rajafacesbothways

The Age of Treason?

We've heard of the Age of Reason but sixty plus seems to be the age of treason.

A dear sister-in-law, Sheila, just died out of state after a 3 year battle with lung cancer. (yes--sigh--she had been a heavy smoker).  Friends from my old neighborhood have a stream of health problems in body parts I don't want to know about. (I can accept hearing aids--heart, colons, blood pressure, etc. are problem areas I feel don't need to be shared.)

Basically, after sixty everyone is on a downward slide physically. Healthy eating and exercise are the best revenge on the treason of the body. Nothing is fool proof. We are not built to last.

So today I had a massage and a big hunk of chocolate for lunch. So far--so good.

A Patient Patient

Kathryn is stronger and more independent each day, with few limitations, so my time here is coming to a close. It has been a treat to hang out with her and offer some help. And today she patiently helped me with some computer techniques--mainly organizing photos.

Whew! She is a patient patient! I on the other hand find developing more computer skills to be incredibly boring. Sitting in front of a screen and giving it directions, to please it, makes me happy that I can travel through life mostly unplugged, watching the movement of the tweety birds (chimney swifts) and the Night Hawk instead of a computer cursor.

Actually the cursor turns me into a cursing cursor.

Fringe Benefits

1.  Every morning going from Karen's place in the city to stay with Kathryn I drive along a portion of Lake Michigan. It's a real treat seeing a huge body of water, something I miss in KY.

2.  Went out for ribs last night with 3 of Kathryn's friends to Twin Anchors, the top place for ribs in Chicago. They were finger-lickin' good. Showing my usual restraint, I devoured a rack of ribs as long as my arm. With a great local beer. Another Chicago advantage.

3.  Kathryn is a super patient. For any current updates, including her surgery, you can go to her website, listed on my blog yesterday. This afternoon she sees her plastic surgeon and possibly all her dangling tubes will be removed.

4.  Karen has 3 newspapers delivered--the Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. It's fascinating to read different perspectives of the news.

Nursing 101

The patient continues to improve daily. I attribute it to a diet of thick-sliced bacon and chocolate covered strawberries, but what do I know. The warm sunny weather helps too. Other than the 3 drainage tubes dangling in front of her from the surgery, (in the proximity of a teen-age boy with a hard-on) one might never suspect she had undergone surgery 4 days ago.  And possibly tomorrow those  tubes will be removed by her plastic surgeon.

My contribution is just being here and making meals--nothing nearly as exciting as Barbara Stanwyk in Night Nurse. Just as well. If Clark Gable came through the door, I'd be gone. I am not a noble person. And actually I'm going out for Chicago ribs tonight, when I'm off duty, of course.

For more succinct info, I suggest you actually go to Kathryn's blog.