralizing. Anyway, it should be quiet weekend.
(I am afraid I am slipping into diary mode rather than keeping to just the facts. But I have not got the free time to edit this thing since B is now awake. At least I have not gone into the details of our plumbing problems.)
