Juggling Much

I feel as though I've got 27 eggs whirling overhead, and it's a full-time job keeping them aloft.

The weekend was especially stressful, with daughter Juli in acute distress and hospitalized, no one seeming to know what was wrong with her. It was the return of the irregular heartbeat, non-stop vomiting, and dehydration that landed her in the hospital in February, 2008. Again, they checked her out, scanned her whole body, pumped her full of fluids and drugs, and sent her home with a shake of their collective heads. Intestinal virus? Anxiety attack? Nothing really fits. At least she is home again now and resting, starting to eat, and regaining strength. She calls me everyday, which is something I could really get used to!

We have also been living with the knowledge that Bill's dad is not doing well. His jaw cancer has returned, and is aggressively growing. He has started chemo treatments to prolong his life and quality of life for the time he has left, but this story is not going to have a happy ending.

I will be traveling up to Illinois next week to be with him, and help him get his affairs in order. It's all complicated by the fact that Bill is at sea and not due home until mid-August, which may be too late--his dad may be too drugged out to be lucid, or the cancer may spread to his brain, or he may be gone by then. No one really knows how this is going to play out.

Part of my trip will be to ascertain when Bill should come home, so he will at least have an opportunity to see his dad one last time and say goodbye. Another goal is to get clear on the arrangements for Bill's mom, who has been declining in a nursing home for the past few years. All in all, I am not anticipating a pleasant trip, except for the fact that my son, Alex, has decided to meet me there for a few days and help me handle the stress.

Alex and I will also travel to Danville, Indiana at the end of our trip, for a family get-together with all the cousins and to celebrate Aunt Mary's 85th birthday. That, at least, should be fun.
Alex and Echo and I will get a hotel room in Indianapolis on the 13th, and he will fly back to Seattle the following morning. I will then come on home to TN, while Bill's sister will drive back to Illinois to be with her father.

The logistics are the juggle-eggs. There are appointments with lawyers and social workers, bringing family and friends up to date, and dealing with Dad himself. There's dog boarding. Car maintenance. And a million other things.

Today, the car goes back to the hospital in Kingsport for the annoying "Check Engine" problem that has re-emerged, and an oil change. And then there's that pesky lung CT--I get the results at my 3-month oncology follow-up today.

It's only 9 am, and already I feel like taking a nap!