Well, we went up to Santa Rosa and Sebastapol today to visit with my aunt Marge who is in the hospital. We stopped off first in Sebastapol to visit with my aunt Helen. I hadn't seen her probably since my uncle Gump's funeral. She looked pretty good. She is wheelchair bound, because of the MS, but she has helpers that come over everyday to help her out in the house and stuff, plus she has a cute little dog named Buddy to keep her company. This is Buddy...
Isn't he cute? I just love dogs! (by the way, that pic was taken with my camera phone - not a bad pic for a camera phone, if I don't say so myself).
I had forgotten how much I enjoyed visiting my relatives up in Sebastapol. It is so green up there and pretty. My aunt has a couple of bird feeders in her front yard so they were constantly being visited by birds....some bluejays, a woodpecker, a robin, some chickadees, a quail. If I lived there, I would just enjoy sitting there and watching the birds. Must be why she put the feeders in front of her window. We also stopped by to say a quick hi to my cousin Mike who lives down the road.
We got to the hospital around 10:30 or so. When we got there, it was just my family and my aunt Marge there, but soon enough, it was like a family reunion in there! My cousins Steve and Dave came by with their kids (they each have 2 kids), then my uncle Martin came, then my cousin Debbie and her 2 kids came, too. The hospital room was small, so you could imagine all those people stuffed into one room - lol. It was so cool to see them all. I have to say that my cousins' kids are all soooo cute! And well behaved too. It was Easter, so the night before, my cousin Dave had gotten them all Easter baskets and put them in the room for them, so when they came to visit, they would be there for them. Marge said that she saw the Easter bunny deliver them and the kids' faces just lit up - it was so cute.
My aunt...I wish I could say she was doing well, but she isn't. I guess she hasn't eaten a real meal in weeks. She barely touched her lunch and she was in a lot of pain, even though she tried to pass it off as nothing much. Her eyes were watering and she was doubled over like she was in a whole lot of pain. She is just the kind of person that wants people to think she is always all right and that there is nothing wrong with her. My uncle told us that there is something wrong with her brain not sending the signals to her body to process food so that it doesn't digest or something....it was all too complicated for me to understand. She did drink some coffee which she seemed to enjoy. I guess the doctors are starting her on more chemotherapy, some experimental drug which hasn't yet been approved by the FDA. Her daughter is a nurse, so she keeps up on all the medications and stuff, which is to my aunt's benefit. My uncle said that a few days ago, he thought they were gonna lose her. She is very thin. She has always been thin, but she is even more so now. And poor Martin, he is a wreck. I guess he even had to go to the ER cuz he was having chest pains. It is all of the stress and lack of sleep. He needs to take care of himself, too, but he is more concerned about Marge than himself. I could tell by his face that he is just devastated, and it just makes me so sad.
I don't know how much longer she can hold on, but I know from the way she reacted when the doctor said more chemo was needed that she really didn't want to go through with more of that. I know that that stuff makes you sick.
We didn't get home til about 7:30 tonight. It was a long drive.It is over 330 miles from here to Sebastapol, and after over 10 hours in the car with my family today, I sure had one whopper of a headache. My head felt like it was gonna explode! My dad drove nearly all the way, but my bro drove the final 2 hour stretch. It is quite a difference between the two of them driving. My dad is more the slightly-over-the-speed-limit-but-steady, and my bro is more of the get-outta-my-way kind of driver.
This is an example of my dad's driving:
silence for about an hour...
Dad: "Does anyone need to stop and use the restroom?"
Us: "No, not yet"
Silence......
Ok....now here is an example of my bro's driving:
Mark" "What is wrong with this asshole? Drive!!! GO!!! What is wrong with you??"
Mom: "Calm down."
Dad: (silence)
Mark: "He is going fucking 60 miles per hour in the fast lane for Christ's sake! MOVE IT!
Me: (thinking to myself, I am glad he is not carrying his gun with him)
Mark: "At this rate it is gonna take fucking 3 hours to get home. FUCK!"
Me: (silently laughing to myself....I am in a car with a crazy person at the wheel)
Mark: "FUCK!!!! Move your ass you stupid motherfucker!"
and so on and so forth.
Yes, it was an interesting drive home.
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