debboamerik

No, really, I'd like to know.

My uncle has been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. He's going into the hospital for four weeks on Thursday or Friday. We are not sure whether he will come out or not. The prognosis is not clear because they haven't identified exactly which kind it is... but cures are rare.

My Uncle Bob is going to be 55 years old in two weeks.

So please tell me why this seems to be my family's year for Bad Medical News. I'm rather tired of it, really.

I'm sitting here in the computer lab at work. My job is to "proctor" an exam, but in the 1:20-2:10 p.m. window, that means sitting in the computer lab alone, since all the students have finished the exam and either went home or are sitting in the student lounge. There is currently one student with me; she came in about 10 minutes ago to use the internet.

It seems to me that the winter flu season didn't happen, and instead we're getting a spring flu season. I've sent students home over the past two days. One of mine was in class today because she's on a visa, but she is fasting for Western Good Friday and she's got a fever. She's already worked on the material, so I let her sleep in class.

It interests me to note how one gets attached to one's students, not as though they were children, but more as though they were family members. Some of them are sweet, some annoying, some wise, but one feels a certain concern for their well-being regardless of their personalities or performance in class. I was surprised to find myself offering one of my feverish ones a cup of tea today.

I have had a bit of a headache today, but compared to most of my students I have it easy! This is going to be a big weekend of cleaning for me, and like most such weekends, I suspect it will pass too quickly. I like to have the house at its cleanest for Pascha; I get some kind of feeling that it's essential, even, to have things as clean as they can possibly be for the feast. I do the same to myself; if I have time, I generally take no fewer than three baths as part of my preparation for Nocturnes. If I have money, I buy new clothes. Naturally, with the annual gathering, much of that gets squandered in cooking for and feeding guests, providing egg hunts and little Easter egg baskets, etc., but it's good to have that clean start to the day.

To those of you celebrating this week, have a blessed Easter, and please pray for those of us who haven't arrived at the big day yet.

Today, I stood outside in the cold a few minutes waiting for papertigers. She hadn't been late to pick me up before, so I thought she must have gotten distracted by something. When she arrived, she apologized and said she'd been in the bathroom. She helped me up the stairs and told me to sit on the couch. Then she brought out a huge pot of tea and a plate of all different kinds of cookies.

We had our tea and talked, and then we snuggled and I took a nap.

Between that and finding out that the bill for my xray is only $70, and that I might qualify for financial help for that bill, I have had a really, really good afternoon.

Did I mention that papertigers has been waiting on me for more than two weeks now? I'm astonished that she isn't good and sick of it all.

Vince's biopsy was inconclusive, so they're going to have to do a core biopsy. Ick. Poor boy's been on ibuprofin only because nothing they're giving him is working. They need to figure out that there is no crime in giving sick people pain medication.

Late Sunday night, I learned that my cousin, Vince Capaldi (whose name I am posting here because I want people praying for him, please), has a rare form of bone cancer. His 21st birthday is tomorrow. I remember the first time I saw him, a tiny little blond baby at the family Christmas Eve gathering. I thought he was named after me (I didn't know at the time that all the Jims in the family, his father included, were actually Vincents). My affection for him has not waned since, though we see each other at most once a year.

Anyone who wants to write to him can, at:

Vince Capaldi
c/o Discovery Church
580 E. Easy St.
Simi Valley, Ca 93065

Also, Nikki is indeed very, very ill. She has a mass in her throat and is currently at the veterinary hospital. (Please see papertigers's post for more details.) Both of us woke up this morning crying. I am glad that today is a "testing day" and I won't have to present much to my classes, because I'm pretty sure I won't be able to. Not feeling particularly functional at the moment.

For the third time in three months and the second time in three weeks, I am sick. I am pretty sure the blisters and swelling on my lower eyelid are caused by shingles. I have had them there twice before: once when I was 11 and once right before I turned 15, when my godfather died.

I hate this.

I have also been sick to my stomach fairly consistently for the last week. I am so sick of being sick I cannot tell you.

I am finding that not breathing because my lungs are aching and I'm wheezing and coughing is somewhat more pleasant than not breathing because my head is stuffed up. My head is about 60% clear now. I actually slept some last night. Fever is still high, though.

And hooray to Barack Obama for closing the gap last night! "Our time has come," indeed!

I am feeling much better - but my temperature is up again, higher than it has been so far, so papertigers has decreed that I am not yet fit for work. I am beyond bored with sitting around the house, but it's true that, when left to myself, I will work myself nearly to death just to have something to do. So I suppose it will be another day of naps, tea, soup, and hot baths for me. *Sigh*

Ick.