Treatments, Tinkles, and Treehouses

Sshhh!…she’s asleep.  Anytime Miki is sleeping it is awesome, but not for any of the reasons you are probably thinking.  Many of you know her to fall asleep at the drop of a hat.  She had a friend help drive her to North Carolina in May, because her driving gene is genetically engineered with a simultaneous sleep gene.  These days if her mind is not giving her a break, she is awake.  If her body is not giving her a break, she is awake.  If emotionally she is not getting a break, she is awake.  If all three are not giving her a break, it’s bad.  Each one exponentially adds more seismic activity to wherever it is that I keep my feelings until they start to crumble.  Unlike a baby that cries out and you have no idea what it is they need, Miki can describe what she is feeling, points to where it originates, and has an array of drugs to use, but sometimes it makes no difference.  Eventually it subsides, just like an isolated thunderstorm, lazily meandering across the plains.  Time out…I hear a tinkle coming from the TV room.  She is awake and I need to put on my wastewater treatment plant manger’s hat and do my job.

Okay, I’m back.

So, we have 2 out of 3 chemo days down this round and 2 more radiation treatments, finishing up on Friday.  If you hear a faint WOO-HOO off in the distance Friday, that would be Miki in anticipation of fewer side effects to wrangle with, even though the radiation effects will linger for weeks to come.  But at least the daily adventure will be over.  No more worrying if the diarrhea will interrupt her session, if the nausea will compound the starting, stopping, and turns made just to get to the appointment, or laying there with her bum exposed to the world preparing to get zapped (well, the world inside the radiation treatment room and the two techs working it).  Been there.  Done that.  Let’s not revisit it.  Movin’ forward!

Gonna keep it short this time.  I have a head to shave!  And it is such a pretty head.  I may lobby for a permanent hairless look.  The last item to touch on is The Treehouse.  I am coming around to the idea and can actually see it.  Now the challenge is seeing the same one that Miki is.  Right now it is a structural entity for me to get to know.  How high off the ground should it be?  Or another way to think if it is, how far will I fall while roofing it?  Siding material, lighter the better?  Size of the posts to hold it 14 feet up, yet anchored to the Earth in a 70 mph wind gust?  Just a few simple questions to research.  If you Google treehouses, you’ll find we will be in the company of the rich and famous around the world.  Now we probably won’t find Miki’s getaway featured on Treehouse Masters, that’s right, a TV show about Treehouses, but it’s not about that.  It is about something for her to focus her energy on besides the cramping, the nausea, the zombie-like look that only a lack of sleep can produce…the stuff that is cancer treatment.  Keep the good mojo flowing.

My Zen from Home:  When Miki smiles, it is a moment.  It has become a moment for me since this all began.  There have been more facial expressions other than smiles for more time than I can believe has gone by.  They are that rare.  To open a can of cliché…when she smiles, it lights up the room.  You place a baldhead on top of that smile and it brightens the day.  That’s a moment!