Day Plus One-Hundred-Forty-Seven

Waiting for Jody to call... Yesterday she did not call until after 8 o'clock... At home she usually is up with me around 5:30 (I guess I just need to be quieter when I get up and maybe she will sleep in. She is always worried she will miss something... not sure what that could be? but she does not want to miss it!) Oh well, we will all just have to wait for her call. Meanwhile...

When I left yesterday Jody was in good spirits and excited about coming home. I try not to dampen things, but anything could happen. LIKE!... last night! I called and Jody had an accident, she said she would call me right back... 30 minutes go by... I call back, she said; "I will call you back..." (can anyone guess what is going on?) She finally calls back and admits she was cleaning her room after her accident. I said that was "great", but "now think about it, does cleaning your room make any sense?" "Nurses are trained to take care of you and paid to do a job." I said; "Why would you want to do their job for them?" " They can call for cleaning service or a tech to help." "What about your surgery?" Jody said, "I was careful, took my time and I washed my hands." It is so hard for me to get her to let people help her. Jody was so worried about being embarrassed and having somebody clean up after her. I love her forever, but struggle daily to get through to her. Her best friend in Jersey called her a "Stubborn Old Goat". The funny thing is she admits she is a stubborn goat, not old but just stuck in her ways... Jody goes right on doing things she shouldn't. I guess we all are like that to some extent... I am positive I am... OK... True confession... I have a strong personality (for those who do not know me this might be a surprise, but those who do know me I am sure you are not shocked), that until people get to know me, they think I am over bearing... bossy... all ways wanting to one-up someone with a story... think I am always right. And... Oh Yeah... I have a severe LOW tolerance for stupidity and freely demonstratively express it; through facial expression, sighs, and tone of voice. There are all sorts of reasons for this and not enough therapy to help me. (If we are all honest with ourselves, we are all flawed.) How Jody has learned to cope with me, I will never know. I recognize my faults and I try not to be all of the above and still I catch myself... It is so hard to change a behavior that one has learned and ingrained in himself, convinced himself he was right and everyone else was wrong and then do it for 62years. When you love someone and cut through all of the bad stuff and see his/her heart... know he/she loves you... would do anything for you... you truly know deep down that the person is good (a little flawed, maybe) then nothing else really matters... you deal with their flaws. If you are a friend of mine you accept the annoyance, brush it aside and realize I would do anything for you... maybe more than you want me to, but that's my type "A" personality kicking in (always out-going, talks too much and wants to do it all...  "this is for the benefit of some of you out there who may think "A" stands for something else, by the way I do have the power to delete"). Jody has the same type "A" personality, I guess that is why we get along so well. I keep working on Jody as I am sure she is working on me. We learned an exercise (sometimes we forget it, and then go, Oh Yeah!) where the person who is most upset places his/her hands palm down in the other persons hands. (hard to do over the phone, but she did listen... "I think")This means the person who has the palms up has to listen, while the other guy talks and when he/she is done you switch... no screaming just try and get your point across uninterrupted. It works! Try it! As for what got me started on all of this... "I am dealing with a stubborn old goat"; who I love and want to be with for a long time, who listens and then does it anyway, who has now (you heard it hear for the FIRST time) agreed she will listen to me and let me do things for her... "HOOOOOO RAAAAAAY!" "I wonder how long this will last???"

Jody just called and she is headed to x-ray to be sure everything looks good in the lungs. Jody said she was ordering breakfast and showering afterwards to be ready to go home. I have my instructions on clothes to bring, so hopefully all goes smooth and she will get to come home. Her ANC is down a little from yesterday, but still in the OK range and her HCT has shot up because of the infusion she got yesterday.

X-ray came back fine, the Infectious Disease doctor stopped in, so we are down to the BMT gang. Looking good... I am getting ready to head out.

Jody and I arrived home at 5:30... We picked up Jody's perscriptions and by 6:45 we sat down for a candle light dinner, just the two of us. An hour latter the oxygen arrived and by 9 o'clock she wanted to go up to bed. I decided to stay up and read a little. Good night everyone... See ya tomorrow...