September 26th - The Check List and The Bucket List

Duct cleaning - check
Flu shots - check (except Tim and Sophia - they're still on the list)
Car detailing - scheduled for tomorrow (time to clean up the Cheeriomobile)
Oil change - check
Window sills - check
Garbage disposal installed - check (well almost - the installer couldn't wire it, so that's yet to be done)
Kaia's new glasses - check
My glasses - check
My annual exam - check (drove all the way to Malone and back today; probably time to consider getting a doctor closer to home.....)
Eviction notice to problem tenant - check
Arrange to have parent teacher conferences by phone - check

My list is getting shorter and so is the time to transplant.

Meghan's preliminary labs, counseling, exam and consent forms are scheduled for Monday morning.  She flies into Boston on Saturday and we're all going over to spend the weekend together and enjoy the city a little bit.  We'll familiarize Sophia with the metro system so she can park at a park-n-ride outside the city and take the metro to the hospital or Hope Lodge to see Ryan.  Meghan will fly out Monday after her appoinments to minimize her time away from work.

Ryan's final pre-admission testing and counseling and consents will be on Tuesday, so he and I will stay over until Tuesday.  He had spinal taps and intrathecal chemo the past 2 Mondays and (.....need to be careful not to jinx him here.....) he made it through with minimal headaches this time.  He's also had his EKG, cardiac Echo, chest X-ray and enough tubes of blood to make me wonder if he'll need a transfusion!  His labs are still wonderful and he's feeling pretty good.

While I'm working on my checklist, Ryan's working on his pre-transplant bucket list:  movies, meals out with Sophia, visiting people with the missionaries, eating things he won't be able to eat after the transplant. 

Sophia and I dumped the girls at TaeKwonDo yesterday and sneaked away to have pedicures.  I always wonder what the staff is saying when they speak Chinese and laugh.  Guess I'm going to need to work harder on my Chinese!  Or maybe I don't want to know.......

Sophia's feet are really ticklish, and she was trying hard to hold still but turning red and giggling.  Pretty soon everybody in the shop was laughing along since she was so funny!

MeiLin had a virus this week with a sore throat and fever - crawled in our bed Monday morning at 4:30 coughing like crazy.  She always gets bronchospasm ('reactive airway disease" - like asthma) whenever she gets a virus.  I started the nebulizer treatment, and laid in bed trying to figure out how I was going to get Ryan to Boston and get MeiLin taken care of since she needed to stay home from school.   MeiLin can do the nebulizer treatments herself, but I felt bad leaving her home alone.

Tim can do a lot of his work from home via the computer, so he took a "snow day" - working from home as he has done a few times when he's been snowed in.  He always feels a little guilty when he doesn't go in to work.  Interestingly, there was a problem with his building filling with smoke and having to be evacuated, then everyone was sent home for the day.  So it sounds like he worked more than anyone at the office!!

I was fearful all week that MeiLin would infect Ryan - we banned her from setting the table, emptying the dishwasher, using the hall bathroom, using the main computer that Ryan uses.  I even took her to the pediatrician to have a strep test.  I warned them that I'd probably be a bit neurotic this year, pulling the trigger much more quickly than I normally would if the girls are a little sick.  They were very supportive.

Then there was Kaia's annual check-up.  She had a captive audience with the PA, and as she put on her one-woman comedy act I was a little worried that they'd call in child protective services, with answers suggesting that she only eats Ramen noodles and Nutella, she doesn't wear any protective gear when she roller blades (she doesn't even have a pair!), mom doesn't care about seat belts, we beat her if she gets in trouble, etc.  Thankfully, MeiLin was also in the audience and was falling off her chair laughing, interspersed with patient reassurances to the PA that Kaia was just pulling her chain. 

Sixteen days and counting to admission.  Still need to finish the Halloween costumes, rug cleaning, de-cluttering (the bane of my existance).  Need to fix the broken visor in my car, get it detailed.  Prepare a few freezer meals for Tim and the girls.  Make arrangements for rides to Chinese classes in Saratoga Springs.  And a few other miscellaneous things.  All in all, I think things are coming together and we're just about set.

We're getting boarded up for the other wall of that hurricane.  Although I know this will probably be tougher on Ryan than the chemo has been, I feel confident that he will come through it well.  But it's going to be hard to watch him lose weight, have more radiation and medication side-effects, and be so very limited in what he can do.  I thankful for technology that will allow him to keep in touch with friends and help to ease the boredom and isolation. 

Please continue to keep Ryan in your prayers - this won't be easy.

Thanks!!
---Barb