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The morning started with me facing ear issues again. The ear drops from the doc seem to be doing something, but my hearing comes and goes. I slept in a bit as I needed more rest.

I did most of the things I did in the morning. My new electric razor is still not working, and I have to return it for a refund. Another thing to do! I will have to get some tape for the re-boxing as I am out of strapping tape. Ugh!

I also received another note from Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center at 3900 Pacific Highway (Susie is in Room 44A). Another staff member has tested positive for the coronavirus. Susie’s RN for today was back to work on Monday after being exposed and testing positive a few weeks ago. The RN is cleared now.

My adventure in Air Volvo, even on a rushed Monday, is boring which is good. I reach the facility in good time. The flooding at Dairy Creek, which was more like Dairy Lake, is now pond-sized and likely will disappear soon. The ducks will miss it. So we are slowly returning to a typical wet winter headed to the usual damp spring.

I pass the temperature check and the other rituals and soon am with Susie. She is in pain and not comfortable. Her mouth is burning on the inside. Apparently, a thrush med is causing an issue and the nurse comes with ice mixed with mouth wash and cleans Susie’s mouth with a sponge stick. All is good again.

Susie nods off and is still in bed but dressed. I manage to get her awake again, and she manages a quick FaceTime with her mother, Leta. I leave that to the only call as she is tired this morning. Likely, the impact of the early discomfiture.

I stay until 12:30 while Susie sleeps. I want to make sure that the mouth pain is really gone after an hour. It is. I leave as the aid comes with Susie’s lunch tray and will sit with her to help her eat it.

All of this is hard for me as I cannot hear very well, and masks and accents take a while to understand, but the staff at Forest Grove are kind. They are used to folks with poor hearing.

As I am headed out, the Bristol Hospice nurse, Dawn, is at the entrance. We have not met, and it was a pleasure to finally met. Dawn comes to the facility twice a week to check in on Susie, chat with the staff, and read her chart. I ask her to check into Susie’s mouth issue and check that it has not returned this afternoon.

I head home feeling a bit useless with the hearing issues, but at least I could help today and stay with Susie to make sure she was safe.

I drive to a place for lunch, Tapatio and Mexican Restaurant, as I wanted a break. I used to be there every Saturday and play board games with Evan and others. Susie had lunch there once. They had missed me and told them that Susie was ill and I have not been out much.

Dawn calls me and says that Susie is doing well. This is the report she makes to me on each visit. It is part of the services provided.

I had a lovely meal and a beer in the near-empty place on a Monday. They are good about Covid-19 protections, but their customers are less careful. So I come when they are not busy.

When home later, I find my email full of notes from the Meal Train app. My Nike co-workers have sent me gift cards for GrubHub! They have covered quite a few meals now. Excellent. Thank you, Nike IT!

I rest and care for myself. More pain killers for the ears, not the incisions. I read more of the Abhorsen books by Garth Nix. I really like these books.

Joyce, Susie’s Aunt, sent Susie a stuffed animal tiger and I will deliver that on Tuesday.

I find that Manish Jain has sent me credit at GrubHub and updated today’s entry in Meal Train that he provided today’s repast. I order Italian. Thanks!

I watch the BBC News on Oregon Public Broadcasting, my fav news summary. It is funny how strange politics look from a different country’s reporting. Ukraine is physically closer to the folks at the BBC, and their reporting, so far, is much sharper on the potential war than American.

More reading and being boring. The ear issues make me slightly unsteady, so I am cautious, which frustrates me more. Today I had hoped to do some light housework, but that is unwise with the inner ear under pressure.

I manage to sleep when I head to bed but get a few times. At one point, I move to the living room and sleep in a chair. I find this helps my ears drain better. I finally head to bed again at 5ish. I sleep in until 8ish.

 

 

The day started with me struggling still with ear issues. Both ears are full, and I am shouting in a bucket, and folks when I do hear them, are underwater and not nearby. Just plain difficult.

