Friday evening I got a cab out of dispatch kind of late – a little after 1900 hours, so I had it until about 0700 Saturday morning. I slept most of Saturday, and picked up the Saturday PM cab about 1630. I turned it in Sunday about 0430, went home, took a three hour nap, went to church, went back home, and laid back down about noon. At 1445, my cousin called.

About 25 years ago, my sister LeaAnn (who is seven years older than I am), fought breast cancer to a draw – she survived, but had a mastectomy. About 17 years ago she started an on-again, off-again battle with recurrence. Last April the cancer resurfaced, this time metastasized in her liver, brain, and bones. Friday was her “last” oncology appointment; they did not schedule any more after that.

My cousin (CT) had called to let me know that LeaAnn was at home, on oxygen and pain meds, and resting. I had not planned to go up to Flagstaff to see her before 1445 Sunday afternoon, but ended up going. TMBWitW and MEG stayed home; TMBWitW has month-end closing this week. MEG spent this morning at a friend’s house, and will be there tomorrow and Wednesday. I was at LeaAnn’s house by 1730 Sunday evening. Mom greeted me by looking up at my face (her vision is failing), down at my belly, back up at my face, poking me in the belly and said “Who’s this fat kid?” “Good to see you, too, Mom.”

Another of my sisters (LC) was there with her daughter (ME); I had just missed a niece (CY) and a brother (BK) by an hour or two (they left Flagstaff about the time I left Phoenix), another brother (RC) was still there with his wife (SC) and their daughter (ST), and LeaAnn’s husband (MH) and son (SH) were there. Mom, RC and his family left shortly after I got there. I went in and said hi to LeaAnn, and talked briefly – just long enough to realize that she was in and out of lucidity and the pain meds weren’t keeping her 100% free of pain yet.

I spent the night at her house. This morning LC and ME headed to Tucson to pick up a few things; LC is picking up my third sister, AW, at the airport tonight (flying in from Ohio) and then heading back to Tucson. They will be going back up to Flagstaff Tuesday morning, I will be catching a ride with them. ME is headed back to school and midterms and may rejoin the group later. My older brother, DC, lives in Salt Lake City and may not be able to get down here; he’s been out of work and eating up the savings for a few months now. LC and AW will be coming back through Phoenix late Wednesday evening, and will be dropping me off then. For those keeping track, I may not be active this week until Thursday’s Round Up and Update.

LeaAnn is a fighter. She beat cancer before, and she has not quit fighting. The treatments are not affecting the cancer anymore, but she is still fighting. Right now, cancer has the upper hand, but with God all things are possible. I’m not saying she will be healed, but I’m not saying she won’t. It is His will, not ours. After all the treatments, she looks so tiny.

This morning I talked to LeaAnn again before coming home. She asked what day it was, and I told her it was Monday, September 29, 2008. She said she needed to get up soon because she had to get to work tomorrow. Then she told me that if she said she was tired and needed a nap, it was because she was tired and needed a nap. She wanted to make sure of the date, because she thought it was Tuesday, sometime in June.

I said “No, it’s Monday, September 29.”

“Oh” she said. She seemed puzzled at the date.

I kissed her forehead. “I love you, LeaAnn.”

LeaAnn said, “I love you, too, Cary.”

I got to see my sister today.

Are You Wearing Red?

Today on The O Word we talked about my vacation being over, water temperatures, shaving (shaving?), the Post Turtle appearing on Snopes (along with the obvious leftist bent of snopes.com), the Federal Bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, “Chasing” WaMu, To Debate or Not to Debate?, The Political Ten Commandments courtesy of Richard and how the Diamondbacks have managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Big thank-you to prying1, Gawfer, Candelo, and Rosee for stopping by during the show.

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

This coming week (the 15th through the 19th, inclusive) TMBWitW is on vacation.

This may or may not be interesting to you, depending on how my wife’s vacation will affect your life. Since I will be wanting to spend as much time with her as possible, I am canceling the Friday airing of The O Word on Blogtalkradio.

I will also not be on the net, answering e-mail, or anything else.

We are just going to spend the week together, alone, with MEG, and enjoy some family time.

I’ll see you in a week or so. At that point in time, I will be starting a little wood project, and I will take you guys along step by step.

Take care of yourselves, and may God watch over you.

TMBWitW and I had to make a very hard decision this last week. Actually, it wasn’t a hard decision, so much as it was hard to make the decision. The decision was made when we decided to keep Logan as our youngest dog, that when the time came we would not be selfish by wanting to keep him around. It was hard to admit to ourselves and each other that the time had come.

For those who have been following the story of Logan: he is in pain most of the time now, and nothing can be done. In order to provide him with the best quality of life, and not prolong any kind of suffering, we will be sending him Home this Saturday morning (unless he gets much worse sooner). You can bet your bottom dollar we are going to be spoiling him as much as we can this week.

If I don’t publish a lot this week, please understand.

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Sick.

Friday, after the show, was spent cleaning the house (with TMBWitW, who took the day off) so when the dogsitter came on Saturday she wouldn’t notice that we have five dogs who shed constantly.

We needed the dogsitter because TMBWitW’s aunt was in Kingman visiting the cousins. We left here at about 0600 to get to Kingman in time for breakfast with our very good friend, her fiancé, and her daughters at the Cracker Barrel. I had the slightest hint of a sinus headache. One of the cousin’s son had spent Friday sick, but that was not revealed to anyone until after we had left, at around 2000.

Soooo….

I woke up Sunday morning with no voice, swollen glands, and post-nasal drip. TMBWitW had a sinus thing going on. MEG sounded like a harbor seal and was running a slight temp. They stayed home while I went to church, although I did not sing and spent most of the service trying not to cough. Should’ve taken a laxative.

Monday – no conscious thoughts from any of us. TMBWitW managed to get hold of her doctor. They called in a prescription for her. With the help of Thera-Flu and Tylenol Cold, I managed to get my symptoms under control. MEG got an appointment for Tuesday morning.

Tuesday – TMBWitW went to work, and got sent home. She worked from home for a while, then went back to bed. MEG’s appointment revealed an ear infection. They called in a prescription. I boosted Tylenol’s stock some more.

Wednesday – TMBWitW works from home on Wednesdays anyway, so no biggie. Although, she didn’t get going until 0800 instead of her normal 0600. Not that I noticed – I slept until 0930. So did MEG.

Today – I spent most of last night keeping TMBWitW awake with my constant coughing and hacking. When she got up to go to work, she told me to call the doctor and get something, or she would muffle me herself. Medicine sure does make her cranky.

I sure hope I have a voice in time for the show tomorrow morning. BlogTalkRadio, The O Word, 0700 Mountain Standard Time (that’s 1000 on the east coast, 0700 on the west coast).

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, Time, Inc. is a bunch of weasels, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!