Upon Arrival

Well, I'm here. Actually I'm really here - right now I'm at Hopkins. My mom is checking into radiology to get a sticker on her tag (the tag she doesn't like to wear because it makes her 'look like a patient'...yeah, she also doesn't like wearing her mask because she feels like a duck billed platypus) and Brandy is getting blood taken for the umpteenth time. I'll tell you this - if all chemo patients were my mom, the cancer wing would be the place to hang out. Brandy said yesterday the nurse asked her how she was feeling to which she responded 'Great!', to which the nurse said 'ahhh, really? so no nausea?' - 'nothing I can't manage with a little ginger water with lemon' says the woman with more energy than anyone in the room. Ahhh, I hope those genes were passed onto me is all I gotta say (the energy genes, not the cancer ones) :)

So, upon arrival last night I got a taste of what my dad is in for for the next week while we are down here. The house is going to be something else - he may have gotten the bad end of the deal. First, Nikole had just had a little freak out before I arrived. I yelled up, 'Nikki, can I come up to say hi?' to which she quickly screamed NO!!! At least there were no 4 letter words thrown in there - Brandy had gotten all of them before I arrived. Ok, moving on.

I had dinner. My mom had made it (of course) while Brandy had dealt with the altercation upstairs. This is the package that had arrived the day before with air filters...

I mean honestly, it doesn't take a genius to see you lost whatever was in that package and probably don't need to deliver it - really, the box was open like that. The Dudley man has been super anxious - poor boy. Dina probably doesn't assist him...
My dad and Kaylinn apparently do. He slept in my room last night - I think because he wanted to be near his sister, not because he wanted to be near me.
this is the sad face he's been given this week before we arrived...
Now we are onto the best part. The 'isolation room'. My parent's bedroom is going to be where my mom stays once we get back from Hopkins. The problem is the air flow is weird in the old farm house where we live so my dad had to make a few adjustments to keep the dogs out, while letting the air flow through. So here is the improvised door he made...you have to slide the door out, put the hinge down, then slide the door back through while telling the dogs to stay back, then slide the door back out, slide the hinge back out and put the door back...it's a bit hard to explain, just suffice to say it's something.

this is why we chose this room - the fire and a TV borrowed from my grandparents house makes for a perfect little getaway
granted you haven't gotten away frm much since the air has to flow through - you can't really block it off completely. The nice thing is, with all you have to go through to get in and out, you can just hand stuff out the 'window'
here is my mom 'in isolation'...she's really not an isolation kinda person :)


Out of the 'isolation room' is where the real action is, however. Tootsie and Kaylinn are not so much friends. We knew that Kaylinn would make Dudley feel better, but were a little concerned about the Kaylinn-Tootsie interaction. You pretty much run interference to make sure no one gets too excited. Excitement leads to fun and the 'fun police' as we call them don't like the other one having any fun. Tootsie pretty much stalks Kaylinn around for the first 24 hours, this morning she was a little better, but last night...not so much.
So, between a possible screaming teenager, anxiety dog, the 'fun police', the isolation room door, and containing the cancer patient who keep trying to do things she's not supposed to do, it was quite an evening. Well, Brandy and I should be going in for her last appointment soon, so I'll head out. Mom's full body radiation is at 1:00 and then we'll check into the patient housing and if everyone is feeling good apparently we are going out to eat when my aunt gets here (guess who instigated this one...the one who has to wear a mask into the restaurant). I'll leave you with the Toots who is missing her mom terribly I'm sure (when she's not stalking Kaylinn)...