I had picked up the ear drops after stopping yesterday (Saturday) at the local Providence clinic. It was not busy on a Saturday afternoon. I handed over my insurance card, driver’s license, and credit card ($20), and they kindly spoke loud for me. I was quickly in with the provider after first updating my stuff on MyChart for Providence. The three primary providers for me, Providence, OHSU, and Legacy, all use MyChart, but very little is synced between the groups, so I often answer the same questions three or more times.

I meet with the PA. An ear wick is placed in one ear, and drops are ordered at the pharmacy. That is all it took. But, the pharmacy cannot fill the order as they only carry the generic, and my insurance only allows for the regular med. Apparently, another set of evil corporate folks has bought the rights to make the generic and set its price to 249.99 (I paid $100). The standard would cost me under $40, according to the pharmacist. I agree to pay $100 to not delay my treatment a day while RiteAid acquires the name brand. I just shook my head and accepted my sacrifice to have a drug and pay the rip-off price.

That was Saturday. Now I have ear treatment, and I spend the morning first doing that. Next, I make coffee and read emails. After that, I eat all the remaining donuts provided by Corwin, about 1 and 1/2 donuts.

I perform all the morning tasks now ordered by various steps to ensure that I do not use hand cream before I brush my teeth, for example (don’t want to grease up the toothbrush handle). Finally, I get into Air Volvo and head to Susie. The mask strings push on my ears, making it even harder to hear.

Without incident, I make it to Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center on 3900 Pacific Highway, Room 44A. Actually, there is no real traffic on Sunday morning and no creative driving from my fellow drivers. I have no fever and passed all the checks. Apparently, there is a lot of visitors to the facility on Sunday, and there is no wait. I suspect folks see Gran on Sunday after church, so the doors are covered on Sundays.

The Covid-19 infections have raised again at the facility. I received notification that one more staff member had tested positive for the bug. Susie has so far been spared.

My trip is made nearly impossible as I cannot hear with the mask pulling on my already filled-up ears. I try to be helpful and friendly, but Susie can see me struggling, and she is awake enough to know something is wrong. Susie has seen me battle with ear issues in the past and knows how uncomfortable I am.

I am given a little bag of Susie’s rings, engagement ring, and wedding band. They fell off and were recovered by the staff and need to be taken home to be safe. It makes me sad to take them home.

We do manage to get a FaceTime for Leta with me catching many of the words. Unfortunately, the mask is making the problem worse. I have hooks to avoid the ears being pulled, but I did not think to use them today. So I wish Susie well, give her a kiss, and head home. A short visit.

I spent the day just resting and being dizzy as my sleep was troubled by the ear issues and did fall asleep while reading. I have returned to a hard copy of Garth Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy–now six books I discovered. I am in the first book, Sabriel, and I have forgotten how much I liked these books. They are a mix of kid stories with a few adult subjects mixed in.

I picked up a pizza and salad after ordering it from Papa Murphy’s online. Corwin and I managed to scarf it down before heading to the Dungeons and Dragons game at Cory’s house. Cory is handicapped, losing his legs to various infections, so we play, now again with masks, at Cory’s home.

This is the finale for the year-long campaign of the adventures trying to save a city from literally being dragged to Hell and all its inhabitants damned. I will not cover much of it other than we did epic battles and defeated the demon lords with the help of the lords of Hell and other heroes we had recovered from Hell’s embrace.

Matt set up a vast collection of devils and demons. We were aligned with the Hellish forces to stop the incursion that caused the city’s primary protector, an angel, to fall into the darkness of revenge. Matt has the best toys!

I was proud that my gnome wizard managed to drive our Hell Machine into the demon lord Orcus.

I built the model myself, and we used it for much of the campaign. I kitbashed a tank, a WW2 German staff car, and a 1970s USSR model kit of the Potemkin to make the Hell Machine. I built the base from plastic sheets and toy wheels. It uses magnets to hold the guns and car to allow for simulated damage. This is also a storage area inside. Dyed cotton wool makes the smoke.

