The past week has been quite unsettling. The future, especially the next month, is expected to be little less. Blogging is something that I don't expect to get done.
Last evening, as had been planned for some time, Hunky Husband and I were graced with the presence of Dudette, WichiDude, Wonderful Granddaughter (WGD), and Rachie. The wee ones were at their father's; so, we had an adults-only Pizza Friday. Although there was some conversation concerning NG1 and NG2; mostly, we had a chance to engage in adult conversation. Much as I love the boys, it was wonderful to see adult family!
Much of the early conversation, before Dudette and WichiDude arrived, concerned the health problems of Expert Seamstress (ES), Elder Brother's (EB's) wife. WGD is an LPN and Rachie is in pre-med - not sure whether she will pursue an MD or RN; so, they understood the importance of each comment.
ES was diagnosed, 9 or 10 days ago*, as being severely diabetic - she had awoken to find that her urine was orange, for which she went to a clinic. Not 48 hours later, she returned to the clinic because she was experiencing continuous vomiting - becoming dehydrated. The clinic people took a look at ES's blood workup and immediately sent her to the hospital ER. There, following imaging, ES was given the horrid news that she had "advanced stage" pancreatic cancer - not diabetes. The cancer had grown to a size that blocked the bile duct and there were 7 or 8 smaller tumors in her liver. In addition, ES had blood clots in one leg. That is a lot for one person to absorb. At that time, ES was hospitalized, and she had a stent placed into the bile duct the next day**. ES tolerated the stent installation, well; but, the medical team thought that there might be blockages in other locations.
After spending one week hospitalized, ES was discharged, and went home with the addition of hospice care. I haven't had an update since she got home; but, I plan to call today to see if I can be helpful if I go out there. In the meantime, HH is being deployed to Oklahoma City to work on disaster relief for the tornado victims. (He will be leaving momentarily.)
For the past year, I've been heavily involved in setting up a week-long disaster training institute in Pratt KS in June. The institute is totally funded by donations in support of the victims of the Greensburg KS tornado of May 2007 and includes participation by many government and non-government organizations. HH is to teach two 2-day classes in the institute. That is why he is going down to Oklahoma, now - to be able to return from a three-week tour in time for the institute. IF I go to ES's, and IF they wish me to stay (for however long), I shall do that. However, if it works out that way, I will be back for the institute - planning, perhaps, to return to ES's after the institute is complete.
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* Coincidently, the same day that I received notification of the death of EB's and my 66-year-old cousin.
** On which day our cousin was buried.


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