The last use of the model. You can see the player’s figures on one last ride. The front is missing the main weapon as the “ship” took previous damage, but we were able to make it work, so it is back in the final attack on Orcus.

I had some trouble tracking the game as my hearing was troubled by the double mask, one paper, and one cloth (Rocky Horror’s Lips image on the cloth mask).

We survived and won the battle and good literally came back after the defeat of evil (but we did use Hell’s own lords to win, hmm).

We were done just after 9, the campaign ended, and the new one will start soon. All new characters and this one is a fey carnival, but I may not be part of that game. Chemotherapy starts this coming Friday. We will see if I am well enough to travel to Cory’s for a game.

One more game thing, I received the Venus add-on to the Concordia board game today–Amazon could deliver it in less than 24 hours (but I am still waiting for some N95s). It is an alternative (and slightly easier to play) version of Concordia and is priced at about the same cost as a new set of boards (under $40). It has a partner version that allows for six players. I read the rules and was happy to see that the cards are entirely replaced so I can play these cards or use the originals I still have. There are instructions to set Venus cards to match the original set-up, so buying Venus game versions (instead of just the add-on) allows for either version. It comes also with two more glorious maps of Europe to play on that can be used with either version. Not sure I would recommend Venus over the original game as I like the tightness of the original, but it certainly will be more forgiving for new players. And then there are those two boards…

My ears are just full of stuff. Reading allows for me to ignore it. But sleep is hard to find. I manage some Benedryl and that helps me relax and finally sleep about midnight. I do awake a few times, but sleep returns each time. Better.

The morning was difficult as my ears were filled with fluid and messing with my hearing and my balance to a lesser amount. I managed to sleep most of the night and felt, except my ears making hearing difficult, not too bad. Today I will just cover a few essential moments as I spent most of the day trying to not get worse.

I dressed and traveled to Susie at the Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center at 3900 Pacific Highway, Room 44A. Corwin needed a ride, and I delayed just a few minutes to make that work. I dropped Corwin, who lives with us, and I often call my nephew at the Hawaiian food place he works.

Once at the facility in Forest Grove, as usual, the entrance was not covered on the weekend, and someone finally noticed me and let me in after passing the temperature check and having my entry recorded.

Susie was in a wheelchair and not in her room. I found her by the nurses. I then wheeled her all over the facility, getting her some different views and me some exercise.

The nurses let Susie see the new puppy they brought in at one point. Sarah, the weekend nurse, apparently was getting a new dog.

I also managed to connect Susie to her mother, Leta, by FaceTime and somehow managed to snap a pic of the moment of Leta and I chatting.

My ears at this time were getting worse. So I sent a note to Richard and Kathline that I could not make gaming on Saturday night. I needed to rest and do some self-care.

Susie was getting tired and needed to rest, and soon the nurses had her back in bed. She started to get sleepy. I was sitting in the wheelchair now by her bed.

I awoke with Susie tapping my leg with her hand. She was worried when I stopped moving and talking; I had nodded off while watching her sleep. Susie and I agree I should head home and get some rest.

I took Air Volvo home without incident, no imaginative use of the roads today by my fellow drivers, and the trip took no time. I was enjoying the nice view of the mountains through a clean windshield.

I had washed the car at the automatic car wash yesterday. The crows, I call them Pollock‘s, had used my vehicle as a canvas for their latest work. I was tired of driving with a dirty windshield, but the now 50% increase on car washes to $15 since the pandemic started has me delay the car wash and drive longer with the art displayed. Gas is just under $4.00 a gallon for regular unleaded. Everything car is more expensive.

I reheated the smoked turkey soup that Eric Enders and his family sent me. I had a bowl with freshly cooked noodles. It was wonderful.

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to not let my ears, now plugged and making me uncomfortable, remove any chance for rest. I did manage to sleep a few times.

I ordered dinner from Gyro House for Corwin and me. I wanted something nice to eat as my ear issues made me unhappy. Food always helps. I had the lamb kabobs, and Corwin had another plate. I also ordered hummus and more bread.

I watched the first 1 and 1/2 episodes of Succession on HBOMax while eating. The story is about a family that controls a vast empire of entertainment. The head of the company starts a high-level reorg and then has a stroke. It was interesting.

I spend the rest of the night reading and trying out some ear drops to improve things. Sleep is interrupted, and my dreams are vivid and troubling (and sadly forgotten). It will be hard going on Sunday!

Working backward, I was in bed after 11ish and fell quickly to sleep. Unfortunately, I had ear issues that were much worse when I awoke Saturday. It is hard to write. I also forgot to take pics on Friday, so just text today, sorry.

Returning home after 10PM, my Air Volvo navigation was pleased as I went to McDonald’s and got a small-sized chocolate shake and fries. Somehow Air Volvo believes now that I must stop at McDonald’s on the way from home, and thus the nav has a turn at McDonald’s as the official path home!

I took my pills about 45 minutes late, not too bad, with food after arriving home from Portland and, more specifically, Richard’s house. Richard, like me, has a large collection of board games and organizes play at his house. I was invited to play this Friday.

I had dropped Kathline off, a roundabout way to get home, and it gives a chance to chat. We are working on beating the other guy most of the gaming time, so it is nice to have a few minutes to talk. Kathline is intrigued by my descriptions of Call of Cthulhu, the role-playing game, and all the props and acting we do. Someday when the events, cancer or Covid, calm, we will have to set up a game. I have a few adventures I do for conventions as stand-alone, and it would be nice to revisit role-playing in 1926 Instanbul. Someday!

There is an offer for the gaming group to come to Beaverton when I am enjoying chemotherapy to play some of my games here at the Volvo Cave. It is heartwarming to hear.

Returning to the story, Kathline and Charles joined us for the games at Richard’s house. Since before the pandemic, I had not seen Charles, so it was good to play with him. I have lost count of the number of games of Scythe I have lost to Charles!

We played one game of Concordia, including the Forum add-on from the Salsa expansion. Also, we used my copy as I had all this bling, including bags to help generate the board with ease and painted meeples. Playing on the original board on the Mediterranean Sea side, I have two alternative maps, but I thought it best to go with the big original map with four players.

Charles did not know the game, and Kathline had not played for a long time. We went over the rules, and I did help them get started. Richard struggled, and the Forum add-on did not provide him with much love. Richard and I are not sure that the add-on improves the game. I won with just a few points past Kathline’s score, who also ended the game by building all her trading posts. I stuck to my belief that trading posts on farmer cities and the Farmer card synergize with colonists. Kathline purchased the Mason card and had all the bricks I struggled to acquire with her nearly winning by building–my usual tactic! We played fast, and everyone seemed to enjoy the game.

Natasha and Jason: If you are reading this, I bought the Farmer and an Architect card on my second turn. Never again will I pass on them and be crushed. I also managed three Mars cards. I was thinking of you as I delayed my building to get the cards. 

We next played a new board game I had never played before, Fantastic Factories. This is a fast card and resources matching-management game. You build factories and then use them to generate more resources to build more and more goods and factories. I was just terrible at this. This game was a Kickstarter in 2017.

One more game quick card game, Fantasy Realms. This is a suit-matching game with a limited number of chances to improve your hand before the game ends. The scoring is done by scanning the cards into a phone app. This is because the cards in your hand conflict with other cards, and these interactions are hard to follow; thus, an app was made. For example, you might collect wizards (a type of suit), but the wizard you have gets you -10 points for each extra wizard. Now the extra wizards might be negative points! So you have read all your cards and then try to improve the hand based on how the cards interact. As I said before but is good to point out again that this is made more complex by getting only a few more chances to improve your hand. My second game was not an embarrassingly low score (still last). Apparently, I missed a strong negative interaction in my first game, devasting my score.

The drive to Portland and Richard’s house faced only mild traffic for a Friday. I had taken a nap before and was ready to travel. I had gotten home about 1ish from Forest Grove and made lunch of reheated chicken parmesan supplied by Eric Enders. I had seconds as I was playing games at 6 and would skip dinner, which was OK with me.

I was feeling better, but my allergies were just beating me up all day. The cough and sneezing are not improving my incision pain! My ears are plugging up too. Ugh!

Before heading to Portland, I took Air Volvo by the hardware; they have more prominent notes now about the following masking. I get new air filters and some hardware for a fence repair. I need to replace a rotten board. The fence is on my neighbor’s land and very old, but repairs are joint responsibility (this is Oregon and fences are a big deal here when you think about cows and pastures), and the rot is facing my house. I will do the repair. I have to acquire a few 7′ lumber next. Lucky I have a Volvo, and there is a ski pass thru in the back seat. I use it for lumber.

I install the new higher quality filters in the furnace. I went with the smaller ones as they are good if you remember to replace them often (these are about $20 each).

I was with Susie for a few hours on Friday. Without incident, Air Volvo arrived at Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center at 3900 Pacific Highway, Room 44A. She is in bed but dressed and cleaned up. She is also asleep with her neck bent, her bed is still arranged with the head section nearly vertical. I wake her and lower her head a bit for comfort. She was only just fallen asleep as I helped her wipe some food up. It is unsafe for Susie to eat even thick liquids without raising her head.

Susie is surprisingly speaking much clearer, and more words are fitting together. I still, my ears filled from allergies is not helping, find it hard to follow Susie’s longer flows of words. But Susie is now trying to speak longer sentences!

Susie was better and was having a good day. She understood that I had not found a way to bring her home, and she was OK with staying in Forest Grove for the moment. Susie is not in pain and is sort of comfortable. I think she gets bored with the whole thing.

Susie understands that she is in End-of-Life and is not likely to get better. But she has fooled us before, so there is always hope. Also, I think I saw a mischievous look in her eyes when we chatted about hospice.

On that subject, the folks managing Susie’s hospice care made me sign a form, as I expected, that I have to cover the cost for the anti-stroke med. I decided, and even the hospice nurse agreed, that Susie going out by successive strokes is a poor way to end her life. So, I will cover (or maybe my regular insurance will cover it) the cost for the anti-stoke med.

I started my day still going backward, coughing and sneezing and just being miserable. I managed to write a good blog with photos, but the blog takes 90 minutes to deliver, so every morning is now rushed. I get all my steps done, the new electric razor is still not working, but I manage using blades and not cutting myself. Technology is not always the best answer.

I find Fridays always strange when one is not working. You are headed into a weekend, but most days are the same to me. I get going, see Susie, and then try to figure out what must be done.

The day started hard. I had trouble sleeping, woke up early, and could not get back to sleep. But, I did stay in bed and tried to sleep.

Today was the day to determine what would happen next with Susie. We are meeting with Home Instead, an agency that supplies nursing. I was expecting this to be stupidly expensive but was I hopeful we could still bring Susie home, and I need care support for Susie to make this work. I am sure my worries about this and the fact that I was missing Susie at the house impacted my sleep and stress.

A new problem, minor, has arisen, the electric razor is not working. I think I have a dud. One more thing to deal with. I am back to blades.

I manage to read email, read the news (including my daily news summary from the New York Times), make coffee, and have breakfast within 30 minutes of my pills. I managed to shower and then dress and follow all the new chemotherapy changes. I am trying to get all the habits in place ahead of their need. I never walk without socks or slippers on my feet, also.

The trip in Air Volvo on Thursday morning, the worst day for traffic in the Portland Area, was uneventful. I pass the tests and head to Room 44A at the Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center at 3900 Pacific Highway, Forest Grove. Susie is just dressed and sitting in a wheelchair; about 10:40.

I take Susie for a ride around the facility. We make about three full tours of the place. I put Susie’s glasses and hat on her, and she looks more like herself (with the new fingernail paint that all the aids and nurses noticed and suggested they all could use the same treatment). Later, I saw Pre, the head nurse, joking and even hugging some aids. Folks are very happy here. They love Susie too.

Susie had one of her best days in weeks.

Note: Covid-19 is present at the facility. One resident has it, and the staff count is now 15 with positive tests. Five staff have recovered and now returned to work. This information is given to all the residents and emailed to me.

Susie and I hang out in the shared space and watch videos together. Then, we call on FaceTime Susie’s mother, Leta, and they have a friendly chat.

I step out and rush to Taco Bell for dinner. Again, the food tastes cheap to me, but I am in a hurry. I manage to be back before 1PM.

Erynn from Home Instead meets us. I find a place for us to talk. They cannot cover Susie’s needs as they do not have the staff to cover more than four or so hours in the afternoon. I would need to hire another agency or individually hire extra help. Also, 24-hour assistance would be $1000 a day @ about $40-50 an hour. To cover the 24-hours would require five people a day and likely not the same people every day. I would then have ten or more people in the house a week.

Erynn says I need to hire them to get coverage, but I really cannot move Susie without full coverage. I am also sure that I cannot manage this, and having ten medical people in the house will nearly guarantee a Covid-19 infection. None of this works for me. So I do not hire Home Instead. I am also offered non-vaccinated medical folks, as they are easier to get. I turn that down. That suggestion makes my head spin, and I thank Erynn for her time and see her out.

Susie is falling asleep, now placed back in her room and comfortable in her blankets. I tell Susie I can’t get her home soon and will try to work this some more.

In a pandemic, medical stuff is complicated. I also cannot have that many people in the house. My upcoming chemotherapy limits my choices. I will think about my goal to bring Susie home; it may be unrealistic.

I speak to the folks at Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center. We are welcome to keep Susie there as long as we need. They really do like us.

I kiss Susie goodbye. She is sleepy and falls right back to sleep.

Without incident, I reach home and find a pile of food and flowers on the cooler. Eric Enders and family have supplied me with dinner for two nights (and likely some lunches too). My Core ERP group at Nike IT is helping me get through these challenging days.

I take a nap and think more. I do read more. The book Dead Dead Girls is well put together, but the social justice issues it explores are hard to enjoy. It is not the book or the subject, but my mood. I read the book on my Kindle in smaller bites, which solves the mood issue.

I reheat the chicken parmesan and make the spaghetti and sauce (from a jar) that Eric supplied a bit early. I am fatigued, and food often helps. I eat dinner while watching the cold war By Dawn’s Early Light film. It is about a nuclear war breaking out between the USA and the Soviet Union. A group of terrorists captures and launches an ICBM triggering the unthinkable. Rip Torn plays the insane general urging an all-out nuclear war previewing his better-known Down Periscope and Men in Black persona. James Earl Jones plays the sane general who saves everyone by crashing his plane into Air Force One to allow the president’s ceasefire order to get through. The elected president is not on the plane, of course. The movie heavily borrows from other like films, and I would suggest the black and white Failsafe (1964) over this somewhat bloated film. The book by the same name is also great.

Yes, it was a strange choice on such a tough day, but I discovered the movie on cable and watched half of it. Just wanted to finish it. The best part was that James Earl Jones runs out of cigarettes, he smokes harsh unfiltered ones, and every one offers him lighter ones and calls out for someone to get him a real cigarette. He quit smoking but started smoking on the plane when the nuclear war started. Finally, just before he crashes the plane to save the world from full-out nuclear war, he gets a real cigarette. Not appropriate anymore, but still funny.

Returning to dinner, the food was excellent, and I have to admit I had seconds. I have enough left for lunch today.

I do a tiny bit of housework and organizing and then read and go to bed late. I again have trouble getting to sleep.